CrowdStrike stock rises as earnings, outlook top Street view

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. shares rose in the extended session Thursday after the cybersecurity company’s quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street estimates.

CrowdStrike CRWD,shares gained 3% after hours, following a 2.1% decline in the regular session to close at $216.The company reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $85 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with a loss of $19.2 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted net income, which excludes stock-based compensation and other items, was 10 cents a share, compared with 2 cents a share in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $302.8 million from $178.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast CrowdStrike to report earnings of 5 cents a share on revenue of $291.5 million, based on the company’s outlook of 5 cents to 6 cents a share on revenue of $287.8 million to $292.1 million.

“We believe the robust demand environment driven by secular trends, such as digital and security transformation, cloud adoption and a heightened threat environment, provides a runway for long-term sustainable growth,” said George Kurtz, CrowdStrike co-founder and chief executive, in a statement.

Annual recurring revenue, a software-as-a-service metric that shows how much revenue the company can expect based on subscriptions, increased 74% to $1.19 billion for the quarter, while the Street expected $1.12 billion.

CrowdStrike expects adjusted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 7 cents to 9 cents a share on revenue of $318.3 million to $324.4 million, while analysts forecast earnings of 6 cents a share on revenue of $310.6 million, according to FactSet.

As of Thursday’s close, the stock is up 120% over the past 12 months, compared with a 34% rise by the S&P 500 index SPX,-0.36%, a 41% gain for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,-1.03%, and a 29% gain by the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF HACK,-1.10%.