Why CoreWeave Stock Plummeted Today

CoreWeave (CRWV 11.40%) stock took a hit on Friday following the company's latest earnings report. The artificial intelligence (AI) data-center specialist's share price fell 11.4% in the daily session.

CoreWeave published its first-quarter results after yesterday's market close, posting mixed results. While the company posted sales that came in ahead of expectations, the business posted a wider-than-expected loss. Investors also weren't happy with management's forward guidance.

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CoreWeave recorded a loss per share of $1.40 on sales of $2.08 billion in Q1. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had targeted a per-share loss of $1.2 and revenue of $1.97 billion. Revenue was up 127% year over year, and the company said that it signed more than $40 billion of new service commitments in the quarter. Management said that the business ended the period with an order backlog of nearly $100 billion.

Today's Change

(-11.40%) $-14.69

Current Price

$114.15

For the current quarter, CoreWeave is guiding for sales to come in between $2.45 billion and $2.6 billion. Unfortunately, that target came in significantly below the average analyst estimate -- which had called for sales of $2.7 billion. Meanwhile, full-year guidance is projected to be between $12 billion and $13 billion. The midpoint of management's full-year guidance range also fell short of the average analyst target for sales of $12.56 billion.

CoreWeave's forward guidance was far from terrible, but there's still a significant degree of uncertainty when it comes to the company's long-term outlook. The company's nearly $100 billion backlog certainly looks encouraging, but there are questions about the debt load and execution going forward.

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.