CoreWeave stock slides nearly 8% as insider sales and data-center funding jitters hit CRWV

February 20, 2026
CoreWeave stock slides nearly 8% as insider sales and data-center funding jitters hit CRWV

New York, Feb 20, 2026, 10:42 ET — Regular session rolls on.

  • CoreWeave shares slipped roughly 8% by late morning, hitting an intraday low just under $88 earlier.
  • According to SEC filings, the chief development officer offloaded shares through a pre-arranged trading plan.
  • CoreWeave’s quarterly numbers are on deck next week, and investors are on edge.

CoreWeave dropped 8% to $89.40 on Friday, deepening this week’s volatility for the AI cloud infrastructure company. Investors have been eyeing new signs of funding pressure tied to large-scale data-center projects. Shares fell as low as $87.91 after starting the session at $93.65.

CoreWeave relies on rapid, high-cost expansion—think power, land, servers, chips. So when lenders start to show nerves, it can hit the stock fast, particularly right before earnings.

Blue Owl Capital hit some resistance finding outside debt for its nearly $4 billion data center build in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which CoreWeave plans to occupy, according to Business Insider. Lenders, the report noted, balked over CoreWeave’s junk-rated credit and the company’s heavy debt stack from rapid growth. Blue Owl maintains the project is “fully funded” and construction is moving ahead. “If there is a struggle to find the debt financing, that’s a bit of a red flag,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Brennan Hawken told Business Insider. (Business Insider)

Reuters also singled out the Lancaster financing in a Friday piece on Blue Owl’s tumble, pointing to it as a fresh concern. Investors are sharpening their focus on liquidity and risk across private credit linked to the booming data-center sector. (Reuters)

CoreWeave flagged significant insider selling in recent disclosures. According to a batch of Form 4s filed Feb. 19, Chief Development Officer Brannin McBee unloaded a total of 166,645 Class A shares across several trades on Feb. 17, following a conversion of Class B shares. The documents note these sales were executed under a Rule 10b5-1 plan put in place Sept. 2, 2025. Transaction prices ranged from about $89 up to the mid-$90s. (Securities and Exchange Commission)

AI-related stocks look uneasy heading into next week. Reuters, in its “Week Ahead” column, noted that investors are zeroed in on Nvidia’s earnings coming Wednesday, Feb. 25, hoping for signals on AI spending and overall mood; “it’s hard for Nvidia to surprise when everyone expects it to surprise,” said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower. Reuters also pointed to upcoming results from AI infrastructure names like CoreWeave. (Reuters)

Still, momentum can reverse quickly. On Friday, law firm Hagens Berman announced a securities class action has been filed against CoreWeave and several executives over alleged data-center delays and infrastructure risks, urging affected investors to reach out. “We are investigating” the possible disconnect between what the company told investors and actual construction progress, partner Reed Kathrein said in a statement. (PR Newswire)

Traders are split: is this just a fleeting funding scare, or does it mark a broader jump in capital costs across the AI data-center supply chain? The impact can be seen in tighter borrowing terms, shifts in lease structures, and delays in ramping up new capacity.

CoreWeave releases its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 numbers this Thursday, Feb. 26, with a 5:00 p.m. ET call set for investors. The focus: clarity on demand, updated spending plans, and whether there’s a shift in how the company is funding its upcoming buildouts. (Coreweave)