CoreWeave (CRWV) stock has fallen 37 percent over the past 12 months, badly trailing the S&P 500's 17 percent return. Investor anxiety about the company's debt load—currently 112.2 percent of market value versus 21 percent for the index—has hammered the valuation since May.

But the sell-off masks a far stronger picture. CoreWeave reported $104.2 billion in revenue backlog as of Q2 2026, representing contracted sales not yet booked. That's a 246 percent increase year-over-year. The company also added more than $25 billion in net new customer commitments in early Q3.

Executives said on the Aug. 11 earnings call that delivery has already begun on more than half the backlog. The remaining half requires capacity expansion—a capital-intensive but well-funded process.

CoreWeave ended Q2 with 1.5 gigawatts of active power. By August, it had 4.2 gigawatts under contract. Management raised its 2026 year-end target to more than 1.85 gigawatts from a prior forecast of 1.7 gigawatts.

Revenue growth backs the backlog story. Sales more than doubled year-over-year to $7.6 billion over the trailing 12 months, up from $3.5 billion. Management guided for Q3 revenue of $3.45 billion to $3.6 billion, up from $2.6 billion in Q2.

The stock trades at 5.9 times sales, a premium to the S&P 500's 3.0 times sales, yet sits 43 percent below its 52-week high. That discount suggests the market is heavily discounting backlog conversion risk.

Capital intensity is real. CoreWeave spent $9.4 billion on capex in Q2 alone and projects $35 billion to $39 billion for all of 2026. The company has raised approximately $18 billion through debt, convertibles and equity to fund the buildout.

In September, CoreWeave priced $3.7 billion of convertible senior notes, exceeding the initial $3.0 billion target. Interest expense reached $640 million in Q2, a period marked by net losses.

Here's the key: CoreWeave's debt load is high but not unsustainable given the backlog visibility. If the company executes on even 70 percent of its contracted revenue over the next 18 months, equity investors will have been massively undercompensated for the execution risk. The stock's current discount to growth peers reflects near-term funding anxiety, not fundamental deterioration.