CRWV Stock Flashes Red Again: Analyst Says It Could Be First Casualty in AI Downturn, Retail Sniffs Opportunity

• CoreWeave’s unsecured bonds due in 2032 fell below 80 cents on the dollar on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.
• D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria warned that the company could be among the first casualties if the AI boom falters.
• Retail sentiment on Stocktwits turned ‘bullish’ as traders weighed risks against resilient AI demand.

CoreWeave, Inc.’s (CRWV) shares plunged over 6% in early premarket trading on Thursday, after its worst drop in eight months in the last session, amid concerns around its plunging bond prices and high debt and losses.

CoreWeave emerged as a key stock on traders’ radar amid a global chip rout fueled by fresh concerns over the sustainability of AI infrastructure spending. The selloff sparked a debate, with bulls pointing to booming cloud demand while skeptics warn that CoreWeave could be among the first to feel the pain if that demand falters.

“If the AI cycle sputters, CoreWeave is going to be the first to go; its equity value is going to ZERO,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said on the Prot G Markets podcast on Wednesday.

“The reason is, it’s a poster child for bad behavior. For borrowing at very high rates to build a speculative asset.”

Shares of neocloud peers IREN Ltd and Nebius Group NV were both down over 3% in Thursday premarket trading.

Fresh Concerns Over CoreWeave’s Rising Debt

CoreWeave plunged 15.5% on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that the company’s unsecured debt due in 2032 fell below 80 cents on the dollar, a level widely seen as the threshold for financial strain.

Skeptics also focused on the neocloud operator’s massive debt. CoreWeave’s total liabilities rose 221% year over year to $72 billion in the last quarter, according to Fiscal AI. The company lost $626 million on a net basis on revenue of $2.58 billion in the quarter, and said its backlog swelled to $104 billion.

“High stakes game,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on X, in response to a post about investors dumping CoreWeave’s debt and elevating the risk.

Wednesday’s selloff came as a Gartner report warned of massive AI infrastructure impairment risks by 2030, predicting over 80% of neocloud providers won't survive independently, even as spending surges. 

CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator called the reaction “irrational,” according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg. “We are confident in our business model, our customers, the extraordinary quality of our execution, and the relentless discipline around the financial engine we have built,” Intrator reportedly told staff. 

Retail View On CRWV

CRWV was among the top two trending stocks on Stocktwits in early premarket hours, with retail sentiment for the ticker shifting to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ the previous day. 

“Everyone’s arguing bull vs bear on $CRWV today. I think the real question is simpler: can they keep funding growth at ~9% borrowing costs when returns are thinner than that? Until cheaper capital shows up, I’m just watching,” said a trader. 

Another wrote: “S&P is still up ~13% this year and we’re panicking over one hot CPI print? Pullbacks like this are normal. AI demand didn’t vanish overnight. I’m keeping my watchlist ready, not my panic button. $TSM $CRWV $NVDA”

CRWV stock fell in five of the last six trading sessions and is down over 8% as of Wednesday’s close.

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