CoreWeave raised its 2026 forecast on Tuesday after its third-quarter revenue rose 168% to $3.66bn. It also said it would not sell more unsecured debt at current interest rates. The AI cloud company now expects $13bn to $13.3bn in revenue this year, according to its results statement.
In August, CoreWeave had guided for $12.4bn to $13.2bn. Analysts polled by LSEG expected $12.86bn for the year and $3.55bn for the quarter. Jordan Novet reported the estimates for CNBC. CoreWeave also raised its adjusted operating income guidance to $1.275bn to $1.375bn. That measure leaves out share-based pay.
The company still lost money. Its net loss grew to $709m, or $1.27 a share, from $110m a year earlier. Interest costs rose to $846m from $310m, while operating income was $207m. Its backlog of contracted future revenue reached $132.5bn at the end of September. That was up from $104bn in June.
“This was a breakout quarter for CoreWeave, with revenue increasing by more than $1 billion sequentially and adjusted operating margins reaching double digits a quarter ahead of plan,” chief executive Michael Intrator said in the statement.
How CoreWeave plans to pay for the build-out
CoreWeave carried about $46.9bn of debt at the end of September, its balance sheet shows. It expects about $9bn in customer prepayments and deposits over the next three months. During the quarter it raised about $4.2bn in convertible notes and closed a $2.6bn loan. It also set up a programme to sell up to 35 million new shares.
“At current yields, we do not intend to issue additional parent-level unsecured debt through 2027,” finance chief Nitin Agrawal told analysts, according to CNBC.
Agrawal projected less than $5bn in new parent-level debt through 2027. CoreWeave plans a new loan tied to customer contracts in the coming weeks. It expects the loan to carry an investment-grade rating. Early talks point to a yield of 7% to 7.5%, Dina Bass and Brody Ford reported for Bloomberg. That is about half what its junk bonds pay.
Spending keeps rising. The new CoreWeave forecast puts capital expenditure at $37bn to $39bn this year, up from a low end of $35bn. It expects $1.05bn to $1.15bn in interest costs in the fourth quarter.
A hard month for the shares
The shares lost about 40% in the month before the results, CNBC reported. Some CoreWeave bond yields topped 16%. The fall followed steep weekly losses in October over its borrowing. In last week’s midterms, US voters rejected data centres in 40 of 41 local ballot measures, CNBC reported. CoreWeave then wrote to Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa about its permitted projects.
“So to begin with, we do not anticipate any impact from the seismic regulatory shift that’s occurred,” Intrator told analysts.
Almost all of its power is online or permitted and under construction, he said. CoreWeave now has more than 1.7 gigawatts of active power and more than 4.6 gigawatts under contract, including sites in India, Indonesia, and Spain.
Nvidia is a key supplier and investor. Its chief executive Jensen Huang said in October that CoreWeave needs no backstop, and Nvidia’s board is now running an inquiry into Huang. Intrator declined to discuss it, but told Bloomberg he saw no reason for the partnership to change.
The doubts that remain
CoreWeave shares rose about 11% in premarket trading on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported. Intrator told Bloomberg the company is on course for positive net income in 2028.
D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said on Bloomberg Television that its interest costs were far higher than its adjusted operating income.
“It’s a structurally challenged business, that’s why it’s been under so much pressure,” Luria said.
Anthropic, a key customer, plans to list next week at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion, its IPO terms show. Rival Nebius reports its results on Thursday.