CoreWeave (CRWV) gets a qualified buy from Cramer as $104 billion backlog meets $35.6 billion in debt

On September 16, Mad Money host Jim Cramer fielded a caller question about CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV) and offered a qualified buy, saying the company is "smack in the middle of the great industrial buildout" and that he thinks it is "going to be okay to buy." He flagged that the setup becomes more speculative as the Federal Reserve raises rates, because the company carries heavy debt that gets costlier in a tightening cycle. The next catalyst in focus is third-quarter commentary, which will be the first to incorporate more than $25 billion in new customer commitments added since June 30.

The order book and the balance sheet

CoreWeave reported second-quarter revenue of $2.58 billion, roughly 112% above the same period a year earlier. The revenue backlog stood at $104 billion as of June 30. That figure captures contracted work supporting leading artificial intelligence developers, and it excludes the $25 billion-plus in new commitments the company says were added in the third quarter, meaning the visible order book is already larger than the print that anchored the last earnings report.

On the other side of the ledger, CoreWeave carried $35.6 billion of total indebtedness as of June 30. Third-party financial databases put total debt closer to $51.6 billion when lease liabilities are included. For a company expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure at this pace, lease obligations represent a real line on the balance sheet. Floating-rate debt within that stack becomes more expensive if benchmark rates move higher, and Cramer said directly that heavier borrowing gets harder if the Fed raises rates.

What the positioning shows

Insider Monkey tracking data shows 71 hedge funds held positions in CoreWeave during the second quarter, up from 63 in the prior quarter. Short interest stands at 17.84% of the public float. Conviction is building on one side, a substantial short base remains on the other, and that split positioning will amplify any move on guidance or rate news.

Third-quarter results will show whether the $25 billion-plus in new commitments translate into recognized revenue fast enough to cover the cost of $35.6 billion in reported debt.