CoreWeave (CRWV) shares closed in the red on Monday after the AI cloud-computing startup confirmed plans of buying Core Scientific (CORZ) for about $9 billion.
The CORZ acquisition is expected to close in the final quarter of 2025 – provided it secures the required regulatory and shareholder approvals over the next few months.
Despite today’s pullback, CoreWeave stock is up 220% since its initial public offering.
While the initial response has been rather muted, buying Core Scientific could prove transformative for CRWV as it strengthens its presence in the global data center infrastructure market.
For CoreWeave, this acquisition means direct control over critical infrastructure needed to scale artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.
Additionally, the vertical integration eliminates more than $10 billion in future lease obligations and unlocks an estimated $500 million in annual run-rate cost savings by 2027.
Operationally, the deal streamlines site management and power procurement while strategically de-risking future expansion – all of which could translate to further upside in CRWV share price.
The CORZ acquisition offers CoreWeave access to 1.3 GW of power capacity, but Macquarie analysts are unconvinced that it could do much for the AI stock.
In fact, the investment firm reiterated its “Neutral” rating on CoreWeave shares on Monday with a price target of $65 indicating potential downside of an alarming 59% from current levels.
In their research note, Macquarie analysts agreed that the Core Scientific deal could be 5% accretive to the company’s earnings per share – but said its current valuation more than accounts for that upside already.
CRWV stock currently has a price-sales ratio of more than 28x, significantly higher than other AI stocks.
Other Wall Street experts agree with Macquarie’s analysis of CoreWeave stock as well.
While the consensus rating on CRWV shares remains “Moderate Buy” – the mean target of about $82 indicates potential downside of nearly 50% from here.
