Neocloud Bloodbath: Are CoreWeave and Nebius Cheap After the AI Selloff?

CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) and Nebius Group NV (NASDAQ:NBIS) look much cheaper after Thursday’s AI stock rout, but “dirt cheap” is a stretch.

The two companies rent out computing power to AI developers. Their share prices have fallen sharply relative to the contracts they have already signed. The problem is how those data centers are paid for. Heavy borrowing means lenders take a large slice of the profit, and that is especially true at CoreWeave.

The Selloff

CoreWeave fell 9.8% on Nov. 5 to close at $43.66, after touching a fresh 52-week low in morning trading. It had already dropped nearly 10% the day before, to $48.42, on worries about Texas data-center permitting. Its market value was about $24 billion at the close.

Nebius dropped about 15% to close at $120.12 a share, for a market value of about $32.7 billion.

Both were hit by the broader rout in AI and chip stocks, which was triggered by fears that Democratic midterm wins would slow the data-center buildout. Newer cloud providers like these two, often called neoclouds, depend on a steady flow of new data centers.

CoreWeave’s debt took a hit as well. Its 2031 unsecured notes fell to about 79.5 cents on the dollar on Nov. 4, and its 2030 and 2032 bonds traded at yields above 15%, according to market reports.

CoreWeave: Huge Orders, Heavy Debt

On paper, demand is not a problem. CoreWeave’s quarterly filing shows $103.7 billion of remaining performance obligations on June 30, the value of contracted work not yet delivered. About 41% is expected to turn into revenue over the 24 months through June 2028, and another 39% in the two years after that.

The buildout is moving fast. Net property and equipment rose to $46.7 billion at the end of June from $30.6 billion at the end of 2025, and the company spent $14.1 billion on equipment in the first half alone.

The cost of getting there is steep:

• Revenue: $2.58 billion in the second quarter, up 112% from a year earlier.
• Losses: The company posted an operating loss of $49 million and a net loss of $626 million in the second quarter.
• Interest: Net interest expense hit $640 million in the second quarter, up from $267 million a year earlier. Cash paid for interest was $806 million in the first half.
• Spending: $14.1 billion on property and equipment in the first half, against operating cash flow of $3.7 billion.
• Debt: Cash was $5.5 billion against about $35.1 billion of debt, of which $7.5 billion comes due within a year.

In the second quarter, the company lost $49 million at the operating line while owing $640 million in net interest, so lenders took more than the business earned. The model works only if new capacity comes online on time, prices hold and revenue grows faster than interest and depreciation.

Management said its cash and borrowing capacity should cover its needs for the next 12 months. Total liquidity was $15.6 billion at the end of June, including $10.0 billion available under existing credit facilities, up from $6.9 billion at the end of 2025. Customers are concentrated, though: three accounted for 72% of second-quarter revenue.

Nebius: Customer Prepayments, Cleaner Balance Sheet

Nebius’s balance sheet shows customers paying in advance. Deferred revenue, mostly cash received before service is delivered, rose to $6.0 billion at the end of June from $1.6 billion at the end of 2025.

Operating cash flow was $2.2 billion in the second quarter, boosted by $1.2 billion of new deferred revenue and $1.2 billion of collected receivables.

Revenue was $582.3 million in the second quarter, up 454% from a year earlier. The company spent $5.7 billion on equipment and intangible assets in the quarter, up from $511 million a year earlier.

The finances look healthier:

• Earnings: Adjusted EBITDA was $236.2 million, a margin of about 41%, but the company still posted a net loss of $190.4 million.
• Balance sheet: $8.0 billion in cash against $8.5 billion in debt, close to break-even on a net basis.
• Funding: In the first half, Nebius raised $4.3 billion through convertible notes, and it sold $2.8 billion of shares in the second quarter. In July it secured about $775 million of asset-backed financing priced 2.5 percentage points above SOFR.

Interest expense was $119 million in the second quarter, against $640 million at CoreWeave. Selling shares and issuing convertible notes can dilute existing shareholders.

Why Not Dirt Cheap?

Measured against signed contracts, both stocks look inexpensive. Measured against risk, less so.

For CoreWeave, interest already absorbs a large share of operating results, and sometimes more than all of it. The company is spending tens of billions on capital projects while GPU chips lose value through depreciation. Customer concentration, delays in switching on power and the need to refinance debt all add risk.

Nebius is in better shape on borrowing, but it still has heavy spending needs and posted a net loss in the latest quarter.

Both face the same political risk that drove Thursday’s selloff, including possible moratoriums in key states and local limits on data-center construction.

The Bull and Bear Cases

The bull case is that revenue and EBITDA grow faster than interest, depreciation and new spending. That would let free cash flow turn positive and debt shrink, and equity holders would capture more of the profit.

The bear case is that higher financing costs, delays from politics or operations, or a slowdown in AI infrastructure spending stop that from happening. In that scenario, creditors get paid first and shareholders are left behind.

Banks and lenders will keep taking a big cut as long as debt loads are large and interest rates are high.

What to Watch

Earnings should help settle the argument. CoreWeave reports after the close on Nov. 10, with its call at 5 p.m. ET, and Nebius reports before the open on Nov. 12. Investors will look for:

• Updated backlog and new contract wins
• Progress in switching on new data-center capacity
• Interest costs and margin trends
• Any change in financing terms or funding sources

Both stocks remain high-risk bets on the AI capacity boom continuing at scale. CoreWeave is the more extreme case because of its debt. Nebius is the cleaner story, though not a safe one.

Company figures come from CoreWeave’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, and from Nebius’s Form 6-K filings for the same period. Nebius is a Dutch company and files 6-Ks rather than 10-Qs. Share prices, market values, daily moves and earnings dates are not from those filings.