CoreWeave Q3 revenue jumps 168%, raises full-year outlook as AI chip stocks rebound premarket

AI cloud provider CoreWeave reported third-quarter results after the US market closed on Tuesday (10 November), with revenue of $3.66 billion, up 168% year on year and above the $3.55 billion the market expected. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance, lifting Nvidia and other AI chip stocks in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Revenue and guidance both beat expectations

Third-quarter revenue of $3.66 billion (against $1.365 billion a year earlier) topped the $3.55 billion LSEG consensus of analysts and the top of the company's own guidance range of $3.45 billion to $3.60 billion. CoreWeave raised its 2026 revenue guidance to $13.0 billion to $13.3 billion (from $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion), and lifted its adjusted operating income forecast to $1.275 billion to $1.375 billion, about 26% higher at the midpoint than before. Its revenue backlog reached $132.5 billion, up from $104.2 billion at the end of June. Chief executive Michael Intrator called the quarter a "breakout quarter", with adjusted operating margin reaching 10%, a quarter ahead of plan.

Losses widen as debt and spending stay a concern

The growth came at a cost: the third-quarter net loss widened to $709 million, from $110 million a year earlier, and debt stood at $46.9 billion at quarter-end, up from $35 billion in the previous quarter. Operating cash flow was $1.98 billion in the quarter, against $9.44 billion of equipment spending, and full-year capital expenditure is now expected at $37 billion to $39 billion. The company said it does not intend to issue new parent-level unsecured debt through 2027 at current yields, and expects about $9 billion of customer prepayments and deposits over the next three months to help fund the buildout.

AI stocks rebound premarket

After the results, CoreWeave shares rose about 17% in premarket trading on Wednesday. Nvidia rose about 4% to 5% premarket, after falling 9.5% over the previous two sessions and shedding about $430 billion of market value; Micron, Marvell, Nebius and Oracle were up roughly 6% to 15% premarket. Nasdaq 100 futures rose about 1.9%. CoreWeave shares have still lost more than 40% over the past month, and doubts remain about the high-debt, high-spending model behind AI infrastructure.

Market backdrop

US consumer prices rose 0.4% month on month in October, above the 0.3% expected, and US stocks fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Nasdaq down 0.7%. Investment bank Baird downgraded Nvidia to Neutral from Outperform on Wednesday and cut its price target to $200 from $500. Nvidia reports third-quarter results on 17 November. Wednesday is Veterans Day in the US: the bond market is closed while stocks trade normally.

(File photo: a CoreWeave data centre.)