Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV 12.14%) had a volatile April along with much of the stock market, but the recent IPO ended up with positive gains after a lackluster debut at the end of March.

There wasn't much news out on CoreWeave in April, as investors await its first earnings report as a public company on May 14, but the stock proved to be highly sensitive to news from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, swinging multiple times on news from peer stocks, and due to macro news.

Despite a broader pullback in the stock market last month, CoreWeave finished April up 11%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

As you can see from the chart, the stock soared early in the month on news from the start-up world, and then fell on broader concerns about tariffs and the economy, though it retained enough of those gains to finish in positive territory.

CRWV data by YCharts

CoreWeave gets a boost from OpenAI

CoreWeave went public on March 28, and had two lackluster trading days before soaring on April 1 and April 2, gaining 66% over a two-day span on news that OpenAI had closed its latest funding round, valuing the company at $300 billion.

OpenAI raised $40 billion from investors including Microsoft and SoftBank, and the news helped shore up concerns that AI infrastructure demand was slowing. AI infrastructure is CoreWeave's business, as the company provides generative AI-focused cloud infrastructure to companies like Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI.

Early in the month, reports also came out that Alphabet's Google was in talks to rent AI servers from CoreWeave, a positive sign.

However, the stock quickly gave up some of those gains in response to the announcement of President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, and continued to drift lower in response to concerns about an economic slowdown.

The stock hit bottom on April 21, and then started to recover on a broader upturn in the market on hopes that U.S.-China trade tensions would ease, and as analyst ratings started rolling in for CoreWeave after the quiet period ended.

CoreWeave received a mix of buy and neutral ratings from analysts, as Wall Street noted the uniqueness of the company and the difficulty of predicting the future of the fast-growing, loss-generating company in a critical market but a volatile economic environment.

Image source: Getty Images.

What's next for CoreWeave?

All eyes will be on the company's first earnings report on May 14, and investors should expect a double-digit swing from the stock, depending on how it performs.

Analysts are expecting revenue of $859.9 million, representing 356% year-over-year growth and 15% sequential growth. Keep an eye on that number when the Q1 results come out, as that will likely determine the stock move.