Famed investor Martin Shkreli picked a busy day to declare war on one of the market’s hottest AI infrastructure names. CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) shares jumped after second-quarter results showed revenue surging 112% year-over-year to $2.58 billion, alongside a raised full-year 2026 revenue forecast, backed by an order backlog exceeding $104 billion.
“Pharma Bro” remains unimpressed.
“Coreweave is a short. debt is too large to generate FCF,” the former hedge fund manager wrote Wednesday on X.
Shkreli argued that cash flow from operations, once working capital gets normalized out, is thin — he pegged the real number closer to $1 billion.
- CRWV stock is soaring. See the real-time price action here.
His sharper jab targeted demand durability: “you think B200 will sell out for the next 10 years with 0 process improvements, TPUs, ASICs, etc?” The question cuts at the heart of the bull case — that GPU scarcity keeps pricing power intact indefinitely, even as chip generations turn over faster and custom silicon from hyperscalers chips away at Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) dominance.
Shkreli closed with a backhanded compliment: “great product & people, but enough is enough.” He has previously likened debt-heavy AI infrastructure plays to Global Crossing and WorldCom, telecom names that borrowed aggressively during the dot-com buildout before collapsing when demand assumptions broke.
Wall Street and Retail Remain Bullish
Wall Street sees it differently, at least for now. CoreWeave’s net loss widened to $626 million from $290 million a year earlier, weighed down by $640 million in net interest expense, yet several firms raised price targets anyway.
Wells Fargo lifted its target to $160, citing improving contribution margins. Piper Sandler moved to $153, pointing to strong bookings and expanding capacity. JPMorgan and Mizuho also raised targets, and even Bernstein — which keeps an Underperform rating — nudged its target to $74 while conceding bulls are “re-energized.”
Retail traders appear to be siding with the bulls for now. Chatter around CRWV spiked sharply following the earnings report, and sentiment swung toward extremely bullish territory.
Shkreli, whose notoriety as a pharmaceutical executive grew in 2015 when he increased the cost of a life-saving medication over 5,000%, is betting the debt side eventually wins. However, his short-call track record has been mixed in recent months. The debt question will not disappear regardless.
The Bottom Line
CoreWeave has leaned on borrowing to fund GPU purchases at a pace few peers can match, and every basis point of interest expense chips away at the free cash flow bulls are counting on.
Whether that becomes a real risk or another footnote in a blistering growth story likely hinges on how fast the chip landscape shifts, and whether rival silicon actually erodes Nvidia’s pricing power the way Shkreli fears.
Photo: iQoncept / Shutterstock
Login to comment