Shares in CrowdStrike Holdings fell Friday after the cybersecurity firm reported April-quarter profit and revenue that topped estimates. The company's outlook for earnings also came in above expectations, but CRWD stock fell as a key metric fell short of expectations.
CrowdStrike earnings were 31 cents a share, up 210% from a year earlier, on an adjusted basis. Including acquisitions, revenue jumped 61% to $487.8 million.
Analysts polled by Factset had projected CrowdStrike earnings of 23 cents on revenue of $464 million for the period ended April 30.
A year earlier, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cybersecurity firm earned 10 cents a share on revenue of $303 million.
Key Financial Metric For CRWD Stock
Wall Street also focuses on annual recurring revenue, or ARR. It's a critical financial metric tied to subscription customer growth.
During the quarter, ARR increased 61% to $1.92 billion. That edged by estimates for ARR of $1.91 billion, but one analyst said investors were hoping for more.
"ARR was slightly below our survey of investor expectations," Deutsche Bank analyst Patrick Colville said in his note to clients. "However, revenue growth surprised to the upside by a larger than typical margin, and fiscal 2023 guidance was raised by significantly more than the magnitude of the Q1 beat."
For the July quarter, CrowdStrike forecast revenue of $514.7 million versus estimates of $509.8 million.
CrowdStrike reported first-quarter earnings after the market close on Thursday. CrowdStrike stock fell 6.9% to close at 162.10 on the stock market today. Shares jumped 7.8% on Thursday.
Heading into the CrowdStrike earnings report, the cybersecurity stock had retreated 18% thus far in 2022. CRWD stock owned a Relative Strength Rating of only 26 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup.
Cybersecurity Stock To Watch
The cybersecurity company uses machine learning, one form of artificial intelligence, in its products. It also uses a specialized database to detect malware on laptops, mobile phones and other devices that access corporate networks.
Also, CrowdStrike is building a broad, threat-detection cybersecurity platform. Called XDR, or extended detection and response, it monitors endpoints as well as web/email gateways, web application firewalls and cloud business workloads.
CrowdStrike is one of many cybersecurity stocks to watch.
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Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on 5G wireless, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
