Nebius Soars 7% as a Rival’s AI Cloud Beat Lifts Neoclouds After “Reactionary” Selloff
📈 Nebius Group stock rose 7% today as positive sentiment from rival neocloud IREN helped reverse a previous 15% selloff.
💰 Rival IREN reported AI cloud revenue nearly tripled to $200 million, with contract prices rising 11-12% on multi-year deals.
🤝 Nebius holds a massive Microsoft contract valued between $17.4 billion and $19.4 billion while building necessary capacity.
📊 Analysts project Nebius revenue to grow from $530 million in 2025 to $22.9 billion by 2028 without needing estimate cuts.
💹 The stock currently trades at approximately 5.4x forward sales, roughly half its five-year average of 10.6x.
🔍 Co-CEO Daniel Roberts of IREN attributed a revenue target delay to a customer design change from Microsoft, not lack of demand.
🚀 NVIDIA, which invested $2.0 billion in Nebius, is monitoring the sector closely ahead of its own October quarter report.
📅 Nebius's third-quarter earnings report next week will test if annualized revenue can reach the $7-9 billion guidance for December.
📉 Thursday's market drop was characterized by Jefferies strategist Jane Gibbons as a 'reactionary' move given strong underlying fundamentals.
- Nebius stock gained 7% today, recovering from a prior 15% slide after rival IREN demonstrated resilient AI demand with tripling revenue.
- The broader neocloud sector shows pricing power with rivals raising contract prices by 11-12%, suggesting buyers are still paying up for compute.
- Analysts maintain strong growth expectations, forecasting Nebius revenue to expand from $530 million in 2025 to $22.9 billion by 2028.
- The company secures a massive Microsoft contract worth $17.4-19.4 billion, providing a clear long-term revenue pipeline despite capacity build-out challenges.
- Nebius trades at a significant discount to its historical valuation, currently priced at 5.4x forward sales versus a five-year average of 10.6x.
- A customer design change from Microsoft delayed the rival's revenue target, potentially creating similar timing risks for Nebius's own large Microsoft contract.