CrowdStrike Shares Explode On Q4 Earnings: 12 Analysts Revise Their Forecasts

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc CRWD shares climbed in early trading on Wednesday, after the company delivered an earnings beat.

The results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways from the release.

Piper Sandler On CrowdStrike

Analyst Rob Owens reiterated an Overweight rating while raising the price target from $300 to $400.

CrowdStrike reported ARR (annual recurring revenue) of $3.44 billion, up 34% year-on-year, and around $40 million higher than Street expectations, Owens said in a note. “Accelerating NNARR growth of +27% punctuated a strong end to the year for CRWD,” he added.

“Platform traction and momentum remain compelling, and management's confidence behind its strategy is unwavering despite comments and GTM strategy changes noted by competitors recently,” the analyst further wrote.

BMO Capital Markets On CrowdStrike

Analyst Keith Bachman maintained an Outperform rating while lifting the price target from $332 to $425.

CrowdStrike net new ARR of $282 million was the highlight of the quarter and was “even higher than buyside expectations, in our judgment,” Bachman said.

He added that the company’s robust quarter and guidance “stand apart from other security reports,” which raised “incremental concerns” around Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s PANW recent challenges.

Stifel On CrowdStrike

Analyst Adam C. Borg reaffirmed a Buy rating, while raising the price target from $315 to $400.

“Despite fears of fatigue/pricing pressure, CrowdStrike delivered a strong close to FY24, with all key top-line/bottom-line metrics above expectations,” Borg wrote in a note.

“Growing traction across emerging Cloud/Identity/LogScale opportunities, which collectively drove $850M+ in ending ARR (+100% Y/Y),” the analyst stated. He added that CrowdStrike is among “a handful of vendors well-positioned to capitalize on cybersecurity platform consolidation as it pursues $10B in ARR in coming years.”

RBC Capital Markets On CrowdStrike

Analyst Matthew Hedberg reiterated an Outperform rating while lifting the price target from $357 to $420.

CrowdStrike delivered upbeat quarterly results even again high expectations, “driven by broad-based momentum and large deal traction with +34% ARR growth, +33% revenue growth and 33% FCF margin,” Hedberg said.

“Despite spending concerns raised by PANW, CRWD continues to execute well and consolidate cyber spending as it remains a top long-term pick,” he added.

Mizuho Securities On CrowdStrike

Analyst Gregg Moskowitz maintained a Buy rating while lifting the price target from $360 to $390.

The company delivered an “exceptionally strong” quarter, with ARR growth of 34% and reaching a record net new ARR, Moskowitz said.

“Mgmt noted that it closed many large consolidation transactions in F4Q, and its Falcon Cloud Security, Identity, and next-gen LogScale SIEM businesses have collectively amassed >$850M in ARR and grew over 100% Y/Y,” he added.

Cantor Fitzgerald On CrowdStrike
Analyst Yi Fu Lee reaffirmed an Overweight rating while raising the price target from $360 to $400.

“CrowdStrike delivered a clean finish to close out FY24 in style,” with higher-than-expected revenues, AR, operating income and free cash flows, Lee stated. “If we were to give out a cybersecurity award for the best-performing vendor for this earnings season, it would be CrowdStrike,” he added.

“A lot of records were shattered in the quarter as the company posted record net new ARR, +28% y/y to $282M; a record number of large customers, >$1M in ARR at >580; and record profitability across the board,” the analyst further wrote.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

Guggenheim Securities On CrowdStrike

Analyst John DiFucci reiterated a Buy rating while lifting the price target from $358 to $424.

“CrowdStrike reported strong results in the midst of a storm of Software disappointment,” DiFucci wrote.

The company showed that challenges could be overcome with “near-flawless execution, a strong product platform consisting of a broad range of relevant functionality that represents the highest priority of IT spenders (i.e., security), and the ability to quickly adjust to market conditions and dedicate resources where they’ll most efficiently be leveraged,” he added.

Oppenheimer On CrowdStrike

Analyst Ittai Kidron maintained an Outperform rating while raising the price target to $355.
CrowdStrike’s results did not show any signs of spending fatigue and there was strong platform adoption, as evidenced by a 100% year-on-year increase in deals, Kidron said.

“Looking ahead, the stand-out results (relative to peers) and after-hours price reaction will create high expectations going forward,” the analyst stated. “However, we believe CrowdStrike can continue to execute its platform selling motion to quickly scale new products scheduled for FY25 (Falcon for IT, Charlotte AI, ASPM),” Kidron added.

DA Davidson On CrowdStrike

Analyst Rudy Kessinger reiterated a Buy rating while lifting the price target from $285 to $425.

“CRWD delivered an astoundingly strong FQ4. NNARR was a record $282M, smashing cons. of $247M & accelerating to +27% Y/Y vs. +13% Y/Y last qtr,” Kessinger wrote.

“ARR growth of +34% Y/Y, decelerating just 1pt vs. FQ3 despite the growing scale & impressive FCF margins, is highly impressive,” he added.

Needham On CrowdStrike

Analyst Alex Henderson reaffirmed a Buy rating while raising the price target from $350 to $425.

“Crowd not only posted strong results, but it gave a "tour de force" on why Architecture matters and what makes a true tightly integrated platform,” Henderson said in a note. “Where others are discounting and bundling discreet product trying to look like a platform, Crowd has built one,” he added.

Although the macro backdrop continues to be challenging, CrowdStrike delivered accelerating NNARR, revenue growth, and operating margin and the company “more than doubled EPS,” the analyst further stated.

KeyBanc Capital Markets On CrowdStrike

Analyst Eric Heath maintained an Overweight rating while lifting the price target from $375 to $430.

CrowdStrike delivered a strong beat, raised quarter and guided to first-quarter ARR of about $35 million above consensus, Heath said. The company’s results were strong “despite some concerns” following softer-than-expected results from Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler Inc ZS, he added.

“We continue to view CrowdStrike as a leading platform vendor, expanding upon its leadership in endpoint and into adjacencies including CNAPP, SIEM, and Identity, all of which are collectively >$850M ARR (~25% of total ARR) and growing >100% y/y,” he further wrote.

JMP Securities On CrowdStrike

Analyst Trevor Walsh reiterated a Market Outperform rating while raising the price target from $330 to $400.

CrowdStrike reported better-than-expected earnings and revenues, and announced its intent to acquire Flow Security, a data security posture management provider, Walsh said in a note.

“Guidance was more modestly raised on top line than bottom line for both F1Q25 as well as FY25, as the company guided to F1Q25 non-GAAP EPS of $0.89-$0.90 (consensus $0.82) on revenue of $902.2M-$905.8M (consensus $899.5M) and provided full-year FY25 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $3.77-$3.97 (consensus $3.80) on revenue of $3,924.9M-$3,989.0M (consensus $3,948.0M), reflecting approximately 30% y/y growth at the midpoint,” he added.

CRWD Price Action: Shares of CrowdStrike had risen by 13.35% to $337.28 at the time of publication on Wednesday.

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