CrowdStrike's strong stock rally set to sustain following upbeat earnings

By Emily Bary

Cybersecurity company boosts its forecast

Better-than-expected results from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. initially met a shrug in Tuesday's extended session, but they later turned solidly higher.

CrowdStrike's (CRWD) fiscal first-quarter revenue surged to $921 million from $693 million a year before, while analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $905 million.

Subscription revenue accounted for nearly all of that total at $872 million, up 34% and above the FactSet consensus of $854 million.

Net income came in at $42.8 million, or 17 cents a share, whereas CrowdStrike essentially broke even a year earlier. After adjustments, the company earned 93 cents a share. The FactSet consensus was for 89 cents in adjusted earnings per share.

After a slow start, the stock gained 6.8% in Tuesday's extended session.

"CrowdStrike started the fiscal year from a position of momentum and exceptional strength," Chief Executive George Kurtz said in a release. He added that "customers of all sizes are standardizing on the Falcon platform to achieve better security outcomes and lower their TCO," or total cost of ownership.

The company's Falcon cybersecurity platform offers detection, prevention and remediation services.

For the current quarter, CrowdStrike models $958.3 million to $961.2 million in total revenue along with 98 cents to 99 cents in adjusted EPS. Analysts were projecting $955 million and 91 cents, respectively.

The company lifted its full-year outlook, which now calls for $3.976 billion to $4.011 billion in revenue as well as $3.93 to $4.03 in adjusted EPS. CrowdStrike's prior forecast was for $3.925 billion to $3.989 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of $3.77 to $3.97.

CrowdStrike's stock is the best-performing U.S. component of the Amplify Cybersecurity ETF so far this year and over a 12-month span, as it's up 20% and 103% over those respective periods.

-Emily Bary

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06-04-24 2023ET

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