Better Buy: CoreWeave vs. Nebius Stock

Two of the fastest-growing stocks in the entire market are Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS) and CoreWeave(NASDAQ: CRWV). Both of these players are neocloud companies, cloud computing companies that specialize in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Clearly, right now is a perfect time to be in this industry, and both of these companies are taking advantage of it by capturing customers and securing partners for years to come.

But which one is the better investment? Let's take a look at their business models, financials, and valuation to determine which is the better stock pick.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nebius and CoreWeave each have deals with Nvidia

Nvidia(NASDAQ: NVDA) has been a top company in the AI space since the arms race kicked off in 2023. Investors are paying such close attention to this tech giant that what it's doing and who it's partnering with also get scrutiny. If Nvidia is interested, it's a good sign that a company is doing something right. Both Nebius and CoreWeave have deals with Nvidia to gain access to a large supply of cutting-edge hardware.

While Nebius and CoreWeave are often compared to each other, they do things a bit differently. Nebius offers a full-stack computing setup, which means clients have access to everything they need to train and run AI models. This requires a different set of hardware than CoreWeave, which is focused on filling its data centers with GPUs that can be used for a multitude of AI tasks. However, these GPUs would have to be paired with another computing solution off-site to do anything useful.

An easy way to think of it is Nebius has everything you need, while CoreWeave is providing its users with excess computing power for pre-existing AI setups. Both are useful and cater to specific market segments. As a result, I don't see a way to declare a winner here.

Both companies are growing incredibly fast

The demand for each company's services is massive. In its latest quarter, Nebius' annualized growth rate was a jaw-dropping 501%. What's even more incredible is that Wall Street analysts expect that rate to accelerate this year and stay high through next year. The average analyst projects 523% growth in 2025 and 206% in 2026. That suggests that, from the end of 2025 to the end of 2027, Nebius' revenue will increase from $530 million to $10.1 billion.

CoreWeave isn't growing as fast, but it's also much larger than Nebius.

Data by YCharts.

CoreWeave's annual revenue is currently 10 times the size of Nebius, and although it isn't growing as fast, it's still growing quickly. Wall Street expects 143% revenue growth in 2026 and 89% in 2027. That rate would bring its revenue total up to $23.5 billion in 2027, which is still larger than Nebius', but not 10 times larger.

Although CoreWeave is impressive, I'm going to give the growth edge to Nebius here.

Winner: Nebius

Both stocks carry a premium valuation

Given how fast each company is growing, it shouldn't be a surprise that both stocks trade at a premium valuation. They're also spending as much money as they can get their hands on to capture market opportunity, so the best way to value the stock is to use a price-to-sales ratio.

Data by YCharts.

If we use a trailing metric, Nebius looks very expensive, but we also know it will undergo massive growth this year, just like CoreWeave. Still, even using a forward-looking metric, CoreWeave is a much cheaper stock.

Winner: CoreWeave

So which stock is the better buy?

This race may be too close to call. While Nebius has an advantage in one area, CoreWeave is better in another. I'm still a Nebius fan, given its rapid growth, but I can see an argument for CoreWeave as well. It all comes down to personal preference, and both of these stocks are likely to deliver strong growth over the next few years.

Keithen Drury has positions in Nebius Group and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.