Austin, Texas—March 4, 2026, 04:30 CST.
- CrowdStrike set its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook above what Wall Street was looking for, pointing to robust demand for its cybersecurity platform.
- Quarterly revenue jumped 23%, topping profit estimates. Still, the company pointed to higher costs tied to its 2024 Windows outage.
- The stock finished higher, then slipped in after-hours action.
CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD.O) posted a fiscal 2027 revenue forecast that beat analyst estimates on Tuesday, pushing its shares up 1.7% by the close. The company had just reported a 23% jump in quarterly sales, a rare show of steadiness in a jittery sector. After hours, shares gave back 0.8% as trading turned volatile. “Having a software stock trade close to flat post print seems like a good outcome,” Truist Securities analyst Junaid Siddiqui said. 1
Guidance has snapped into focus. Cybersecurity stocks are under pressure as investors latch onto a blunt narrative: new AI tools could take over enough security work to erode the pricing power of subscription software players. That puts CrowdStrike in the hot seat; its performance tends to reverberate through the group and influence sector mood.
After a string of high-profile breaches, companies have scrambled to shift workloads into the cloud and revamp their security stacks. Even as boards push for tighter IT budgets, spending on real-time monitoring tools for devices and networks is holding firm as a top priority.
CrowdStrike set its sights on fiscal 2027 revenue landing between $5.87 billion and $5.93 billion, just ahead of the $5.86 billion consensus tracked by LSEG. For adjusted earnings, the company projected $4.78 to $4.90 per share. Analysts had been targeting $4.81.
CrowdStrike is looking for first-quarter revenue between $1.360 billion and $1.364 billion, clearing the $1.35 billion mark analysts were expecting. Adjusted earnings guidance lands at $1.06 to $1.07 per share, in line with consensus. For the fourth quarter, revenue jumped 23% to $1.31 billion and adjusted profit reached $1.12 a share, well ahead of Wall Street’s estimate.
CrowdStrike closed out fiscal 2026 showing $5.25 billion in annual recurring revenue, with net new ARR for the quarter landing at $330.7 million. CEO George Kurtz called the company “mission-critical infrastructure” as more enterprises push into AI. CFO Burt Podbere pointed to management’s “strong conviction” and said they’re raising the ARR outlook for fiscal 2027. Through March 2, CrowdStrike bought back $50.6 million in shares under its current repurchase plan. 2
The July 19, 2024 Windows outage—triggered by a failed CrowdStrike update—continues to leave its mark, knocking out millions of machines. CrowdStrike has pegged the cost of the crisis and its aftermath at $117.7 million for fiscal 2026, nearly doubling last year’s tally of $60.1 million. Recent numbers, though, show some let-up: outage-related expenses fell to $16.2 million in the latest quarter.
CrowdStrike has been snapping up companies lately. In January, it struck a $740 million deal for identity security startup SGNL. Shortly after, it targeted Seraphic Security, an Israeli browser runtime security firm, agreeing to pay about $420 million for that acquisition.
CrowdStrike faces stiff competition from Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Zscaler as they all vie for a piece of corporate security budgets. Microsoft, meanwhile, wraps its security products into broader enterprise software deals. Investors are now trying to figure out if AI-first tools will chip away at niche players’ market share, or simply lift the bar for everyone.
Still, it’s a blurry outlook. If the AI jitters keep dragging on software, even solid numbers could get buried by valuation worries. Competition’s another headache; rivals stepping up might force fatter sales and product budgets just to stay competitive. Throw in any fresh lawsuits or renewed customer backlash from the 2024 outage, and that “fixed and moved on” story starts looking shaky for the market.
