CoreWeave, formerly known as “Atlantic Crypto” in 2017, initially started as a crypto mining operation. Later, the team discovered that the GPU leasing business was more lucrative than mining, so they pivoted to cloud computing. In March of this year, they went public (NASDAQ: CRWV) with the intention of benefiting from the AI infrastructure boom.
Sounds good? Don't rush, the financial statements will tell the truth.
The growth data looks nice, but there are big pitfalls.
Transcript of Records:
Q3 revenue of 1.36 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 134%
Claims that GPU computing power is 35 times faster and 80% cheaper than AWS/Azure.
Market demand is exploding, LLM training relies entirely on GPUs.
But that's the problem —
Financial Poison: Profit Margin Drops from 20% to 4%
The most terrifying indicator has appeared: Operating profit margin plummeted from 20% in Q2 to 4% in Q3.
Comparing: Nvidia's operating profit margin exceeds 60%. CoreWeave only has 4%.
What is the reason? The black hole of data center operations and maintenance - thousands of GPU chips consuming electricity 24 hours a day, and depreciation must also be accounted for. This is not a software company; this is a capital-intensive business.
Debt Bomb: $10.4 Billion Long-Term Debt vs $1.9 Billion Cash
What’s even more heartbreaking is the balance sheet:
Long-term debt: 10.3 billion USD
Cash reserves: only $1.9 billion
Q3 interest expense: $310 million
What does this mean? The company spends a large amount of cash just on interest every quarter. Once the demand for AI declines, this gun will be pointing at its own head.
What is the truth
CoreWeave is in an awkward position:
The growth rate is indeed rapid (134%), but this is not a healthy growth.
For every additional GPU sold, more debt and depreciation must be shouldered.
The stock price has dropped in the past six months, and the market has already sensed the risk.
This is not a hundredfold coin, but an overvalued high-risk asset.
If the AI boom cools down, this company's cash flow will collapse instantly.
Bottom Line
Don't be fooled by the labels “AI Infrastructure” and “Explosive Growth.” CoreWeave's business model is essentially a high-leverage, low-profit hardware rental business. The risks far outweigh the returns.
Investing in CoreWeave now is not about betting on the next Nvidia, but rather on whether a debt-laden company can survive the next cycle.
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Can CoreWeave stocks make you rich? The truth about a GPU cloud computing company that transitioned from a Miner.
Background Overview
CoreWeave, formerly known as “Atlantic Crypto” in 2017, initially started as a crypto mining operation. Later, the team discovered that the GPU leasing business was more lucrative than mining, so they pivoted to cloud computing. In March of this year, they went public (NASDAQ: CRWV) with the intention of benefiting from the AI infrastructure boom.
Sounds good? Don't rush, the financial statements will tell the truth.
The growth data looks nice, but there are big pitfalls.
Transcript of Records:
But that's the problem —
Financial Poison: Profit Margin Drops from 20% to 4%
The most terrifying indicator has appeared: Operating profit margin plummeted from 20% in Q2 to 4% in Q3.
Comparing: Nvidia's operating profit margin exceeds 60%. CoreWeave only has 4%.
What is the reason? The black hole of data center operations and maintenance - thousands of GPU chips consuming electricity 24 hours a day, and depreciation must also be accounted for. This is not a software company; this is a capital-intensive business.
Debt Bomb: $10.4 Billion Long-Term Debt vs $1.9 Billion Cash
What’s even more heartbreaking is the balance sheet:
What does this mean? The company spends a large amount of cash just on interest every quarter. Once the demand for AI declines, this gun will be pointing at its own head.
What is the truth
CoreWeave is in an awkward position:
This is not a hundredfold coin, but an overvalued high-risk asset.
If the AI boom cools down, this company's cash flow will collapse instantly.
Bottom Line
Don't be fooled by the labels “AI Infrastructure” and “Explosive Growth.” CoreWeave's business model is essentially a high-leverage, low-profit hardware rental business. The risks far outweigh the returns.
Investing in CoreWeave now is not about betting on the next Nvidia, but rather on whether a debt-laden company can survive the next cycle.