CoreWeave falls more than 5% premarket after 15.5% drop

CoreWeave fell more than 5% in premarket trading Friday, CNBC’s Investing Club newsletter said Oct. 16, extending pressure after a 15.5% drop on Wednesday.

The Oct. 16 newsletter framed CoreWeave’s weakness against a wider AI unwind: the Nasdaq reversed a 1.4% intraday loss Thursday to close up 0.08%, while a lower iShares Semiconductor ETF would mark nine straight declines.

CNBC said CoreWeave had looked set for another steep fall Thursday before Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang dismissed concerns about the company’s cost of capital, the price a company pays to finance itself. Nvidia has a large stake in CoreWeave, according to the newsletter.

CoreWeave is described in the newsletter as a neocloud, a newer cloud-computing provider focused on renting computing capacity for AI workloads. That makes the stock a market gauge for investor confidence in the capital-intensive buildout behind artificial intelligence.

Another AI valuation marker also softened. Some Anthropic investors now expect the frontier AI company, a term used for developers of advanced general-purpose AI models, to come public at a valuation closer to $1.5 trillion, down from $2 trillion, because of concerns about slower revenue growth, CNBC said, citing a Reuters report.

The difference between those valuation expectations is $500 billion, or a 25% reduction from the higher figure, according to Atlas360 calculations. The share sale is still planned for November, according to the Reuters report cited by CNBC.

Tesla moved the other way. Its shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading after the company unveiled a new Roadster that it said can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in under one second and uses SpaceX technology in a propulsion system that can make it “fly.” Production is targeted for 2028.

Morgan Stanley said the near-term volume and earnings-per-share impact from the Roadster “are likely negligible,” according to the CNBC newsletter. The bank also said Tesla’s engineering position and SpaceX crossover were hard to ignore.

Netflix shares fell more than 3% before the open after the company announced that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria will leave. Former Disney executive Peter Rice is set to replace her on Oct. 26.

CNBC said Netflix has lost more than 40% of its value since June 2025, citing worries about engagement trends and a shortage of breakout hits. The leadership change puts the content operation under fresh scrutiny before the company reports earnings next Tuesday.

The newsletter also highlighted several Wall Street calls outside the AI trade. UBS raised its Cardinal Health price target to $295 from $280 and kept a buy rating, while Morgan Stanley cut its Boeing target to $225 from $250 and maintained a hold rating.

J.B. Hunt shares were down about 3% premarket after a mixed quarter in which profitability was pressured by higher labor, fuel and insurance-related costs, CNBC said. Wells Fargo lowered its price target to $285 from $305 and kept a buy rating, while Morgan Stanley cut its target to $195 from $200 and reiterated a sell rating.

KeyBanc downgraded Workday to hold from buy, with analysts expecting a longer path for adoption of the company’s AI products. Bank of America estimated PepsiCo could lose $500 million in sales from Yum Brands-owned KFC switching to Coca-Cola, while saying Taco Bell’s next move was the larger question.

Netflix reports earnings on Oct. 20, according to CNBC. Investors will be able to compare the company’s results with the newsletter’s cited concerns about engagement trends and the lack of breakout hits.

Peter Rice is due to replace Bela Bajaria as Netflix chief content officer on Oct. 26, according to the company announcement cited by CNBC.

Anthropic’s share sale is reportedly still planned for November, according to the Reuters report cited by CNBC. The observable issue is whether investors continue to anchor expectations closer to $1.5 trillion rather than $2 trillion.