CoreWeave Is Down 50% From Its Highs: Is It the Most Misunderstood Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock of 2026?

Key Points
CoreWeave soared after its IPO last year, but in recent times, it’s lost momentum.
Investors have worried about the company’s debt levels.
- 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave ›
CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) surged to the forefront a year ago when it completed its initial public offering and then went on to climb more than 300% in just a few months. Investors were excited about the company due to its central role in the artificial intelligence (AI) story. CoreWeave offers something much-needed: capacity for AI workloads. This business has been a successful one for CoreWeave, driving triple-digit quarterly revenue growth.
But, in recent months, the stock has lost momentum -- in fact, it's slid about 50% from its high point back in June. Is it now the most misunderstood AI stock of 2026? Let's find out.
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Investing in Nvidia's GPUs
To answer that question, it's important to understand CoreWeave's business model. The company, as mentioned, offers customers capacity for their AI workloads, and it does this by investing in great numbers of Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs). These are the chips that power the most vital of AI tasks, like the training and inference of large language models.
So, instead of investing in their own GPUs, a company may turn to CoreWeave -- or a company that already has its own data centers, may still turn to CoreWeave for additional capacity. We saw an example of this in September when CoreWeave signed a deal to provide AI infrastructure to Meta Platforms. Though Meta has its own infrastructure, the company's needs are so great that it requires additional compute.
Customers like the idea that they can save time by turning to CoreWeave rather than building out their own infrastructure from scratch -- or adding to it. This has translated into significant demand for CoreWeave's services and $5 billion in revenue during the recent full year.
Why has CoreWeave stock declined?
Considering this bright picture, why have CoreWeave shares dropped? Some investors have shied away from CoreWeave because it is a highly leveraged company, leaning on debt to fuel operations and growth. Meanwhile, investors have become more cautious regarding AI stocks and have questioned whether AI spending is sustainable. This has weighed on a number of AI stocks, particularly those that have seen their stock prices soar.
But I think CoreWeave may be misunderstood right now. Yes, any potential slowdown in AI spending could hurt the company, and that remains a risk. But the signs we've seen so far don't point to that happening any time soon. CoreWeave and peers have spoken of enormous demand quarter after quarter, so it's logical that the company is investing in infrastructure to serve it. CoreWeave says its planned use of capital will directly address this contracted demand.
All of this suggests that, if the AI story unfolds as expected, CoreWeave could continue to deliver explosive revenue growth -- and that makes it one of the most misunderstood AI companies of 2026.
Should you buy stock in CoreWeave right now?
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Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.