CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) Trading 4.2% Higher After Earnings Beat

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) was up 4.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $408.41 and last traded at $407.68. Approximately 8,285,086 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 105% from the average daily volume of 4,037,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $391.42.

The company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. CrowdStrike had a negative return on equity of 2.12% and a negative net margin of 6.88%.The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Key Headlines Impacting CrowdStrike

Here are the key news stories impacting CrowdStrike this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat, record ARR and strong guidance — CrowdStrike posted revenue and adjusted EPS modestly above consensus, reported ending ARR above $5.2B and provided FY27/Q1 guidance ahead of expectations, which supports continued subscription growth and recurring revenue visibility. CrowdStrike Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: AI tailwinds and platform strength — Management and analysts highlighted that Falcon was built AI-native, Flex adoption and high retention are driving cross-sell and ARR expansion, reinforcing the secular cybersecurity demand thesis as AI increases attacker sophistication. CrowdStrike Beats, But AI Concerns Persist
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and raised targets exist alongside cuts — several firms reiterated buy/overweight ratings or raised targets after results, creating pockets of upside from the current level. Wall Street Just Sent a Split but Bullish Signal on CRWD — Here’s What Four Major Firms Actually Said
• Neutral Sentiment: Market reaction is mixed — the report satisfied expectations but wasn’t a blowout; guidance was solid yet largely inline, so the headline beat lifted sentiment while leaving room for debate on forward acceleration. CrowdStrike Beats, But AI Fears Still Win
• Neutral Sentiment: Geopolitical/cybersecurity tailwinds supported flows — elevated geopolitical risk briefly boosted interest in defense/cyber names, helping volume around the print. CrowdStrike Beats, But AI Concerns Persist
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and AI disruption fears persist — commentators flagged high multiples and the risk that agentic AI could compress software pricing or simplify some security tasks, keeping some investors cautious. CRWD AI Tailwinds Can’t Shake High Valuation After Mixed Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple price-target cuts and some hold/trim actions — several firms trimmed targets after the print (UBS, Deutsche, Goldman among others), which tempers near-term upside and feeds volatility. These Analysts Cut Their Forecasts On CrowdStrike Following Q4 Results

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRWD. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of CrowdStrike in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $450.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of CrowdStrike from $353.00 to $368.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of CrowdStrike in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. BTIG Research cut their price target on shares of CrowdStrike from $640.00 to $499.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Loop Capital set a $550.00 price objective on CrowdStrike in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.49.

Insider Transactions at CrowdStrike

In related news, President Michael Sentonas sold 11,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.78, for a total transaction of $5,498,758.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 342,655 shares in the company, valued at $164,399,015.90. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Burt W. Podbere sold 10,516 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.33, for a total transaction of $5,082,698.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 179,114 shares in the company, valued at $86,571,169.62. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 100,247 shares of company stock worth $45,722,274. 3.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CrowdStrike

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CrowdStrike by 54,635.9% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,293,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,186,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,285,640 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CrowdStrike in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,699,545,000. Vestor Capital LLC grew its position in shares of CrowdStrike by 269,840.3% during the second quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 977,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,690,000 after buying an additional 976,822 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of CrowdStrike by 310.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 872,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,989,000 after buying an additional 659,705 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CrowdStrike by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,430,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,933,425,000 after purchasing an additional 596,007 shares during the last quarter. 71.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CrowdStrike Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $434.98 and a 200-day moving average of $469.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -323.56, a P/E/G ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

CrowdStrike Company Profile

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: CRWD) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The firm was co-founded by George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch and became a publicly traded company following its initial public offering in 2019. CrowdStrike positions itself as a provider of cloud-native security solutions designed to protect endpoints, cloud workloads, identities and data against sophisticated cyber threats.

The company’s core offering is the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, a modular, cloud-delivered security architecture that combines endpoint protection (EPP), endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat intelligence, and device control through lightweight agents and centralized telemetry.