Latest news with #CrowdStrikeCRWD
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CrowdStrike vs. Okta: Which Cybersecurity Stock is a Better Buy?
CrowdStrike CRWD and Okta OKTA are both major players in the field of cybersecurity. While CrowdStrike specializes in endpoint protection and extended detection and response ('XDR'), offering AI-native cloud security through its Falcon platform, OKTA focuses on identity and access management, providing cloud-based solutions that help businesses safeguard user and Okta are capitalizing on the rapid improvement of the cybersecurity space, fueled by the rise of complex attacks, including credential theft and abuse, remote desktop protocol attacks and social engineering-based initial access. Per a Mordor Intelligence report, the cybersecurity market is projected to witness a CAGR of 12.63% from 2025 to this strong industry growth forecast, the question remains: Which stock has more upside potential? Let's break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case. CrowdStrike provides its cybersecurity services mainly through its Falcon platform. CrowdStrike's Falcon platform is renowned for being the industry's first multi-tenant, cloud native, intelligent security solution. The Falcon platform helps in securing workloads across on-premise, cloud-based and virtualized environments running on several endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, servers, virtual machines and IoT cloud-based Falcon platform currently provides 29 cloud modules via a SaaS subscription model that is categorised under three categories - Endpoint Security, Security & IT Operations, and Threat Intelligence. The share of subscription-based sales to CrowdStrike's total revenues grew from 72% in fiscal 2017 to 95% in fiscal the company is facing several headwinds related to customers' negative sentiments since the global IT outage incident on July 19, 2024. The company has been implementing the Customer Commitment Package to retain its customers, which includes product additions and discounts, hence compressing its of all these measures, the company's upsell into existing customers showed signs of slowdown and the churn rate remained moderate. These factors are likely to weigh on CRWD's profitability in the near term. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CrowdStrike's fiscal 2026 earnings indicates a year-over-year decline of 10.94%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Okta's latest financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 highlight its strengthening position as a leader in identity security. Its broad portfolio, which includes Okta Identity Governance, Privileged Access, Device Access, Identity Security Posture Management, Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI, and Auth for GenAI, continues to drive customer wins and expand its addressable exited the first quarter with roughly 20,000 customers and $4.08 billion in remaining performance obligations, reflecting strong growth prospects for subscription revenues. Customers with more than $100K in Annual Contract Value increased 7% year over year to 4, ability to help organizations secure both human and non-human identities is becoming a key competitive advantage. During its last earnings call, the company noted that the recent boom in AI agents has resulted in a tremendous increase in non-human identities, and its Identity Security Posture Management and Privileged Access solutions have the capabilities to address this problem. Also, Okta's newly introduced suite-based pricing model is likely to encourage customers to consolidate identity solutions with Okta, driving cross-sell opportunities for the is also benefiting from a rich partner base that includes the likes of Amazon Web Services, CrowdStrike, Google, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Microsoft, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, Plaid, Proofpoint, Salesforce, ServiceNow, VMware, Workday, Yubico and Zscaler. These factors are likely to continue driving growth in OKTA's top and bottom lines. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Okta's fiscal 2026 revenues and earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 9.44% and 16.73%, respectively. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Year to date, CrowdStrike shares have appreciated 39.2% and OKTA shares have surged 26.2%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research OKTA is trading at a forward sales multiple of 5.87X, below the security industry's 14.51X. Whereas, CRWD is trading at a forward sales multiple of 22.93X, indicating its overvaluation at present. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research While CrowdStrike is still navigating the headwinds emerging from reputational damage caused by the global IT outage and shrinking profit margin, OKTA's focus on identity solutions, stronger earnings growth potential and low valuations make the stock more attractive for investors seeking growth in the cybersecurity space. Currently, Okta carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), making the stock a must-pick compared to CrowdStrike, which has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Okta, Inc. (OKTA) : Free Stock Analysis Report CrowdStrike (CRWD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CrowdStrike Bets Big on Next-Gen SIEM: Will it Fuel Growth Momentum?
CrowdStrike CRWD is doubling down on the next generation of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) as part of its mission to protect enterprises against evolving cyber threats. The company's Falcon Next-Gen SIEM is modernizing the way businesses detect, investigate, and respond to security incidents. Unlike traditional SIEM tools that often struggle with high costs, complexity, and data overload, CrowdStrike's solution is designed to deliver faster insights at lower operational costs. By integrating SIEM with its Falcon platform, the company is providing end-to-end visibility across devices, cloud workloads, and user identities. Enterprises could now leverage the CrowdStrike Falcon agent to automate data collection for endpoints and cloud workloads. CRWD also unified adversary-driven detection across all data sources, implemented AI-based investigations and systemized response workflows through Falcon Fusion SOAR. The Next-Gen SIEM also provides 24/7 managed detection and response services. CrowdStrike's Next-Gen SIEM also brings in scalability through cloud-native operations, improved compliance support and advanced analytics. The solution ensures seamless integration of cloud with endpoint tools, making its implementation convenient for CrowdStrike's enterprise customers. To enhance its Next-Gen SIEM platform, CrowdStrike launched Falcon Adversary OverWatch Next-Gen SIEM in April 2025. This is a managed threat hunting solution from CrowdStrike that extends the company's threat hunting capabilities to third-party data sources, enabling real-time, expert-led threat detection and analysis. The Next-Gen SIEM is gaining robust traction, as testified by its 100% year-over-year ARR growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Financially, the Falcon Next-Gen SIEM could help CrowdStrike sustain its strong growth. The solution is gaining robust traction, as testified by its 100% year-over-year annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. This was way higher than the company's overall first-quarter ARR growth of 22%. Palo Alto Networks PANW launched Cortex XSIAM, an upgrade over its traditional SIEM, with significant enhancements like AI-driven analytics, automation, enhanced threat detection and response, MITRE ATT&CK Coverage Dashboards and streamlined alert prioritization. PANW is also experiencing solid traction in its Cortex XSIAM, which has witnessed ARR growth of 200% year over year in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. International Business Machines IBM has also enhanced its SIEM capabilities with the launch of QRadar SIEM Suite, which is cloud native and has added features of XDR, SOAR, and threat detection. The solution seamlessly integrates with IBM Security services, reducing barriers to adoption. As the legacy SIEM market is getting backdated and under-equipped to handle advanced cyber threats, multiple companies are venturing into this space. The total addressable market for XSIAM or Next-Gen SIEM is large enough to accommodate the growth of multiple players. This is the reason why CrowdStrike Next-Gen SIEM might prove to be a growth engine for the company. Shares of CrowdStrike have gained 39.4% year to date compared with the Zacks Security industry's growth of 21%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research From a valuation standpoint, CRWD trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 23.18X, higher than the industry's average of 14.63X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRWD's fiscal 2026 earnings implies a decline of 11%, while the 2027 earnings estimates imply growth of 34.7%. The estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings have been revised upward in the past 30 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CRWD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) : Free Stock Analysis Report CrowdStrike (CRWD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CRWD Rises 25% in 6 Months: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
CrowdStrike CRWD has benefited significantly from the recent gains in the technology sector, as renewed optimism about the U.S.–China trade negotiations boosted overall market sentiment. Despite experiencing significant volatility over the past six months, the stock returned 25.4%, outperforming the Zacks Security industry's 13% growth. However, the question remains whether this growth is short-lived or if CrowdStrike stock represents a viable long-term investment opportunity. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CrowdStrike increased its Subscription revenues by 27% from the year-ago quarter to cross $1 billion in quarterly revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. This was partly achieved due to the Falcon Flex Subscription Model, which allows customers to commit upfront and later choose modules, eliminating procurement friction. CrowdStrike's subscription customers, who adopted five or more cloud modules, represented 67% of the total subscription customers. Those with six or more cloud modules accounted for 48%, and those with seven or more cloud modules represented 32% as of Jan. 31, 2025. CrowdStrike's Falcon platform is gaining popularity as an 'AI-native SOC,' with strong adoption in Charlotte AI Agentic Detection Triage, Workflows and Response. CrowdStrike is partnering with other AI companies to expand its capabilities. CrowdStrike integrated its Falcon cybersecurity platform into NVIDIA's Enterprise AI Factory to enable enterprises to secure their AI systems, covering data ingestion, model training, and deployment. The company also collaborated with Extrahop to solve the rising concern of shadow AI. New introductions, including AI Model Scanning and AI Security Dashboard by CRWD, along with its strong partnerships, will likely help the company gain more customers. CrowdStrike is facing several challenges related to customers' negative sentiments since the global IT outage incident on July 19, 2024. The company has been implementing the Customer Commitment Package to retain its customers, which includes product additions and discounts, hence compressing its revenue recognition and profitability. Despite all these measures, the company's upsell into existing customers showed signs of slowdown and the churn rate remained moderate. Moreover, a report by Bloomberg reported that CrowdStrike is currently under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a $32 million deal with Carahsoft Technology. The deal, meant to supply cybersecurity tools to the IRS, was reportedly never fulfilled, raising concerns of financial irregularities. Authorities are examining whether CrowdStrike engaged in pre-booking or channel stuffing to inflate financial results, while CRWD maintains that it handled the transaction appropriately. The ongoing investigation creates legal and reputational risks, softening investors' confidence. While CrowdStrike maintains that it handled the transaction appropriately, the ongoing investigation creates legal and reputational risks, softening investors' confidence. Amid customer backlash and ongoing regulatory scrutiny that could damage CrowdStrike's reputation, competitors may seize the opportunity to attract and convert its customer base. The cybersecurity space already contains players like Palo Alto Networks PANW, SentinelOne S and Cisco CSCO, who provide similar products like CrowdStrike. For instance, CrowdStrike's Falcon Extended Detection and Response that connects multiple layers, including email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and network, to provide a comprehensive security competes with SentinelOne's Singularity platform, which provides AI-powered endpoint protection and extended detection and response (XDR). SentinelOne also offers Autonomous threat hunting and remediation like CRWD. Cisco also provides XDR features combined with other Cisco products. Like CRWD, Palo Alto Networks provides endpoint protection through Cortex XDR, which combines endpoint, network, and cloud data to detect and respond to threats. On the other hand, Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud competes with CRWD's Falcon Cloud Security. All the above factors combinedly could weigh on CRWD's profitability in the near term. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CrowdStrike's fiscal 2026 earnings indicates a year-over-year decline of 12.5%. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.) Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CrowdStrike is currently trading at a high price-to-sales (P/S) multiple, far above the Zacks Security industry. CrowdStrike's forward 12-month P/S ratio sits at 21.47X, significantly higher than the Zacks Security industry's forward 12-month P/S ratio of 14.20X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CrowdStrike's disappointing profit outlook for fiscal 2026, coupled with rising costs and deteriorating margins, makes this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) stock less attractive in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report SentinelOne, Inc. (S) : Free Stock Analysis Report Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) : Free Stock Analysis Report CrowdStrike (CRWD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CRWD Rises 25% in 6 Months: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
CrowdStrike CRWD has benefited significantly from the recent gains in the technology sector, as renewed optimism about the U.S.–China trade negotiations boosted overall market sentiment. Despite experiencing significant volatility over the past six months, the stock returned 25.4%, outperforming the Zacks Security industry's 13% growth. However, the question remains whether this growth is short-lived or if CrowdStrike stock represents a viable long-term investment opportunity. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CrowdStrike increased its Subscription revenues by 27% from the year-ago quarter to cross $1 billion in quarterly revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. This was partly achieved due to the Falcon Flex Subscription Model, which allows customers to commit upfront and later choose modules, eliminating procurement friction. CrowdStrike's subscription customers, who adopted five or more cloud modules, represented 67% of the total subscription customers. Those with six or more cloud modules accounted for 48%, and those with seven or more cloud modules represented 32% as of Jan. 31, 2025. CrowdStrike's Falcon platform is gaining popularity as an 'AI-native SOC,' with strong adoption in Charlotte AI Agentic Detection Triage, Workflows and Response. CrowdStrike is partnering with other AI companies to expand its capabilities. CrowdStrike integrated its Falcon cybersecurity platform into NVIDIA's Enterprise AI Factory to enable enterprises to secure their AI systems, covering data ingestion, model training, and deployment. The company also collaborated with Extrahop to solve the rising concern of shadow AI. New introductions, including AI Model Scanning and AI Security Dashboard by CRWD, along with its strong partnerships, will likely help the company gain more customers. CrowdStrike is facing several challenges related to customers' negative sentiments since the global IT outage incident on July 19, 2024. The company has been implementing the Customer Commitment Package to retain its customers, which includes product additions and discounts, hence compressing its revenue recognition and profitability. Despite all these measures, the company's upsell into existing customers showed signs of slowdown and the churn rate remained moderate. Moreover, a report by Bloomberg reported that CrowdStrike is currently under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a $32 million deal with Carahsoft Technology. The deal, meant to supply cybersecurity tools to the IRS, was reportedly never fulfilled, raising concerns of financial irregularities. Authorities are examining whether CrowdStrike engaged in pre-booking or channel stuffing to inflate financial results, while CRWD maintains that it handled the transaction appropriately. The ongoing investigation creates legal and reputational risks, softening investors' confidence. While CrowdStrike maintains that it handled the transaction appropriately, the ongoing investigation creates legal and reputational risks, softening investors' confidence. Amid customer backlash and ongoing regulatory scrutiny that could damage CrowdStrike's reputation, competitors may seize the opportunity to attract and convert its customer base. The cybersecurity space already contains players like Palo Alto Networks PANW, SentinelOne S and Cisco CSCO, who provide similar products like CrowdStrike. For instance, CrowdStrike's Falcon Extended Detection and Response that connects multiple layers, including email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and network, to provide a comprehensive security competes with SentinelOne's Singularity platform, which provides AI-powered endpoint protection and extended detection and response (XDR). SentinelOne also offers Autonomous threat hunting and remediation like CRWD. Cisco also provides XDR features combined with other Cisco products. Like CRWD, Palo Alto Networks provides endpoint protection through Cortex XDR, which combines endpoint, network, and cloud data to detect and respond to threats. On the other hand, Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud competes with CRWD's Falcon Cloud Security. All the above factors combinedly could weigh on CRWD's profitability in the near term. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CrowdStrike's fiscal 2026 earnings indicates a year-over-year decline of 12.5%. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.) Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CrowdStrike is currently trading at a high price-to-sales (P/S) multiple, far above the Zacks Security industry. CrowdStrike's forward 12-month P/S ratio sits at 21.47X, significantly higher than the Zacks Security industry's forward 12-month P/S ratio of 14.20X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CrowdStrike's disappointing profit outlook for fiscal 2026, coupled with rising costs and deteriorating margins, makes this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) stock less attractive in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report SentinelOne, Inc. (S) : Free Stock Analysis Report Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) : Free Stock Analysis Report CrowdStrike (CRWD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
