CoreWeave Revenue Beat at $3.66 Billion, but Interest Costs Still Topped Operating Profit

CoreWeave reported third-quarter revenue of $3.66 billion on Tuesday, up 168 percent from a year earlier and above its own guidance range.

CoreWeave, Inc., the AI cloud company that rents out Nvidia-powered computing capacity, reported the results after Tuesday's close. The quarter ran to September 30, 2026.

Revenue of $3.66 billion cleared the top of the company's $3.45 billion to $3.60 billion guidance range. It also beat the $3.54 billion consensus estimate compiled by FactSet.

The beat says AI cloud demand held up through a bruising month for the stock. Customers include Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic, Reuters reported.

Adjusted operating income - operating profit excluding some costs - was $379 million, up 75 percent from a year earlier. The company had guided to $200 million to $260 million.

That is about 46 percent above the top of the range, a TickerGrove calculation. Adjusted figures exclude some costs that reported results include.

On a reported basis, operating income was $207 million, a margin of 6 percent. A year earlier, operating income was $52 million, a 4 percent margin.

Adjusted EBITDA - a cash-earnings proxy - was $2.26 billion, at a 62 percent margin. A year earlier it was $838 million, at 61 percent.

Interest still cost more than operations earned

Interest expense was $846 million, up from $310 million a year earlier. That was more than twice the quarter's adjusted operating income.

Interest expense alone exceeded adjusted operating income by $467 million in the quarter, a TickerGrove calculation. A year of heavy borrowing to fund data centers drove the increase.

The bill still came in below the company's guided range of $860 million to $940 million. Coming in under that range was the one favorable leg of the financing story.

The net loss was $709 million, or $1.27 a share. A year earlier, the loss was $110 million.

Cash purchases of property and equipment were $9.44 billion in the quarter, the release's cash-flow statement showed. That line is a cash measure, distinct from the company's capital expenditure guidance.

Adjusted operating margin was 10 percent, down from 16 percent a year earlier. It doubled from 5 percent in the second quarter.

The margin doubled in sequence even as it fell from a year earlier. Management had targeted a double-digit margin by the fourth quarter, MarketWatch reported.

Backlog climbed to about $132.5 billion

Revenue backlog - contracted future revenue not yet delivered - reached about $132.5 billion at September 30. That compared with $104 billion at the end of June.

The backlog rose by about $28.5 billion in a single quarter, a TickerGrove calculation. Backlog converts into revenue only as capacity is delivered.

In the second quarter, revenue was $2.575 billion and the net loss was $626 million. Adjusted operating income was $128 million in that quarter.

Active power - switched-on electricity capacity - reached over 1.7 gigawatts at September 30. The company added more than 200 megawatts during the quarter.

Contracted power grew by more than 900 megawatts to over 4.6 gigawatts. The year-end active power target remains above 1.85 gigawatts.

Guidance rose across the year

CoreWeave now expects full-year 2026 revenue of $13.0 billion to $13.3 billion. Guidance before the report was $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion.

The raise lifted the low end by $600 million and the top end by $100 million, a TickerGrove calculation. The low end moved far more than the top.

It expects to exit 2026 at annualized run-rate revenue - the exit pace stretched over a year - of $20 billion to $21 billion. The prior outlook was $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion.

The full-year adjusted operating income outlook rose to $1.275 billion to $1.375 billion. The prior outlook was $960 million to $1.15 billion.

Interest expense for the fourth quarter is guided to $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion. That range sits above the third quarter's $846 million bill.

Full-year capital expenditures are now guided to $37 billion to $39 billion. The company raised the low end from $35 billion.

Chief Executive Michael Intrator sought to answer the financing question directly.

"Our growth is supported by multiple sources of funding, including financing backed by customer contracts, operating cash flow, and approximately $9 billion in customer prepayments and deposits expected in the next three months alone. That financial flexibility positions us to keep delivering the infrastructure and software customers need to build, run, and scale AI."

Shares rose after hours from a lower close

Shares closed the regular session at $48.73, down 0.51 percent, Finnhub data showed. The stock had nearly halved since October 6, Barron's reported.

In after-hours trading, shares stood at $49.70 at 4:42 p.m. ET, up 1.99 percent from the close, Finnhub data showed. That is a single timestamped snapshot, not a close.

The after-hours gain was modest next to the month's slide. Reuters put the past month's fall at more than 40 percent.

What remains unknown

What remains unknown includes any standalone fourth-quarter revenue guidance. The company issued no fourth-quarter revenue or adjusted operating income range.

No accrual-basis third-quarter capital spending total comparable to the guidance was stated either. Guidance for the quarter was $11.5 billion to $13.5 billion, from the August call.

The cash purchases line above is not that total. Call commentary is still to come, and may add financing detail.

Whether operating profit can catch the interest bill

What to watch: whether operating profit keeps closing on an interest bill more than twice its size. The fourth-quarter print will test that gap directly.

Watch the guided fourth-quarter interest range of $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion against operating profit. Watch whether the year-end power target above 1.85 gigawatts is met, and whether the raised guidance converts into delivered revenue.