CrowdStrike Holding shares fell after the cybersecurity company issued a worse-than-expected earnings outlook, signalling that it’s still recovering from a flawed software update that crashed millions of computers globally last year.
Adjusted earnings for the three months ending April 30 will be 64 to 66 US cents (85.62 to 88.29 cents) a share, CrowdStrike said in a statement Tuesday. That’s well below the 96 US cents that analysts had been projecting.
The outlook sent the shares down more than 8% in after-market trading in New York. They had been up 14% this year to US$390.16 through the close.
The quarterly report is the firm’s third since a July 19, 2024 update crashed Windows operating systems around the world, leading to widespread disruptions across virtually every industry. Investors have been tracking signs of a rebound from the crisis, which cancelled thousands of flights, took down banking operations and led hospitals to postpone medical procedures.
CrowdStrike is ending the “customer commitment package program” it launched last summer to help retain clients who were hit by the outage, CEO George Kurtz said on a call with analysts. Kurtz said he is confident that the company’s growth — measured in subscription revenue — will pick up again in the second half of the year as “one-time discounts drop off.”
Despite issuing disappointing projections, CrowdStrike topped estimates for several key subscription revenue benchmarks in the fourth quarter. Annual recurring revenue totaled US$4.24 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of US$4.12 billion. Net new annual recurring revenue also beat estimates.
See also: Global IT collapse puts cyber firm CrowdStrike in spotlight
The company’s free cash flow totaled US$239.8 million, below year-earlier levels but above estimates of US$215.7 million.
The firm is also facing investigations by US prosecutors and regulators, who are examining a US$32 million deal it struck with technology distributor Carahsoft Technology, Bloomberg previously reported.
