CoreWeave NASDAQ:CRWV and Nebius NASDAQ:NBIS shares fell Thursday even as BNP Paribas assessed the fast-growing AI cloud infrastructure market, saying strong near-term pricing remains intact but investors are increasingly focused on the industry's long-term profitability.
The research note highlighted improving demand trends while raising questions about how providers will sustain returns as the market evolves.
CoreWeave shares dropped about 4%, while Nebius also declined roughly 6%.
BNP Paribas said recent AI infrastructure agreements involving SpaceX with Anthropic and Google suggest pricing for AI compute remains favorable. The firm added that demand for graphics processing unit (GPU) capacity continues to exceed available supply, supported by recent GPU reservation price increases introduced by Amazon Web Services.
The bank said Nebius may benefit as enterprises increasingly seek lower-cost, open-source AI models instead of premium frontier models. However, it kept a Neutral rating on the stock, citing its strong rally this year despite the constructive long-term outlook.
For CoreWeave, BNP Paribas said expanding capacity is temporarily obscuring underlying profitability, but execution has improved during the second half of 2026. The firm believes newer contracts are being priced to offset higher component costs while preserving margins and said the company's growing infrastructure base could help stabilize profitability over time. It added that the current risk-reward profile remains attractive.