CoreWeave Q3 Revenue Surges 168% but Capex Soars to $14.511 Billion, Sparking Sharp After-Hours Divide

TradingKey - CoreWeave (CRWV) released its third-quarter 2026 financial results on November 10. Quarterly revenue surged 168% year-over-year, and revenue backlog rose to $132.5 billion. However, depreciation and financing costs stemming from infrastructure expansion continued to mount, widening the GAAP net loss to $709 million.

For the third quarter ended September 30, CoreWeave posted revenue of $3.661 billion, compared with $1.365 billion in the prior-year period. The company attributed the growth to delivery execution, favorable pricing, and strong customer demand for its AI cloud platform.

Following the earnings release, CoreWeave's shares rose over 8% at one point in after-hours trading; as of press time, the gain narrowed to approximately 1.8%, at $49.60.

CoreWeave stock chart, Source: TradingView

The top-line expansion also drove an improvement in operating performance. GAAP operating income was $207 million, up from $52 million in the prior-year period, with the operating margin expanding from 4% to 6%. Adjusted operating income reached $379 million, compared with $217 million a year earlier; the adjusted operating margin was 10%, up 5 percentage points from 5% in the second quarter, but still below the 16% recorded in the prior-year period. The company stated that the sequential improvement was driven by higher pricing, short-term business growth, and operating leverage from business scale expansion.

On the bottom line, net profit faced greater pressure from financing costs. Third-quarter net interest expense was $846 million, compared with $310 million in the prior-year period, surpassing the current quarter's GAAP operating income. The company also recorded an income tax expense of $83 million, compared with an income tax benefit of $127 million in the year-ago period; other net income for the quarter was $13 million. Consequently, the GAAP net loss was $709 million, compared with a loss of $110 million in the prior-year period; both basic and diluted loss per share were $1.27, compared with $0.22 a year earlier.

The adjusted net loss was $529 million, compared with $41 million in the prior-year period, with the adjusted net loss margin widening from 3% to 14%. Sequentially, the adjusted net loss narrowed from $567 million in the second quarter, but the GAAP net loss widened further from $626 million in the second quarter. The discrepancy between GAAP and adjusted operating income for the quarter included $160 million in stock-based compensation expense and $12 million in amortization of acquired intangible assets, while the calculation of adjusted net loss also involved other items and tax adjustments.

The contractual foundation for future revenue continued to expand. As of the end of the third quarter, the company's revenue backlog stood at $132.5 billion, up 138% year-over-year. Of this total, remaining performance obligations (RPO) were $132.3 billion, with an additional $200 million in other revenue expected to be recognized in the future from existing committed customer contracts. The company expects that 36% of the backlog will be recognized within the next 24 months, 38% between months 25 and 48, and 26% after 48 months; revenue recognition remains subject to delivery and service availability requirements.

To accommodate business growth, CoreWeave continued to scale its infrastructure. As of the end of September, the company operated 52 data centers, with 9 added year-to-date; active power capacity exceeded 1.7 GW and contracted power capacity exceeded 4.6 GW, increasing by more than 200 MW and 900 MW, respectively, in the third quarter. The company also disclosed expanded partnerships with customers including OpenAI, Cohere, and Perplexity, and launched its AI development environment, CoreWeave Forge.

Company-defined capital expenditures for the third quarter were $14.511 billion, compared with $1.850 billion in the prior-year period; the cumulative total for the first nine months was $30.650 billion, compared with $6.645 billion a year earlier.