CrowdStrike stock surges 15% after results, outlook exceed Wall Street expectations
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. shares surged in the extended session Wednesday after the cybersecurity company’s quarterly results and outlook exceeded Wall Street expectations on all fronts.
CrowdStrike CRWD,
The company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $42 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a loss of $19 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted net income, which excludes stock-based compensation and other items, was 30 cents a share, compared with 13 cents a share in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose to $431 million from $264.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Annual recurring revenue, or ARR, a software-as-a-service metric that shows how much revenue the company can expect based on subscriptions, grew 65% to $1.73 billion from the year-ago quarter.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected CrowdStrike to report earnings of 20 cents a share on revenue of $411 million, based on the company’s outlook of 19 cents to 21 cents a share on revenue of $406.5 million to $412.3 million.
“CrowdStrike once again delivered an exceptional fourth quarter and capped off a record year, achieving new milestones across both the top and bottom line,” said George Kurtz, CrowdStrike co-founder and chief executive, in a statement. “Net new ARR of $217 million in the quarter was a new all-time high, driven by expansion of our leadership in the core endpoint market as well as a record quarter for cloud, identity protection and Humio.”
CrowdStrike expects adjusted fiscal first-quarter earnings of 22 cents to 24 cents a share on revenue of $458.9 million to $465.4 million, while analysts forecast earnings of 17 cents a share on revenue of $440.3 million, according to FactSet.
For the year, the company forecast an earnings range of $1.03 to $1.13 a share on revenue of $2.13 billion to $2.16 billion. Wall Street expects 90 cents a share on revenue of $2 billion.
As of Wednesday’s close, the stock is down 14.7% over the past 12 months, versus a 10.4% rise on the S&P 500 index SPX,