CoreWeave Stock Slips as Analysts Question $9B Core Scientific Acquisition

Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV) opened lower on Tuesday as analysts questioned whether the company’s recent acquisition of Core Scientific (CORZ) would contribute meaningfully to its bottom line.

CRWV stock was down 3.6% after the opening bell, hitting a low of $153.97. Despite the decline, the crypto miner turned AI infrastructure company holds a market capitalization of $75 billion after posting a 288% gain since its initial public offering in March.

Selling pressure mounted after D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria raised doubts about CoreWeave’s $9 billion all-share deal to acquire Core Scientific, announced Monday.

As Cointelegraph reported, the deal provides Core Scientific shareholders with 0.1235 shares of newly issued CoreWeave Class A common stock for each share of CORZ they hold.

“Core Scientific’s purchase doesn’t add any profits to CRWV,” Luria told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “All they’re doing is ensuring CORZ doesn’t give its capacity to somebody else.”

Analysts at Mizuho downgraded CoreWeave shares to “Neutral” from “Outperform.” While they acknowledged the potential benefits of the Core Scientific acquisition, they said CRWV’s risk-reward profile now appears “balanced,” suggesting the stock may take a breather after its nearly 300% rally.

Related: Bitcoin mining stocks post double-digit gains in weekly rally

CoreWeave acquires volatile mining business

Shares of crypto mining companies like Core Scientific are highly volatile, often showing wide price swings due to their dependence on the cryptocurrency market.

Core Scientific’s business is also closely tied to Bitcoin’s (BTC) quadrennial halving cycle, which was reflected in its first-quarter earnings report, where its core operations saw declines in both revenue and profitability.

While CoreWeave may inherit some of this volatility following its acquisition, it’s unclear whether Core Scientific will retain its Bitcoin mining business. 

CoreWeave said in its acquisition announcement that it sees “potential to repurpose [Core Scientific’s assets] toward HPC usage or divest crypto mining business over the medium-term horizon.”

HPC, or high-performance computing, and AI workloads were already an increasing focus for Core Scientific before the acquisition.

Several other miners, including Hive Digital, have made similar pivots to help protect revenue and earnings amid volatile crypto prices.

Related: Bitcoin miners gambled on AI last year, and it paid off