If the losses continue, the cybersecurity firm’s market valuation of about $190 billion will drop by $13 billion.
Some analysts attributed the selloff to profit-taking by investors as CrowdStrike shares have surged nearly 90% since the company’s last earnings report in March. As of Wednesday’s close, the stock was up nearly 60% this year. CrowdStrike, like its peers such as Palo Alto Networks, has benefited from strong demand for its AI-powered cybersecurity software, as enterprises look to protect their systems from attackers using the technology to steal data.
“What the moment of myth has proven is that the world, starting with Frontier AI Labs, has realized on its own that AI needs a cybersecurity ecosystem,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told analysts on a post-earnings call Wednesday. His comments are echoed by industry rivals. But analysts say investors demanded stronger growth after what Kurtz called a “flood of customer, prospect and partner inquiries” after the April launch of Anthropic’s Project Glasswing, an effort to secure critical software using Mythos.
“The post-mythos threat landscape has reached a fever pitch in preparedness and the primary question is – is my organization secure?” Kurtz said. Fears that AI tools are disrupting demand for security equipment have shifted investor sentiment towards those models as a critical catalyst for demand. Shares of Netscope fell 16.3% while shares of Palo Alto fell 3.3%.
CrowdStrike’s shares trade at 137.74 times their estimated earnings for the next 12 months, compared to 68.91 times for Palo Alto, according to LSEG-compiled data.
Following the results, at least 22 brokerages raised their price targets on the stock and one lowered it.
“While near-term expectations may be slightly higher following the recent rally, we continue to see scope for further multiple expansion,” Morgan Stanley analysts said.
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