Benzinga - by AJ Fabino, Benzinga Staff Writer.
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) shares are trading nearly 10% higher Thursday after the company issued its second-quarter earnings results.
Here’s what you need to know and what analysts think about the print.
By The Numbers: CrowdStrike reported second-quarter revenues of $731.63 million, which is a 37% increase year-over-year. Revenues came ahead of the $724.13 million analyst estimate, according to Benzinga Pro. The company reported quarterly earnings of 74 cents per share, which beat the 56-cent analyst estimate. Read more on the print here.
The Stifel Analyst: Brad Reback maintained a Hold rating on the stock and raised its price target to $153 from $128.
Reback said CrowdStrike posted a top-line beat but with a slimmer margin than recent trends. While expressing concern over the decelerating growth rate and increasingly challenging competitive environment, the analyst acknowledged the company’s unique position as a disruptor in the endpoint security market.
Despite the caveats, Reback saw growth opportunities for the company but believed its forecast for Net New ARR growth for the second half is overly optimistic.
The Cantor Fitzgerald Analyst: Jonathan Ruykhaver reiterated an Overweight rating and maintained a 12-month price target of $180.
Ruykhaver was bullish on CrowdStrike’s consistent execution and strong pipeline-building activity, saying he was optimistic about the company's prospects in Cloud Security, Identity Protection and LogScale, suggesting that these high-growth areas could contribute significantly to future ARR.
Ruykhaver believed CrowdStrike will continue to be a long-term winner in endpoint protection.
The Oppenheimer Analyst: Ittai Kidron maintained an Outperform rating with a $175 price target.
Kidron sees CrowdStrike as a leader in the fast-growing cloud security sector, with strong platform adoption and improvements in operating leverage. Unlike Reback, Kidron expected re-acceleration in net new ARR growth in the second hald.
The analyst also highlighted CrowdStrike's ability to take market share from both legacy and next-gen antivirus vendors.
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The Needham Analyst: Alex Henderson set a Buy rating on the stock and raised the price target to $200 from $170.
Henderson called the print a “classic CRWD quarter.” He was optimistic about the company’s strong pipeline and growth in new products, including Identity and Cloud. Henderson saw CrowdStrike as more than just an endpoint company and expected it to increase its target model at the upcoming FalCon event.
The Keybanc Capital Markets Analyst: Eric Heath reiterated an Overweight rating and maintained the $200 price target.
Heath was confident in CrowdStrike’s double-digit net new ARR growth for the second half, noting the “substantial” change in the competitive environment that benefits CrowdStrike and saw the company as a leader in consolidating security spend across various areas.
Heath maintained his estimates, mostly in line with the company’s guidance.
CRWD Price Action: Shares of CrowdStrike are trading 9.49% higher to $163.34, according to Benzinga Pro.
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Photo: Shutterstock
Latest Ratings for CRWD
| Mar 2022 | Barclays | Maintains | Overweight | |
| Mar 2022 | Canaccord Genuity | Maintains | Buy | |
| Mar 2022 | Deutsche Bank | Maintains | Buy |
View the Latest Analyst Ratings
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