UPDATED 19:19 EDT / AUGUST 31 2021

SECURITY

CrowdStrike keeps growing, beating expectations, but losses mount and stock falls

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. saw its stock fall today despite posting solid second-quarter financial results, beating expectations with strong growth from subscription customers and posting bullish guidance.

The company reported a profit before certain costs such as stock compensation of 11 cents per share on revenue of $337.7 million for the quarter, up 70% from a year ago. Subscription sales accounted for the majority of that revenue, rising 71% to $315.8 million.

The performance was better than expected, with analysts pegging the company’s adjusted profit at 9 cents per share on revenue of $323.16 million.

CrowdStrike founder and Chief Executive George Kurtz (pictured) told investors the company delivered an “outstanding quarter” with record net new annual recurring revenue. “The success of our platform strategy and our growing brand leadership have led to a groundswell of customers turning to CrowdStrike as their trusted security platform of record,” he said.

Indeed, during the quarter, CrowdStrike added 1,660 net new subscription customers, bringing its total to 13,080 at the end of July 31. That’s up 81% from a year ago, the company said.

CrowdStrike’s ARR rose 70%, to $1.34 billion. Of that, $150.6 million was net new ARR added during the quarter just gone.

The company also said its portion of subscription customers who have adopted four or more modules, five or more, or six or more, rose to 66%, 53% and 29%, respectively.

It’s not immediately clear why CrowdStrike’s stock fell more than 4% in extended trading, but the fact that its net loss grew from $35.4 million one year ago to $47.4 million in the previous quarter may have rankled investors.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller told SiliconANGLE that CrowdStrike was growing fast because endpoint security concerns have become top of mind for most companies during the pandemic.

“It is certainly a unique opportunity but as the results of other pandemic winners have shown, it’s not one that will last forever,” he sad. The company’s loss is larger than a year ago despite the growth, so CrowdStrike’s mangement needs to look more closely at costs and try to rein them in.”

At least, the company will be hoping to pull back on some of those losses soon, as it’s expecting yet more growth in the current quarter. For the third quarter, it’s shooting for total revenue of between $358 million and $365.3 million, well ahead of Wall Street’s forecast of $350.9 million in revenue.

Photo: CrowdStrike

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU