CoreWeave reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and raised its 2026 guidance on Tuesday, demonstrating that demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure remains robust despite concerns about a broader market slowdown in the AI sector. The company's stock advanced in extended trading following the announcement, which comes at a particularly volatile time for CoreWeave and its competitors as the market reassesses the AI trade and as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang faces scrutiny over an alleged affair involving a Chinese spy.
The company's revenue increased 168% to approximately $5.48 billion from roughly $1.36 billion a year earlier, according to its statement. CoreWeave recorded a net loss of $709 million, or $1.27 per share, compared to a net loss of $110 million in the prior year period. The company raised its 2026 forecast to between $1.275 billion and $1.375 billion in adjusted operating income on revenue of $13 billion to $13.3 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $1.07 billion in adjusted operating income, while those polled by LSEG anticipated $12.86 billion in 2026 revenue.
Despite the strong results, CoreWeave faces significant headwinds. The company's stock has lost over 40% of its value in the past month as investors shift away from companies most closely tied to AI infrastructure. Rising interest rates have forced some lenders out of the market, creating concerns about ongoing access to capital, with some CoreWeave bond yields recently exceeding 16%. CoreWeave owed almost $47 billion in debt at the end of the third quarter, according to the statement. CEO Mike Intrator told analysts that the company will fund most capital needs for 2027 through client pre-payments and financing from hardware partners, with limited additional capital raises planned. The finance chief said the company does not intend to issue additional parent-level unsecured debt through 2027, though it plans to raise new asset-level secured debt tied to specific contracts.
Looking ahead, CoreWeave is targeting 1.85 gigawatts in active power by the end of 2026 and full-year capital expenditures of $37 billion to $39 billion, implying 155% growth at the midpoint. The company sits on a $132.5 billion revenue backlog, up from $104 billion as of June. During the quarter, CoreWeave announced plans to establish its first data centers in Asia and launched the Forge service for running and evaluating AI models. Key customer Anthropic is scheduled to debut on the Nasdaq next week with an indicated valuation of around $1.4 trillion after its share sale.
CoreWeave investors are monitoring potential regulatory risks after U.S. voters rejected dozens of data center development initiatives last week. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated the incumbent after criticizing 20-year tax breaks on large data centers. Intrator said the company does not anticipate any impact from these changes, noting that almost all of CoreWeave's power is online or permitted and under construction. Fellow neocloud provider Nebius, whose stock has declined by a similar amount, is scheduled to report earnings on Thursday.
For savers and borrowers in the United States, CoreWeave's strong results and raised guidance support the continued expansion of AI computing capacity, though elevated debt levels and higher interest rates may eventually pressure pricing across the cloud infrastructure sector.