Core Scientific Just Rejected CoreWeave’s Bid. Should You Buy CRWV Stock Here or Stay Far Away?

Artificial intelligence (AI) data center provider CoreWeave (CRWV) just faced a major setback in its expansion journey. The company’s ambitious $9 billion all-stock deal to buy crypto miner Core Scientific (CORZ) has officially been rejected. On Oct. 30, Core Scientific shareholders voted against the proposal, putting an end to months of heated investor debates. The deal was a key part of CoreWeave’s strategy to lock in the energy and data center capacity needed to meet the surging demand for AI infrastructure.

In fact, this marks the second time CoreWeave’s courtship with Core Scientific has collapsed, following a June 2024 all-cash offer that was also turned away. CoreWeave investors didn’t take the latest blow lightly, with the company’s shares tanking almost 6.3% on the news. Now, with the acquisition off the table, is this a golden chance to buy CRWV on the dip, or a sign to stay on the sidelines?

Founded in 2017, New Jersey-based CoreWeave began its journey as a small cryptocurrency mining operation after the founders mined their first Ethereum block using a single GPU on a pool table. Recognizing the growing demand for GPU computing beyond crypto, CoreWeave pivoted to offer high-performance, GPU-accelerated cloud services tailored for AI, graphics processing, and machine learning.

The company has since evolved into one of the fastest-growing AI cloud providers, known for its close partnership with Nvidia (NVDA) and its mission to deliver scalable, energy-efficient data center solutions for the AI era. Since its public debut in March 2025, investor enthusiasm has exploded. Boasting strategic partnerships with companies such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft (MSFT), and Nvidia, CoreWeave has captured Wall Street’s attention.

Currently valued at about $52.94 billion by market capitalization, shares of this AI infrastructure company have soared to a stunning 91% in the past six months, easily crushing the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) 19% return during the same stretch.

CoreWeave’s second-quarter 2025 results, released on Aug. 12, showcased explosive growth fueled by insatiable AI demand. Revenue soared a whopping 207% year-over-year (YOY) to $1.2 billion, easily surpassing expectations of $1.08 billion, as enterprises worldwide doubled down on AI training and inference workloads.

The company’s backlog ballooned to $30.1 billion, reflecting massive visibility into future revenue, while its contracted power capacity climbed to 2.2 gigawatts, reinforcing its position as a key player in the AI data center ecosystem. Adding to the excitement, CoreWeave secured a $4 billion expansion deal with OpenAI, bringing total commitments to an impressive $16 billion.

The company also became the first to deploy Nvidia’s cutting-edge GB200 NVL72 systems at scale, powering workloads for frontier AI innovators such as Cohere, International Business Machines (IBM), and Mistral AI, while rolling out new B200-based instances for next-generation AI applications. However, profitability remains a work in progress.

Rising costs weighed on the bottom line, with CoreWeave reporting a net loss of $290.5 million, or $0.60 per share, although this was an improvement from last year’s loss of $323 million, or $1.62 per share. On an adjusted basis, the company posted a wider loss of $130.8 million, up sharply from $5.1 million loss registered a year earlier.

Looking ahead, CoreWeave expects full-year 2025 revenue to be between $5.15 billion and $5.35 billion, compared to the $4.9 billion to $5.1 billion projected earlier. Investors will be watching closely when the company reports its fiscal 2025 third-quarter earnings after the market closes on Monday, Nov. 10, as Wall Street looks for signs that its rapid expansion can eventually translate into profitability.

Once a humble crypto miner, Core Scientific has evolved into a leading AI business by leveraging advanced infrastructure and expertise in HPC. That’s exactly why CoreWeave came knocking. Also, a former crypto miner turned AI cloud powerhouse, CoreWeave, unveiled an audacious $9 billion all-stock deal in July 2025 to acquire Core Scientific. Owning the company outright would have given CoreWeave full control of the energy and data center capacity fueling its rapidly growing AI infrastructure empire.

However, not everyone was on board. Major shareholder in Core Scientific, Two Seas Capital, fiercely opposed the acquisition. The firm argued that Core Scientific was better off remaining independent, citing that the company’s stock could have traded twice as high as the value of the CoreWeave transaction if valued in line with its AI infrastructure peers, rather than being “tethered to CoreWeave’s underperforming stock.”

Two Seas Capital urged fellow investors to reject the deal, calling it a move that would “transfer significant value to CoreWeave” and cut short Core Scientific’s bright standalone future. When the deal went to a vote on Oct. 30, shareholders sided with Two Seas Capital. The proposal failed to gain majority approval, and Core Scientific terminated the merger immediately. For CoreWeave, it was a major setback, marking the second failed takeover attempt, following a June 2024 all-cash offer that had also been turned down.

Had the deal succeeded, CoreWeave would have gained control of roughly 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of Core Scientific’s power capacity across its U.S. data centers, with room to expand by another 1 GW. The acquisition promised massive synergies, including streamlined operations, lower financing costs, and more direct control over key power resources. In short, it could have solidified CoreWeave’s dominance in the AI data center arms race.

While CoreWeave’s stock took a hit, Core Scientific investors celebrated this new development. Analysts also quickly jumped on the bullish bandwagon, calling the deal’s collapse a win for shareholders and a powerful endorsement of Core Scientific’s standalone growth trajectory.

Despite this latest hiccup, analysts aren’t backing away from CoreWeave’s AI story just yet. Wall Street still maintains a “Moderate Buy” consensus overall, reflecting continued confidence in the company’s long-term growth. Among the 27 analysts covering the name, 13 have tagged it a “Strong Buy,” one issued a “Moderate Buy,” 12 believe it’s a “Hold,” and the remaining one suggests a “Strong Sell.”

The average price target of $141.84 points to roughly 41% possible upside, while the highest estimate of $200 on Wall Street suggests the stock could double from here.

On the date of publication, Anushka Mukherji did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com