CoreWeave shares climbed 19% after the company reported second-quarter results, and Goldman Sachs responded by keeping its Neutral rating while raising its 12-month price target to $139 from $121 in an Aug. 20 research note. Goldman said the revised target implies 53% upside from the current share price referenced in the report.
The bank’s central view is that the near-term case for the AI cloud infrastructure provider is now clearer, while the main debate has shifted to the longer-term path of margins. Goldman said demand, pricing, and capacity are all backing the short-term story. What remains less certain is whether software services can move from early traction to scaled revenue streams that can support a lasting improvement in profitability.
Demand, pricing, and capacity all support the near-term case
Goldman said CoreWeave’s revenue backlog rose 5% quarter over quarter to $104 billion. The pace of quarterly additions slowed compared with previous quarters, but the company had already added more than $25 billion in committed contracts after entering the third quarter. Goldman described that shift in cadence as normal and said it does not signal any weakening in underlying demand.
Pricing trends also look firmer. According to the report, next-generation chips including Blackwell and Vera Rubin continue to set new pricing highs, while older-generation chips are holding flat or even above year-ago levels. One recently signed A100 contract extends deliveries through 2029. Goldman also said new contracts signed in the second quarter carry contribution margins 5% to 10% above more recent contracts, and that the company continues to target contribution margins in the mid-20% range.
Capacity is running close to full utilization. Active power capacity increased from 1GW in the first quarter to more than 1.5GW, while contracted power capacity reached 3.7GW by quarter-end and then rose to 4.2GW on Aug. 11. Management lifted its 2026 target for active power capacity to more than 1.85GW from 1.7GW and kept its 2030 target unchanged at more than 8GW.
Enterprise customers are becoming a larger part of the mix
One change Goldman highlighted was the growing share of enterprise customers. Caterpillar, IBM, Nissan, and ZF are now among CoreWeave’s customers. In Goldman’s reading, demand for AI compute is no longer coming only from large technology companies and is beginning to spread into a broader set of industrial and real-economy users.
Software services are the key variable for long-term margins
Goldman pointed to software as the main variable that could shape CoreWeave’s longer-term profit profile.
The company’s managed inference service lifted contracted annual recurring revenue, or ARR, from $1 million to more than $100 million within a few months. Management expects that figure to reach $250 million by the end of 2026. Goldman said the business is being constrained by capacity rather than demand.
Platform services, which include CPU, storage, networking, and software products, have already surpassed $400 million in ARR. Goldman said that business could continue to grow as customers consolidate more workloads onto the CoreWeave platform.
Another area drawing attention is CoreWeave Omni. The service allows customers to deploy CoreWeave’s cloud stack inside their own data centers using their own GPUs. The first contract has already been signed, and revenue contribution is expected to begin in 2027. Goldman said Omni could open a separate, higher-margin monetization path beyond infrastructure, though it remains early.
Goldman sees narrowing losses and a later margin recovery
CoreWeave remains loss-making. Goldman forecasts earnings per share of -$3.64 in FY2026, -$2.90 in FY2027, and -$1.15 in FY2028.
The bank expects EBIT margin to move from 13% in 2025 down to 8.2% in 2026, then recover to 15.4% in 2027 and improve further to 18.2% in 2028. Goldman attributed that recovery to two main levers: lower unit costs as new capacity comes online and a higher mix of software and other higher-margin businesses.
Under Goldman’s model, CoreWeave EBITDA rises from $3.1 billion in 2025 to $31.3 billion in 2028, representing a compound annual growth rate above 100%.
Price target goes up, but the rating stays Neutral
Goldman raised its price target to $139 from $121 based on a 22x EV/EBIT multiple, down from 24x previously because peer valuations have declined. The $139 target implies 17x 2028 EBIT.
The Neutral rating does not mean Goldman is turning negative on the company’s fundamentals. In the report’s framing, the rating reflects a wait for more proof. Software and platform services still need to become more established contributors to growth and margins before a more positive stance can be justified.
Goldman said the short-term picture is now clearer on three fronts: demand remains ahead of supply, pricing is staying elevated, and capacity is expanding as planned. The longer-term disagreement centers on monetization. The report listed downside risks as weaker demand for generative AI compute, tougher competition from hyperscalers and emerging cloud providers, disruption in data center equipment procurement, and higher financing difficulty. Upside risks include faster AI adoption, sustained leadership across chip generations, earlier-than-expected positive free cash flow, and software demand coming in stronger than expected.
The source article said its discussion was based on Goldman Sachs research dated Aug. 20, 2026, together with public market information. It also noted that the rating, price target, earnings forecasts, and related judgments cited in the piece were the views of Goldman analysts and represented the position of that institution rather than investment advice.
