CoreWeave shares hit new lows as debt worries hit AI cloud stocks

CoreWeave shares hit a new 52-week low on Friday, Oct. 23, as worries about the company's debt and the cost of financing AI data centres kept weighing on the stock. According to Benzinga, the shares traded at roughly $54.28, about 62% below the 52-week high of $141.79.

The selloff matters beyond one stock. CNBC reported that many market participants now see debt-heavy "neoclouds" like CoreWeave as the most vulnerable trade in AI.

What changed

CoreWeave's bonds and stock have fallen together. CNBC said the stock was down 36% in October as of its report, and that spreads on the company's credit default swaps were widening.

The Motley Fool reported that the five-year credit default swap spread hit a record of about 1,195 basis points. That implies a cost of $119,500 a year to insure $1 million of CoreWeave debt, the Fool said.

The same article said some bonds traded near 79% of face value. It put the yield on the October 2031 bond above 16%, and the company's debt load at roughly $52 billion in loans and lease obligations.

CNBC gave a slightly lower figure. It said CoreWeave's unsecured debt carried a yield of about 15%.

Crypto roots

CNBC noted that CEO Mike Intrator co-founded CoreWeave in 2017 as a crypto-mining venture. The outlet said the company went public in March 2025 and reached a peak market value of about $90 billion three months later.

CNBC put the value at roughly $31 billion at the time of its report. It said Intrator sent employees a memo to ease concern, which the network obtained.

Analysts cut targets

Two big banks lowered price targets this week, according to Benzinga. Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss kept an Equalweight rating and cut his target to $70 from $99. UBS's Karl Keirstead kept a Buy rating and cut his target to $105 from $120.

Weiss called CoreWeave the "speed and scale leader" among neocloud rivals, Benzinga reported. He said financing uncertainty was clouding how it would use its contracted capacity.

Yahoo Finance said UBS tied its cut to financing conditions and investor sentiment, not a new operational weakness. It said Keirstead saw demand trends and GPU pricing as supportive. He also indicated that confidence could take time to recover.

Bernstein is more negative. Yahoo Finance reported that analyst Madison Rezaei cut her target to $51 from $74 and kept an Underperform rating. She wrote that she does not believe CoreWeave is headed to zero, citing a large backlog.

Why the stock is under pressure

The Motley Fool said CoreWeave spends far more than its operations bring in. It relies on debt markets and stock sales to fill the gap.

Yahoo Finance said the company's negative free cash flow and reliance on debt make its valuation more sensitive to higher interest rates. Benzinga linked this week's selling to rate and AI spending worries.

Insider sales have added to the concern. Investing.com reported that the three co-founders have sold about $3.3 billion of stock since the IPO, including around $2.4 billion in 2026. The outlet cited reports for those figures, and this article has not independently verified them.

Who is affected

• Shareholders: Benzinga put the six-month decline at 53.32%.
• Bondholders: CNBC said holders of both CoreWeave stock and bonds are losing confidence.
• Other neoclouds: Investing.com said Nebius and IREN also fell in pre-market trading.
• Larger cloud providers: Benzinga said UBS's Keirstead saw Microsoft and Amazon rise while neocloud stocks and Oracle fell. He read that as a defensive turn on AI infrastructure.

Figures differ by date

Reports give different October declines: 28% in Yahoo Finance, 29% in Investing.com and 36-37% in CNBC and Benzinga. The gap reflects the different dates of each report, as the stock kept falling through the month.

What happens next

Keirstead warned that rebuilding confidence could be a "multi-quarter fix", according to Benzinga. Investors are watching whether CoreWeave can keep borrowing at affordable rates.

CoreWeave's next earnings report may give fresh detail on financing and customer demand. This article did not confirm a date for that report.