Top AI Stock Picks: CoreWeave vs. Nebius

Key Points

Both CoreWeave and Nebius are focused on building and equipping data centers with the most cutting-edge technology to attract various AI businesses. These companies consider Microsoft as a key client, and each business expects to double its revenue in 2026. The artificial intelligence (AI) investing landscape is making some investors nervous due to the massive capital being used in building computing infrastructure. However, it's important for investors to position themselves to invest in the companies that are part of this build-out.

Understanding the AI Investment Landscape

Artificial intelligence (AI) investing has seen an unprecedented amount of capital being poured into computing infrastructure. This level of investment is unlike anything seen before, which can make investors wary. However, there's a case to be made for investing in the companies that are directly involved in this build-out. These companies are currently generating revenue and do not have to wait for AI to prove its usefulness, as it will take years before investors know if all the money spent was worth it.

CoreWeave and Nebius are two popular stocks in this space. Both companies are focused on building and equipping data centers with the latest technology to attract AI businesses. But which one is the better buy now?

CoreWeave and Nebius: Rapid Expansion

CoreWeave's data centers are being built with a handful of customers in mind. In 2025, one customer accounted for 67% of CoreWeave's revenue. Although unnamed in its annual report, this customer is largely assumed to be Microsoft. Microsoft is an established company that's growing rapidly and needs as much cloud computing capacity as possible, so it's not like an unreliable customer is CoreWeave's biggest client.

Microsoft is also one of Nebius' biggest customers. It has a multibillion-dollar contract, giving Nebius a solid client. However, Nebius also has a huge contract with Meta Platforms. Both Nebius and CoreWeave are ways for the AI hyperscalers to obtain massive computing power quickly, so it should come as no surprise that these two are racing to build out as much computing infrastructure as possible so their biggest clients can expand with them.

Revenue Growth Projections

This rapid expansion has led to some impressive revenue growth projections for both companies. For 2026 and 2027, Wall Street analysts project Nebius' revenue to grow at 532% and 181%, respectively. CoreWeave's growth is comparatively slower, but it's still expected to grow at a 142% pace in 2026 and 85% in 2027.

This gives investors an idea of how rapidly these two are expanding, but which one is the better buy now?

Profitability and Valuation

Neither company is turning a profit quite yet. Both companies are spending as much money as possible to build out their computing capacity to capture as much market share as possible before the AI build-out is over. This is a smart move, and investors need to understand that profits will come eventually, but not right now. As a result, valuing the stocks off sales seems to be the best move. However, with how quickly Nebius expects to grow this year versus CoreWeave, I'm going to use the forward price-to-sales ratio to assess their relative valuations.

From this perspective, CoreWeave is quite a bit cheaper than Nebius. As a result, I think CoreWeave has a better value proposition than Nebius. However, that's not everything investors should consider. Although we know neither company is generating a profit, it's good to assess how far away each company is from breaking even. If we look at each operating margin, it's clear that CoreWeave is far closer than Nebius is.

As a result, I'm going to give the nod to CoreWeave in this comparison. It's cheaper and a lot closer to breaking even than Nebius is. It also has a close relationship with Nvidia, its primary computing unit supplier. This could become invaluable if GPU supply becomes tight, giving CoreWeave a huge advantage over the competition. Still, I think investors can invest in both companies and be all right, as the AI build-out will produce several big winners.

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