Is CoreWeave (CRWV) Stock a Buy Before Q1 Earnings on Thursday?

TLDR

• CoreWeave reports Q1 2026 earnings on May 7, after market close
• Revenue expected to top $1.97 billion, up over 100% year-over-year
• Options traders are pricing in an 18.71% move in CRWV stock post-earnings
• Jefferies raised its price target to $160, maintaining a Buy rating
• CRWV stock is up 75% year-to-date, driven by major deals with Meta and Jane Street

CoreWeave reports Q1 2026 earnings on Thursday, May 7, after market close. The stock is up about 75% so far this year, trading around $125 ahead of the print.

CoreWeave, Inc. Class A Common Stock, CRWV

Wall Street expects revenue of roughly $1.97 billion for the quarter, more than double the year-ago figure. The consensus loss estimate sits at around $0.91 per share, wider than the $0.60 loss reported in Q1 2025.

Options traders are pricing in a move of about 18.71% in either direction following the results. That’s a wide expected swing — a reflection of how much uncertainty surrounds the stock right now.

In Q4 2025, CoreWeave posted revenue growth of 110% year-over-year, hitting $1.6 billion. It was one of the fastest cloud platforms to reach $5 billion in annual revenue. But margins came in at just 6%, weighed down by heavy infrastructure spending.

Management has guided for Q1 revenue between $1.9 billion and $2 billion. They also expect adjusted operating income of $0 to $40 million, with margins at their lowest point of the year due to a $6–$7 billion capital expenditure push.

The Deal Pipeline Is the Story

April was a busy month for CoreWeave on the contract front. The company signed a $21 billion extended deal with Meta to supply AI cloud capacity through December 2032. Jane Street also expanded its commitment to roughly $6 billion, while also investing $1 billion directly into the company.

Jefferies analyst Brent Thill raised his price target to $160 from $120 ahead of earnings, keeping his Buy rating in place. He said these April deals could push CoreWeave’s remaining performance obligations above $95 billion, up from $67 billion at year-end.

The company’s current backlog stands at $66.8 billion. Nearly all of its 2026 capacity is already allocated.

Debt Is the Risk to Watch

Funding that growth hasn’t come cheap. CoreWeave closed an $8.5 billion delayed draw term loan last month. Over the past 12 months, it has secured roughly $28 billion in combined equity and debt financing.

Long-term debt stood at $14.7 billion as of December 31, 2025, versus $5.5 billion a year earlier. Interest expense in Q4 jumped to $388 million from $149 million in the prior year.

That debt load is expected to weigh on Q1 results. CoreWeave projects interest expense of $510–$590 million for the quarter.

The Zacks model does not predict an earnings beat this time around. CRWV has missed consensus estimates in three of its last four quarters, with an average negative surprise of 72.2%.

Still, nine of the top 10 AI model providers now use CoreWeave’s platform. In April, the company signed a compute deal with Anthropic to support Claude AI models, with capacity coming online later this year.

CoreWeave expects margins to climb from low single digits in Q1 to low double digits by Q4 2026 as capacity ramps and revenue scales against a largely fixed cost base.

Wall Street’s average price target on CRWV is $133.21, based on 11 Buy ratings and four Holds.

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