NEW YORK, Feb 22, 2026, 12:32 ET — Market closed.
CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) shares closed down 7.95% on Friday at $388.60, after trading as high as $431.88 and as low as $387.11. With U.S. markets shut through Sunday, investors head into Monday with the stock still digesting the sudden drop. (Investing)
The selling hit cybersecurity names after Anthropic rolled out “Claude Code Security,” a new code-scanning feature that can flag flaws and propose patches, sharpening fears that AI-native tools could nibble at parts of the security software stack. Shares of other security-linked names, including Cloudflare and Okta, also fell sharply. (Investing)
Why it matters now: CrowdStrike is due to report fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 results after the U.S. market close on Tuesday, March 3, followed by a conference call that afternoon. Traders now expect that update to address not just demand trends, but whether AI platform players are becoming credible rivals in slices of security work. (Nasdaq)
There was company-specific news on Friday as well. Telefónica Tech said it is expanding its strategic partnership with CrowdStrike to deliver CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM in Telefónica’s NextDefense XDR managed security service. SIEM (security information and event management) pulls in and analyzes security data; XDR (extended detection and response) links signals across systems to speed response. Daniel Bernard, CrowdStrike’s chief business officer, said the offering will give customers “the speed, automation, and intelligence they need to stay ahead of modern attacks.” (Telefónica)
Anthropic, meanwhile, said Claude Code Security is available in a limited research preview for Enterprise and Team customers and is designed to scan codebases for vulnerabilities and suggest targeted patches for human review. The company said its models have helped uncover more than 500 vulnerabilities in production open-source codebases during internal testing. (Anthropic)
Some on Wall Street argued the market reaction ran ahead of the facts. Barclays called the selloff “incongruent” and said it did not view the tool as competitive with businesses it covers, including CrowdStrike. (TipRanks)
The drop also stood out because the broader market moved the other way. The S&P 500 ended Friday up 0.69%, while Fortinet slipped about 2% and Palo Alto Networks fell about 1.5%, session data showed. (MarketWatch)
CrowdStrike sells subscription software that helps companies spot and stop attacks across devices, identities and cloud systems. The stock often trades on confidence that customers will add more modules over time, and on whether big firms keep consolidating security spend onto one platform.
In its last quarterly report, CrowdStrike said annual recurring revenue (ARR) — a common yardstick for subscription sales — rose 23% year-on-year to $4.92 billion as of Oct. 31, 2025, while total revenue grew 22% to $1.23 billion. (Securities and Exchange Commission)
But Friday’s near-8% slide is the reminder. Sentiment can flip quickly in high-growth software when investors start sketching out downside scenarios, especially if “AI disruption” becomes the headline of the week.
For Monday, traders will watch whether the sector stabilizes or takes another leg down, and whether analysts frame Anthropic’s launch as a real spending threat or a sideshow. Any company comments that clarify what budgets Claude Code Security might touch could matter more than the day’s macro tape.
The next hard catalyst for CrowdStrike is still March 3, when it reports after the bell and updates its outlook — likely the first chance for management to address the new AI-competition chatter head-on.
