Citi Just Set a Fresh Street-High Target of $287 on Nebius Stock. Here’s Why Analysts Are Bullish.

Ebube Jones

Mon, May 18, 2026 at 4:48 PM EDT 5 min read

Based in Amsterdam and spun out from Yandex’s international business, Nebius Group (NBIS) has steadily reshaped itself into a full‑stack “neocloud” operator. The firm just posted a standout Q1 2026, with revenue hitting $399 million, up 684% from a year earlier, while its AI Cloud business jumped 841% to $390 million and sent the stock up 15.72% in one day.

That kind of growth is being backed by big, concrete wins. Nebius has a near $27 billion multi‑year AI infrastructure deal with Meta Platforms (META), a 1.2 GW power agreement tied to a possible $20 billion push into the U.S., and approvals in hand for its first gigawatt‑scale AI factory.

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Only a few days after those headlines and the earnings beat, Citi took its call up a notch, lifting its price target on NBIS to a Street‑high $287 from $169 and sticking with a Buy rating.

So, what is Citi seeing in Nebius that makes a $287 target make sense, and are other analysts starting to move in the same direction?

Nebius Numbers Behind The Bull Case

Nebius is a Netherlands-based company that runs cloud infrastructure built around high-density GPU data centers and large-scale computing for enterprise and hyperscale customers. Its stock up 138.17% year-to-date (YTD) and 434.2% over the past 52 weeks. The company is now valued at about $55.65 billion.

NBIS trades at 16.36 times sales versus a sector median of 3.33 times and 9.16 times book value versus a 4.45 times sector median, showing high growth expectations.

Nebius’ first quarter of 2026 was strong by any measure. The company’s revenue climbed to $399.0 million from $50.9 million a year earlier, a 684% jump as demand ramped quickly. Their March 31 earnings release also came in well ahead of expectations. Nebius reported EPS of -$0.23, far better than the consensus estimate of -$0.81, for a 71.60% upside surprise.

The profitability picture improved sharply on the surface. Its adjusted EBITDA swung from a loss of $53.7 million to a profit of $129.5 million, while net income from continuing operations moved from a $104.3 million loss to a $621.2 million profit.

There was still some pressure underneath those headline numbers. Adjusted net loss widened to $100.3 million from $83.6 million, showing the business is still spending heavily as it expands. And, Nebius is leaning harder into that investment cycle. The company lifted its 2026 capex outlook to $20 billion to $25 billion from $16 billion to $20 billion, with part of that budget going toward 2027 capacity expected to start adding revenue in the first half of next year.