CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) Shares Down 9.8% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) were down 9.8% on Thursday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $159.00 to $128.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. CoreWeave traded as low as $40.58 and last traded at $43.66. 83,478,263 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 161% from the average session volume of 31,951,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.42.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on CRWV. Truist Financial raised their target price on CoreWeave from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of CoreWeave in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of CoreWeave in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CoreWeave from $99.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered CoreWeave from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CoreWeave presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kristen J. Mcveety sold 156,000 shares of CoreWeave stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.63, for a total transaction of $12,734,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,066,040.19. This trade represents a 55.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Magnetar Financial Llc sold 307,131 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.75, for a total value of $33,400,496.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 220,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,013,087.50. This represents a 58.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,211,804 shares of company stock worth $382,310,687. Insiders own 24.20% of the company’s stock.

CoreWeave News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting CoreWeave this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup kept a Buy rating while cutting its price target to $128 from $159, reflecting a still-bullish view despite the lower forecast. Citigroup price target report
• Positive Sentiment: Some coverage argues the selloff may have left CoreWeave undervalued relative to its sales and points to a large revenue backlog as a potential support for the investment case. However, the backlog’s value depends on the company’s ability to finance and build capacity. CoreWeave stock may be undervalued
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are debating whether CoreWeave’s rapid expansion can generate sufficient returns: its GPU contracts and backlog offer growth potential, but also raise concerns about customer concentration, depreciation and the cost of funding infrastructure. Counterparty concentration and depreciation define CoreWeave
• Negative Sentiment: Political opposition is the main immediate headwind. Democratic election wins and local ballot measures opposing data centers have heightened fears of moratoriums, tighter rules and delays to planned projects. One report said voters opposed data centers in 40 of 41 local measures, adding to uncertainty about whether planned capacity can be built. Data-center ballot measures and AI infrastructure stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Debt and financing risks are also weighing on the stock. Reports describe falling bonds alongside shares and warn that borrowing to fund GPU and data-center expansion could strain the business if projects are delayed or customer demand fails to cover investment costs. CoreWeave versus Nebius debt risks

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CoreWeave

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CoreWeave by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in CoreWeave by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Pathway Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its stake in CoreWeave by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 5,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC grew its position in CoreWeave by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 1,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in CoreWeave by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter.

CoreWeave Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $20.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.96 and a beta of 7.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.42.

CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($1.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.52) by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter. CoreWeave had a negative net margin of 25.41% and a negative return on equity of 47.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 112.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.27) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CoreWeave Inc. will post -4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About CoreWeave

CoreWeave, Inc is a specialized cloud computing company that provides infrastructure designed for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and other high-performance computing workloads. Its platform gives customers access to accelerated computing resources, including graphics processing units (GPUs), along with the networking, storage, and software tools needed to develop, train, and deploy demanding applications.

The company offers cloud services for AI model training and inference, visual effects and rendering, scientific computing, and other data-intensive workloads.