Shares in CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. fell more than 5% in late trading today after the cybersecurity company reported solid fiscal 2026 first-quarter results but fell short of expectations with its second-quarter outlook.

For the quarter that ended on April 30, CrowdStrike reported adjusted earnings per share of 73 cents, down from 79 cents per share in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year, on revenue of $1.1 billion, up 20% year-over-year. The adjusted earnings per share was ahead of the 65 cents expected by analysts, while revenue was in line with expectations.

As of the end of April, CrowdStrike had annual recurring revenue of $4.44 billion, up 22% year-over-year, including $193.8 million in net new ARR added in the quarter. Net cash generated from operations in the quarter came in at $384.1 million, a record high for the company and CrowdStrike ended the quarter with $4.61 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand.

Business highlights in the quarter included multiple product and service expansions aimed at enhancing CrowdStrike’s identity, endpoint and cloud security offerings. The company launched Falcon Identity Protection for Microsoft Entra ID, extending real-time detection and response capabilities to hybrid identity environments. It also introduced Charlotte AI Detection Triage, leveraging Nvidia Corp.’s artificial intelligence to automate alert triage and streamline security operations.

CrowdStrike continued investing in AI-powered solutions with the release of an agentless network vulnerability assessment tool that analyzes routers, switches and firewalls without traditional scanning. The Falcon platform also received FedRAMP High Authorization, allowing U.S. federal agencies to adopt the platform for critical workloads.

April saw the rollout of Falcon Privileged Access, a product designed to unify identity and endpoint protection for better control over privileged accounts. CrowdStrike also introduced Falcon Adversary OverWatch for Next-Gen SIEM, extending managed threat hunting to third-party data sources beyond endpoints.

“We started the fiscal year with record Q1 large deal and MSSP momentum alongside sustained 97% gross retention and consistently strong net retention as the market consolidates on Falcon as its cybersecurity platform of choice for the agentic AI era,” founder and Chief Executive George Kurtz said in the company’s earnings release. “The scale of Falcon Flex demand and the pace of innovation across AI, next-gen SIEM, cloud, identity and exposure management advances us toward $10 billion in ending ARR.”

For its second quarter, CrowdStrike expects adjusted earnings per share of 82 to 84 cents on revenue of $1.145 billion to $1.152 billion. The share outlook was ahead of the 81 cents expected by analysts, but the revenue fell short of an expected $1.16 billion.

For the full fiscal year, the company expected adjusted earnings of $3.44 to $3.56 per share on revenue of $4.744 billion to $4.806 billion. Analysts had been expecting $3.43 per share on revenue of $4.77 billion.

Alongside its earnings, CrowdStrike also announced a $1 billion share buyback plan.

Kurtz spoke with theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio earlier this year to discuss how the company was defending against faster, smarter, AI-powered adversaries:

Photo: CrowdStrike