Shares of CoreWeave surged 18% to $106.60 the morning after the AI cloud provider posted second-quarter results that cleared every major hurdle Wall Street had set. The company reported an adjusted loss of $1.03 per share versus the $1.20 loss expected, on revenue of $2.58 billion versus the $2.56 billion consensus . The question now is whether CoreWeave can convert a staggering pile of customer commitments into actual profit before its debt burden catches up.
Revenue Doubled, but Losses Doubled Too
Revenue reached $2.6 billion in Q2, representing 112% year-over-year growth and a 24% sequential increase . That's the good news. Net losses widened to $626 million from $290 million a year ago , driven by net interest expense of $640 million — more than double the prior year's $267 million . In plain terms, CoreWeave is paying more in interest than it is losing overall, meaning the operating business is starting to pull its weight even as the debt pile grows.
A $104 Billion Backlog That's Still Growing
The revenue backlog stands at $104 billion, excluding over $25 billion in new commitments already signed in early Q3 . That backlog is up 246% year over year . Major deals anchor it: a $21 billion agreement with Meta through 2032 and a multi-year deal with Anthropic for its Claude AI models . For shareholders, the backlog represents years of locked-in future revenue — but only if CoreWeave builds the data centers fast enough to deliver it.
Guidance Went Up, and So Did the Spending Bill
Management raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $12.4 billion–$13.2 billion with adjusted operating income of $960 million–$1.15 billion . Previously, it projected $12 billion–$13 billion in revenue . But the price tag rose in lockstep: annual capital expenditures are now expected at $35 billion–$39 billion, up from the prior $31 billion–$35 billion . That means CoreWeave will spend roughly $3 in capex for every $1 in revenue this year.
The Valuation Hinges on Margin, Not Growth
At an enterprise value near $84.6 billion — roughly 6.6 times the midpoint of 2026 revenue guidance — the stock already prices in massive scale. New contracts are carrying contribution margins 5–10 percentage points higher than recent quarters , a signal pricing power is real. But the $104 billion backlog must increasingly produce higher profit, not only higher revenue, for the post-earnings rally to hold .