CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) shares fell in premarket trading Friday after the AI cloud provider issued lighter-than-expected first-quarter revenue guidance.

The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $1.57 billion, narrowly topping Wall Street’s $1.55 billion projection, but its near-term outlook disappointed investors.

Needham analyst Mike Cikos reiterated a Hold rating on the stock.

CoreWeave Guidance Trails Expectations

  • CoreWeave expects first-quarter revenue between $1.9 billion and $2 billion. Analysts had forecast $2.291 billion.
  • The company reaffirmed full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $12 billion to $13 billion. That range sits close to the $12.087 billion consensus estimate.
  • In its quarterly conference call, CFO Nitin Agrawal said the company anticipates adjusted operating income of $900 million to $1.1 billion in 2026.
  • Management said margins will start in the low single digits during the first quarter.
  • Executives expect profitability to improve sequentially through the year and reach low double digits by the fourth quarter.

Heavy Investment Cycle

Agrawal said the company expanded its revolving credit facility to $2.5 billion. CoreWeave secured more than $18 billion in debt and equity financing during 2025.

The company also announced a $2 billion investment from Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) tied to an expanded commercial partnership.

Agrawal said the company lowered its weighted average interest rate by 300 basis points in 2025.

He added that the reduction represents nearly $700 million in annualized interest savings. CoreWeave faces no major debt maturities until 2029, excluding amortizing contract-backed obligations.

CapEx Surge And Capacity Growth

The company plans capital expenditures between $30 billion and $35 billion in 2026.

That spending more than doubles 2025 investment levels. Management expects active power capacity to exceed 1.7 gigawatts by year-end, up from 850 megawatts across 43 data centers.

CoreWeave reported a contracted revenue backlog of $66.8 billion entering 2026.

Agrawal said, “Contracted customer demand, deep strategic partnerships, active infrastructure deployment, industry-leading capabilities, and a thoughtful approach to capital markets give us the confidence to put these numbers forward.”

The company expects to exit 2026 with annualized run-rate revenue between $17 billion and $19 billion.

It projects that the figure will surpass $30 billion by the end of 2027.

CRWV Price Action: CoreWeave shares are trading lower by about 18% to $80.12 at last check on Friday.

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