CoreWeave (CRWV) shares have lost nearly half their value since August, and just last week alone, the stock lost another 25%.
That has fueled worries among some investors, who have been asking whether it’s just panic selling or whether the AI trade is losing ground.
By Friday, Oct. 16, CRWV closed at $61.39, which is far below its May peak near $138.
Then, this week, a major bank issued a call that could ease some investors’ worries. The bank is positive on the business but much less generous on the price target.
Goldman Sachs upgrades CoreWeave to Buy with a $106 target
On Oct. 19, 2026, Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges upgraded CoreWeave from Neutral to Buy, but the bank also lowered its 12-month price target from $139 to $106.
Still, even the reduced target points to roughly a 73% increase from the Oct. 16 close, Benzinga reported.
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CoreWeave rents high-powered Nvidia chips to companies training artificial intelligence models. Major companies such as Meta and OpenAI can pay to use CoreWeave’s data centers instead of spending a lot of money to build their own.
This business made CoreWeave one of 2025’s hottest IPOs, but because the company will need to borrow heavily to build more of these data centers, some investors are worried.
However, Borges and co-analyst Maura Hager argue that investors have overestimated how much CoreWeave’s future borrowing will affect the company. They also believe people are underestimating how profitable each new data center contract can become, according to ZeroHedge.
CoreWeave shares have fallen roughly 56% from their May 2026 peak as investors reassess the cost of funding its AI infrastructure buildout.
Why the bond market panicked, and Goldman called it overdone
The sell-off worsened because yields on CoreWeave’s 2031 and 2032 bonds climbed to around 15%. That spike made investors worry about whether CoreWeave could keep funding its planned $35 billion to $39 billion in 2026 capital spending, Barron’s reported.
However, Goldman thinks the 15% yields reflect what traders in the open market are willing to pay for CoreWeave’s existing bonds right now. When CoreWeave takes out new loans, they are usually backed by its Nvidia chips and signed customer contracts, which means lenders charge much lower interest rates.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said something last week that supported that view. “CoreWeave’s strength is improving every day. I’m optimistic. Their cost of capital is actually decreasing,” Bloomberg reported.
What Wall Street is watching beyond Goldman’s note
By the end of the second quarter of 2026, CoreWeave had locked in about $104 billion in future revenue through long-term contracts with major companies like Meta, Reuters reported.
The company also raised its GPU rental prices by 25% in July, then by another 10% in October, according to Seeking Alpha. That shows that the company’s demand is still greater than its supply.
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Based on that belief, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest bought about $25.8 million worth of CRWV shares across two sessions in mid-October, Benzinga confirmed.
JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Deutsche Bank also stayed bullish on the stock even during the sell-off, with Deutsche Bank calling the drop a buying window.
What everyday investors should consider before buying the dip
CoreWeave reported that its second-quarter revenue doubled to $2.575 billion, which is impressive, but the company still posted a $626 million net loss. A major driver of that loss was interest on its debt, which totaled about $640 million that quarter alone.
That is what D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria was talking about when he warned that if AI spending slows down and borrowing stays this expensive, the interest costs could eventually swallow the company’s profits, Benzinga noted.
CoreWeave co-founder Brannin McBee pushed back on that fear, pointing out that customers have already signed up for nearly all of the company’s 2027 data center capacity. This means the revenue to cover those interest payments is already locked in.
Goldman’s upgrade reduces the worries of CoreWeave going through a liquidity crisis. However, it does not remove the risk of owning a highly leveraged growth stock in a volatile AI market.
A smart move for anyone considering the stock now is to watch the company’s third-quarter earnings report closely for updates on its debt and demand levels.
