CrowdStrike Soars to Record High as AI Cybersecurity Demand Surges

CrowdStrike Stock Hits Record High as Wedbush Calls It Industry 'Gold Standard'

The analysts believe CrowdStrike is a big beneficiary of demand for artificial intelligence cybersecurity products. CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) shares advanced more than 4% to an all-time high Thursday as Wedbush raised its price target, saying its look into the cybersecurity firm shows it remains the "gold standard" in the industry. In a note to clients, Wedbush lifted the price target to $575 from $525, while maintaining an "outperform" rating. The analysts explained that CrowdStrike has had "increased momentum in the field around its cyber platform approach based on our recent checks coming in very strong with healthy momentum into the next year for one of the stalwarts of cyber security." The analysts noted that the spread of "deal momentum" with artificial intelligence is "also a clear tailwind." They added because of its strength in the AI space, "the company has seen less discounting in the field while new logos are increasing, pointing to continued momentum across new customer acquisitions." The analysts said they "believe that CRWD remains at the forefront of securing the AI Revolution over the coming years." Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings recently were trading at more than $515 after earlier touching a record $517.98. They have gained more than 50% this year.

CrowdStrike Remains Cybersecurity 'Gold Standard:' Analyst

A prominent Wall Street analyst says the cybersecurity giant is seeing 'increased momentum' in its business, suggesting the company has moved well beyond the global outage of a year ago. CrowdStrike is seeing "increased momentum" in its business, a prominent Wall Street analyst disclosed Thursday, providing another indicator that the company has moved well beyond the global IT outage of a year ago. In a note to investors, Daniel Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote that CrowdStrike "remains the gold standard for cybersecurity" judging by recent surveys of customers showing strong traction. [Related: CrowdStrike CEO: Subscription Deals Surging As Falcon Flex Is A 'Home Run'] "We are seeing deal momentum spread with AI also a clear tailwind for this well positioned tech leader," Ives wrote. "We believe increased market and mind share is happening for CrowdStrike among new and existing customers as the company's product suite continues to expand across the enterprise landscape over the next 12 to 18 months." CrowdStrike's stock price was up 4 percent to $516 a share as of this writing Thursday morning. The momentum disclosed by Ives comes as the one-year anniversary approaches for the widely felt Microsoft Windows outage caused by a faulty CrowdStrike Falcon configuration update. CrowdStrike's rebound since the July 2024 outage has been bolstered by strong and expanding partnerships within the IT channel, CrowdStrike co-founder and CEO George Kurtz said during the company's quarterly call in March. More recently, Kurtz disclosed in June that CrowdStrike has seen a major spike in business related to its Falcon Flex subscription model, helping to drive business in newer product categories such as Next-Gen SIEM. The Flex subscription model simplifies and expedites procurement while providing larger discounts for bigger commitments -- helping to incentivize customers to deploy more of the 30 modules on CrowdStrike's Falcon platform, according to the company. For CrowdStrike's fiscal first quarter, ended April 30, the vendor saw newly added Falcon Flex account value jump 31 percent from the prior quarter sequentially. "Seeing our customers and ecosystem embrace Falcon Flex at this speed and scale gives me confidence [looking ahead]," Kurtz said during the company's quarterly call with analysts on June 3. In his note to investors, Ives pointed to "healthy momentum" for CrowdStrike in segments including cloud security, identity protection and LogScale log management. The vendor has also seen "better-than-expected trends in Data Protection and Charlotte AI, which saw considerable strength in deal flow in the most recent quarter and we believe clearly accelerated this July quarter so far," he wrote. All in all, CrowdStrike is "in a strong position to continue capitalizing on the AI cybersecurity trend given the strength and stickiness of the Falcon platform," Ives wrote. "With its current momentum within the AI-cyber space, the company has seen less discounting in the field while new logos are increasing, pointing to continued momentum across new customer acquisitions."