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21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Better Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock: CoreWeave vs. Nebius
Key Points Nebius and CoreWeave have been in red-hot form on the stock market this year thanks to the terrific demand for their cloud infrastructure solutions. Both companies seem to be able to sustain their impressive growth in the long run, thanks to the lucrative AI-related market that they are serving. 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave › CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) and Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) have witnessed a rapid jump in their share prices this year. Investors have been buying these stocks hand over fist because they are benefiting big time from the growing demand for cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. CoreWeave stock has shot up a remarkable 224% in just four months since going public in March this year, and Nebius has clocked healthy gains of 84% so far in 2025. Both companies are in the business of renting out data centers powered by graphics processing units (GPUs), which their customers use to train AI models, build applications, and scale up those applications in the cloud. But if you have to choose one of these two stocks for your portfolio right now, which one should it be? Let's find out. The case for CoreWeave CoreWeave's rally since its initial public offering (IPO) can be attributed to the terrific growth in the company's revenue and backlog. Its top line jumped by more than fivefold in the first quarter to $981 million, and it's on track to sustain its outstanding momentum. That's because the cloud infrastructure-as-a-service market in which CoreWeave operates is growing at an incredible pace. Grand View Research estimates that the cloud AI market could generate $650 billion in annual revenue in 2030, nearly 7.5 times the size of this market last year. CoreWeave is capitalizing on this lucrative opportunity by offering access to the top-of-the-line GPUs from Nvidia along with server processors from AMD. The company claims that customers using its cloud AI infrastructure enjoy significant cost and performance advantages. It says its infrastructure is "purpose-built for compute-intensive workloads, and everything from our servers to our storage and networking solutions are designed to deliver best-in-class performance." The demand for the company's AI infrastructure is outpacing supply, so it is focused on scaling up its capacity quickly to satisfy the strong demand. Management said on its May earnings conference call that it has raised over $21 billion to expand infrastructure and data center capacity. The company recently announced the upcoming $9 billion acquisition of Core Scientific, which could bring another 1 gigawatt (GW) of data center capacity and help lower its costs from its existing leases with Core Scientific. CoreWeave forecasts a reduction of over $10 billion in future lease liabilities once the acquisition is complete, followed by annual run-rate cost savings of $500 million by the end of 2027. Before this acquisition was announced, CoreWeave was projecting a fourfold increase in its data center capacity under its existing capacity contracts. This focus on enhancing data center capacity should pave the way for outstanding growth for CoreWeave since it was sitting on a revenue backlog of almost $26 billion at the end of the first quarter -- 63% higher from the year-ago period. As such, analysts are expecting its revenue to continue increasing at a strong pace. CoreWeave is likely to remain a top AI stock since it is serving a fast-growing market and is investing aggressively to capture a share of it. The case for Nebius Nebius shot up impressively last week after Goldman Sachs put a 12-month price target of $68 on the stock. The investment bank said that the company's full-stack AI infrastructure, which includes hardware and software tools, allows it to make the most of the impressive opportunity in this space. Goldman's price target calls for a 31% jump in the stock in the coming year. And there is a good chance that the company could surpass that given its 385% revenue jump year over year in the first quarter to $55 million. More importantly, the growth in its annual revenue run rate was much faster at 684% year over year to $249 million. That improved to $310 million in April, and the company forecasts an annual revenue run rate of $750 million to $1 billion by the end of the year, driven by the new data center capacity it is planning. In a letter to shareholders, CEO Arkady Volozh said: We are rapidly expanding our capacity footprint. In just three quarters, we've gone from one location in Finland to five locations across Europe, the U.S., and now the Middle East. We are actively exploring new sites in the U.S. and around the world, and we expect to provide more news on this soon. Unlike CoreWeave, Nebius provides more than just AI hardware infrastructure to customers. Its cloud platform also offers developer tools and services that customers can employ to refine their AI models, run inference tasks, and develop custom solutions. This is why Goldman believes that Nebius could be a leader in the cloud AI space. The company's balance sheet -- with $1.45 billion in cash and $188 million in debt -- allows it to continue putting more money into its cloud infrastructure. This explains the healthy top-line growth it is projected to deliver. So, like CoreWeave, Nebius is likely to remain a high-growth company. But is it a better buy than its larger peer at this point? The verdict Both CoreWeave and Nebius are growing at healthy rates and are expected to sustain that. So, investors should look at their valuations to decide which is the better buy. The two companies aren't profitable right now considering their aggressive infrastructure investments, so we need to compare their price-to-sales ratios (P/S). Nebius stock is way more expensive than CoreWeave when comparing sales multiples, indicating that the latter is a better buy even after its strong rally this year. Moreover, CoreWeave is growing faster, has a huge backlog, and is sitting on ample resources to continue expanding its data center footprint, making it the easy choice for investors considering which of these two AI stocks is worth adding to their portfolios right now. Should you buy stock in CoreWeave right now? Before you buy stock in CoreWeave, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and CoreWeave wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Goldman Sachs Group, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Nebius Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Better Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock: CoreWeave vs. Nebius was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
If I Could Buy Only 1 Nvidia-Backed Data Center Stock, This Would Be It (Hint: It's Not Nebius)
Key Points Nvidia has ownership stakes in "neocloud" companies Nebius Group and CoreWeave. While each company is positioned to benefit from investments in AI infrastructure, CoreWeave's growth prospects appear more robust over the long term. Wall Street is forecasting CoreWeave's revenue to triple over the next couple of years, which should help pave a path to profitability. 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave › Following the end of each quarter, financial services firms that manage over $100 million in stocks are required to file a form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings represent an itemized breakdown of all the stocks that the fund bought and sold during the most recent quarter. While investors may not realize it, corporations can also invest their cash into equity positions of other businesses. According to Nvidia's recent 13F filing, the semiconductor darling currently holds positions across six stocks. Two of its holdings are spread between artificial intelligence (AI) data center stocks, Nebius Group and CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV). Fresh off a hot initial public offering (IPO) earlier this year, CoreWeave has emerged as an integral player in the AI infrastructure market. Let's dive into CoreWeave's business and explore how the company is transforming the AI landscape. What does CoreWeave do? For the last few years, investors have learned about the important role that advanced chipsets known as graphics processing units (GPUs) play in the development of generative AI. The GPU market is largely dominated by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, both of which are able to command hefty price tags for their coveted data center hardware. While AI has served as an unprecedented tailwind for the chip market, one of the subtle nuances is that this demand has brought a series of complications to supply and demand dynamics. This is where CoreWeave comes into play. CoreWeave operates as a "neocloud," which is a specialized type of business that allows companies to access GPU architecture through cloud-based infrastructure. This flexible model appeals to businesses that may not be able to purchase GPUs directly from Nvidia or its cohorts due to rising price dynamics. By offering an agile and potentially more affordable model than cloud hyperscalers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform, CoreWeave has been able to attract a number of high-profile customers and ink a series of multiyear, billion-dollar deals. What does CoreWeave's growth look like? For the quarter ended March 31, CoreWeave generated $982 million in revenue -- up 420% year over year. While the company's net loss widened more than twofold compared to the year-ago quarter, CoreWeave has some catalysts that should quickly turn around the dynamics of its profitability profile. See estimates in the chart below. During the earnings call, management raised guidance for both revenue and capital expenditures (capex). While more spending may stifle profitability in the short term, these investments are necessary foundations for the longer-term opportunity in AI infrastructure. As Wall Street's estimates pictured in the chart above showcase, CoreWeave's investments today should help secure more access to Nvidia's Blackwell GPU architecture and should ultimately serve as a tailwind for more accelerated growth down the road. Is CoreWeave stock a buy right now? In the chart below, I compare CoreWeave to Oracle on a price-to-sales (P/S) basis. Oracle is also a leading player in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), having just signed a $30 billion cloud deal of its own, so it's comparable to CoreWeave. That single deal is expected to bring in nearly twice the amount of CoreWeave's total 2027 revenue. And yet, investors are placing a twofold premium on CoreWeave's P/S multiple when compared to Oracle. I think there are a couple of nuances to point out when it comes to CoreWeave's valuation relative to a peer such as Oracle. First, Oracle is experiencing a transition period -- effectively replacing slow-growth (or no-growth) segments of the business with its new, budding data center infrastructure operation. For this reason, investors are likely applying a discount to Oracle relative to a high-growth AI stock such as CoreWeave. Moreover, CoreWeave completed an IPO earlier this year. Since then, the company has inked an $11.2 billion deal with OpenAI, announced the planned acquisition of Core Scientific to bolster its platform, and earned a spot in some of Wall Street's most respected institutional portfolios. This confluence of factors is more than enough to garner outsize excitement and enthusiasm from investors. For these reasons, I'm not surprised to see CoreWeave trading at such a premium. I think the most prudent course of action for investors is to buy CoreWeave stock at different price points over a long-term time horizon. If you invest the same amount of money at set time intervals, that is known as dollar-cost averaging, and can help mitigate risk by removing specific timing and price points from the equation. Overall, I see CoreWeave as a compelling opportunity that is well positioned to dominate the infrastructure chapter of the AI narrative. If I could buy only one Nvidia-backed data center stock, CoreWeave would be it. Do the experts think CoreWeave is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did CoreWeave make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,041% vs. just 183% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 858.71%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Adam Spatacco has positions in Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Nebius Group and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. If I Could Buy Only 1 Nvidia-Backed Data Center Stock, This Would Be It (Hint: It's Not Nebius) was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
If I Could Buy Only 1 Nvidia-Backed Data Center Stock, This Would Be It (Hint: It's Not Nebius)
Key Points Nvidia has ownership stakes in "neocloud" companies Nebius Group and CoreWeave. While each company is positioned to benefit from investments in AI infrastructure, CoreWeave's growth prospects appear more robust over the long term. Wall Street is forecasting CoreWeave's revenue to triple over the next couple of years, which should help pave a path to profitability. 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave › Following the end of each quarter, financial services firms that manage over $100 million in stocks are required to file a form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings represent an itemized breakdown of all the stocks that the fund bought and sold during the most recent quarter. While investors may not realize it, corporations can also invest their cash into equity positions of other businesses. According to Nvidia's recent 13F filing, the semiconductor darling currently holds positions across six stocks. Two of its holdings are spread between artificial intelligence (AI) data center stocks, Nebius Group and CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV). Fresh off a hot initial public offering (IPO) earlier this year, CoreWeave has emerged as an integral player in the AI infrastructure market. Let's dive into CoreWeave's business and explore how the company is transforming the AI landscape. What does CoreWeave do? For the last few years, investors have learned about the important role that advanced chipsets known as graphics processing units (GPUs) play in the development of generative AI. The GPU market is largely dominated by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, both of which are able to command hefty price tags for their coveted data center hardware. While AI has served as an unprecedented tailwind for the chip market, one of the subtle nuances is that this demand has brought a series of complications to supply and demand dynamics. This is where CoreWeave comes into play. CoreWeave operates as a "neocloud," which is a specialized type of business that allows companies to access GPU architecture through cloud-based infrastructure. This flexible model appeals to businesses that may not be able to purchase GPUs directly from Nvidia or its cohorts due to rising price dynamics. By offering an agile and potentially more affordable model than cloud hyperscalers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform, CoreWeave has been able to attract a number of high-profile customers and ink a series of multiyear, billion-dollar deals. What does CoreWeave's growth look like? For the quarter ended March 31, CoreWeave generated $982 million in revenue -- up 420% year over year. While the company's net loss widened more than twofold compared to the year-ago quarter, CoreWeave has some catalysts that should quickly turn around the dynamics of its profitability profile. See estimates in the chart below. During the earnings call, management raised guidance for both revenue and capital expenditures (capex). While more spending may stifle profitability in the short term, these investments are necessary foundations for the longer-term opportunity in AI infrastructure. As Wall Street's estimates pictured in the chart above showcase, CoreWeave's investments today should help secure more access to Nvidia's Blackwell GPU architecture and should ultimately serve as a tailwind for more accelerated growth down the road. Is CoreWeave stock a buy right now? In the chart below, I compare CoreWeave to Oracle on a price-to-sales (P/S) basis. Oracle is also a leading player in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), having just signed a $30 billion cloud deal of its own, so it's comparable to CoreWeave. That single deal is expected to bring in nearly twice the amount of CoreWeave's total 2027 revenue. And yet, investors are placing a twofold premium on CoreWeave's P/S multiple when compared to Oracle. I think there are a couple of nuances to point out when it comes to CoreWeave's valuation relative to a peer such as Oracle. First, Oracle is experiencing a transition period -- effectively replacing slow-growth (or no-growth) segments of the business with its new, budding data center infrastructure operation. For this reason, investors are likely applying a discount to Oracle relative to a high-growth AI stock such as CoreWeave. Moreover, CoreWeave completed an IPO earlier this year. Since then, the company has inked an $11.2 billion deal with OpenAI, announced the planned acquisition of Core Scientific to bolster its platform, and earned a spot in some of Wall Street's most respected institutional portfolios. This confluence of factors is more than enough to garner outsize excitement and enthusiasm from investors. For these reasons, I'm not surprised to see CoreWeave trading at such a premium. I think the most prudent course of action for investors is to buy CoreWeave stock at different price points over a long-term time horizon. If you invest the same amount of money at set time intervals, that is known as dollar-cost averaging, and can help mitigate risk by removing specific timing and price points from the equation. Overall, I see CoreWeave as a compelling opportunity that is well positioned to dominate the infrastructure chapter of the AI narrative. If I could buy only one Nvidia-backed data center stock, CoreWeave would be it. Do the experts think CoreWeave is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did CoreWeave make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,041% vs. just 183% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 858.71%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Adam Spatacco has positions in Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Nebius Group and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. If I Could Buy Only 1 Nvidia-Backed Data Center Stock, This Would Be It (Hint: It's Not Nebius) was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data