‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Says CRWV Stock Is A ‘Short’, While Wall Street Raises Price Targets After Earnings

Shkreli compared CoreWeave’s leverage to debt-heavy telecom companies such as Global Crossing and WorldCom.

• Martin called CoreWeave a "short" and stated that its debt burden is too large to support sustainable free cash flow.
• Shkreli also questioned the durability of demand for CoreWeave’s GPU fleet as new chips, TPUs and ASICs reshape the AI infrastructure market.
• Wells Fargo, Piper Sandler and Baird raised their targets while pointing to improving margins, bookings, active megawatts and strong AI demand.

‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli said on Wednesday that Nvidia (NVDA)-backed CoreWeave (CRWV) shares are a “short” after the company's second-quarter results showed that the company’s revenue doubled, but its debt kept on climbing. However, analysts have raised their price targets on the stock. 

“Coreweave is a short. debt is too large to generate FCF,”  the former hedge fund manager and pharmaceutical executive wrote in a post on X, questioning whether demand for CoreWeave's GPU fleet can hold up given a rapidly evolving chip landscape. “You think B200 will sell out for the next 10 years with 0 process improvements, TPUs, ASICs, etc?"

CRWV stock rose more than 20% at market open, eyeing an over one-month high, and was among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits. 

Retail sentiment around the shares surged to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘neutral’ over the past day, while chatter jumped to ‘extremely high’ from ‘low’ levels. Platform data showed a message volume jump of over 800% in the last 24 hours. 

CoreWeave’s Revenue Doubles, But Losses Climb

CoreWeave’s second-quarter (Q2) revenue surged 112% year-over-year to $2.58 billion. The company also raised its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to between $12.4 billion and $13.2 billion, backed by an order backlog exceeding $104 billion. 

However, CoreWeave’s net loss widened to $626 million, from $290 million a year earlier, weighed down by $640 million in net interest expense as CoreWeave borrows heavily to fund its buildout. 

Martin Shkreli Questions CoreWeave’s Debt, GPU Demand

Shkreli’s latest criticism centers on CoreWeave’s leverage and the durability of demand for its GPU infrastructure. He compared CoreWeave and other AI infrastructure companies with debt-heavy telecom businesses such as Global Crossing and WorldCom, stating that they were “drunk on leverage.”

Skhreli’s comments come after earlier criticism of CoreWeave and the broader "circular accounting” of the AI industry. His thesis is that chipmakers, cloud providers and AI labs can effectively support each other’s revenue through interconnected spending, creating a structure that becomes more vulnerable if AI capital expenditure growth slows.

Wall Street’s Take Is Broadly Bullish

Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin increased his target to $160 from $155 while maintaining an ‘Overweight’ rating, as per TheFly. He pointed to second-quarter contribution margins of 30% to 35% as evidence that "the margin story is coming into focus," helped by price increases and a shift toward shorter-duration, higher-monetization deals.

Piper Sandler lifted its target to $153 from $151 and was also ‘Overweight’. It cited “impressive” net-new active megawatts, strong Q3 bookings, and a raised full-year guide as signs AI demand is "moving from experimentation into core operations" and becoming more broad-based across geographies and sectors.

Analysts Split On CoreWeave’s Risk-Reward 

Other analysts also raised their targets but took a more cautious stance. Mizuho increased its target to $115 from $100 and kept a ‘Neutral’ rating on CoreWeave shares. The firm described the second-quarter upside as "subdued" and said it continues to view the risk-reward profile as balanced because of uncertainty around the scale of near-term revenue upside.

JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee raised his target to $120 from $110 and maintained a ‘Neutral’ rating, citing margin upside as the key driver.

Bernstein, which maintains an ‘Underperform’ rating, lifted its target to $74 from $67. The firm acknowledged a mild revenue beat, a more significant adjusted operating income beat and higher fiscal 2026 guidance, while conceding that "bulls are re-energized."

CRWV stock has gained over 22% this year but is down over 33% in the last 12 months.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<