CoreWeave reported third-quarter revenue of $1.36 billion on Monday, shattering expectations and posting a 134% increase from the same period a year ago. The number beat Wall Street’s estimate of $1.29 billion, based on figures from LSEG. But despite the revenue surge, the company still recorded a net loss of $110 million, though that’s down significantly from the $360 million loss CoreWeave reported in Q3 last year. Earnings for the quarter came in at a loss of 22 cents per share. The numbers reflect a company growing fast, spending hard, and trying to prove it belongs at the center of the AI infrastructure race. The business, headquartered in the U.S., rents out Nvidia GPUs to companies building out AI tools. CoreWeave has secured customers like Google and Microsoft, both of whom rely heavily on the compute power it provides. That demand helped balloon CoreWeave’s contract backlog to $55.6 billion, up from $42.3 billion just three months earlier. The company also reported having 2.9 gigawatts of contracted power, up from 2.2 gigawatts at the end of Q2. Deals with OpenAI and Meta push backlog past $55 billion In Q3, CoreWeave announced a $6.5 billion expansion of its contract with OpenAI, a company known for developing ChatGPT. It also signed a new six-year agreement with Meta worth up to $14.2 billion. These deals, alongside a new contract signed with what CoreWeave called “a leading hyperscaler”, are what pushed the revenue backlog up by over 30% in a single quarter. The name of that sixth hyperscaler was not disclosed. CoreWeave’s public debut came earlier this year, when it listed on the Nasdaq in March, selling shares at $40 each. On Monday, those same shares closed at $105.61, reflecting a 164% return since the IPO. That’s more than five times the 32% gain in the Nasdaq index during the same stretch. But even with that performance, CoreWeave’s stock dropped in extended trading after the earnings were released. The company tried to expand further in Q3 with a $9 billion proposed acquisition of data center infrastructure operator Core Scientific. But that plan collapsed after Core Scientific’s shareholders voted against it. That rejection left CoreWeave without a key expansion path, despite the momentum it had been building. Michael Intrator, who co-founded CoreWeave and now serves as both CEO and Chairman, said the company had delivered “an exceptional third quarter” and praised its team for hitting new records. “We almost doubled our revenue backlog to more than $55 billion,” Michael said in the earnings release. He added that the company was growing by focusing on infrastructure, capacity, customer expansion, and new software tools. Kerrisdale Capital attacks CoreWeave’s valuation and revenue model Not everyone is impressed. Kerrisdale Capital, a New York-based short seller, published a scathing report last month accusing CoreWeave of being “the poster child of the AI infrastructure bubble.” They dismissed the company’s growth as cosmetic, writing that CoreWeave is nothing more than “an undifferentiated, heavily levered GPU rental scheme.” In the report, Kerrisdale criticized CoreWeave for being overly reliant on Microsoft, which they claimed accounts for 70% of the company’s revenue. The firm also said Microsoft had recently declined to extend its business with CoreWeave, choosing instead to sign a larger contract with Nebius, a competitor. Kerrisdale described this customer concentration as a serious risk for investors. They also pointed to CoreWeave’s rapid transformation from a crypto mining startup in a founder’s grandfather’s garage, just three years ago, to a self-declared “AI hyperscaler” now valued at $75 billion. Kerrisdale said this jump lacked financial support and sustainability. The short seller went further, slamming CoreWeave’s economics. Their report stated the company “generates returns below its cost of capital,” which they said results in destroying shareholder value instead of creating it. They assigned a fair value target of $10 per share, a number that would imply a 90% drop from the current trading price. CoreWeave has not publicly addressed the Kerrisdale report in detail. But with deals stacking up and critics circling, the company is now caught between wild growth and deep skepticism. Join Bybit now and claim a $50 bonus in minutes
