SpaceX Revenue Jumps 161%, Boosting Appetite for AI Stocks
Key Facts
SpaceX's revenue rose to $14.6 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 161% year on year, according to the Associated Press, as its satellite communications and artificial intelligence businesses boomed. The company posted quarterly profit of $4.4 billion over the same period, according to figures the agency cited from its results. Earnings per share stood at 35 cents, in results that combined revenue growth with a quarterly profit. The agency said the company's satellite communications and artificial intelligence businesses "boomed," identifying the two activities accompanying its financial performance. On Wall Street, Reuters reported that results from SpaceX and Super Micro improved investor appetite for AI stocks, with U.S. indexes opening higher on Wednesday.
CoreWeave rents computing capacity powered by Nvidia processors to companies developing and running AI applications, according to Reuters' description of its business. Its customers include Microsoft and OpenAI, which use the computing capacity it provides for their AI operations. CoreWeave's contracted revenue backlog stood at about $104 billion at the end of June 2026, according to the company's second-quarter earnings statement. Michael Intrator said in the statement: "Customer demand is accelerating as enterprise adoption expands," linking demand growth to broader use among businesses. In a management memo to employees cited by Reuters, CoreWeave said it secured more than $25 billion in net new customer commitments during the third quarter.
CoreWeave's results for the second quarter of 2026 showed quarterly revenue rising to $2,575 million, according to the results table published by the company. Revenue in the corresponding quarter of 2025 was about $1,212 million, marking an increase in sales of its services from the same period a year earlier. Its quarterly net loss, however, widened to $626 million in the second quarter of 2026, according to the same statement. The company had posted a net loss of $290 million in the corresponding period of 2025. Higher quarterly revenue was thus accompanied by a widening net loss, as the company reported accelerating customer demand and broader enterprise adoption of its services.
On the financing side, CoreWeave's total indebtedness stood at $35.6 billion at the end of June 2026, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said in the filing that this indebtedness "requires substantial payments of interest and principal." In the bond market, Reuters reported during the week of October 16 that the company's bonds issued in June had fallen in value. The yield on those bonds rose to 15% during the week of the report, compared with 9.675% at issuance, according to the agency. Brett Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at eToro, told Reuters: "Clearly, the sharp rise in bond yields has worried investors, but it does not mean CoreWeave is necessarily headed for bankruptcy."
In the stock market, CoreWeave shares ended the October 20, 2026 session at $62.13, according to market closing data on the EL7 platform. SpaceX shares closed the same session at $147.79, according to the platform's data. Both closes preceded SpaceX's earnings announcement, which was followed by improved investor appetite for AI stocks at Wednesday's open, according to the sequence reported by the Associated Press and Reuters. CoreWeave is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CRWV, having completed its public listing in March 2025, according to its investor relations page. On Polymarket, contracts trade on whether CoreWeave will declare bankruptcy by specified deadlines, and the platform describes its contract prices as "real-time probabilities derived from traders' assessments."
Investors' attention next turns to results from Meta and Tesla scheduled for after the market close on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, according to Reuters. Investors await Meta's results for confirmation of continued AI momentum, after results from SpaceX and Super Micro supported the sector's shares. Tesla is also scheduled to report after the close, as part of the next market focus identified by the agency for U.S. markets. The forthcoming results follow a higher open for Wall Street indexes on Wednesday. In the trading backdrop, CoreWeave combines new customer commitments exceeding $25 billion in the third quarter with a debt burden that the company said requires substantial payments of interest and principal.