- CrowdStrike stock hit an all-time high on Tuesday.
- The rise was fueled by some key wins.
- Is CrowdStrike stock a buy?
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) stock has a five-year average annualized return of 47%.
CrowdStrike stock was soaring once again on Tuesday, rising some 8% on the day to over $406 per share – an all-time high.
The stock price of the enterprise cybersecurity firm has been volatile over the past year but ended 2024 up about 34%. Year-to-date in 2025, CrowdStrike stock has jumped another 15%, propelled by Tuesday’s 8% spike.
It is the continuation of a remarkable run for CrowdStrike stock, which has risen almost 600% over the past year at an annualized rate of about 47% per year.
What drove the recent surge Tuesday, and can it keep going up?
CrowdStrike Earns High Marks
CrowdStrike stock was driven higher Tuesday by the news that its Falcon cybersecurity platform achieved 100% detection, 100% protection and 100% accuracy in the 2024 SE Labs Enterprise Advanced Security (EDR) Ransomware Test.
The Falcon platform stopped all known and unknown threats with no false positives in this ransomware test. The platform earned SE Labs’ AAA Award for Advanced Security EDR Protection for the third consecutive year. SE Labs cited CrowdStrike for “improving its already excellent performance in previous ransomware tests.”
The test simulated real-world attack scenarios from 15 known ransomware families. It employed tactics such as using stolen credentials to gain access. It also used 443 ransomware files, with one-third being original samples and two-thirds consisting of new, zero-day variants.
“CrowdStrike Falcon performed exceptionally well, providing complete detection and protection against all direct ransomware attacks,” the SE Labs report said. “It also provided thorough insight into the full network breaches that concluded with ransomware deployments.”
Simon Edwards, CEO of SE Labs, called CrowdStrike the “gold standard” for ransomware protection.
“Every year, we raise the bar to mirror the increasing complexity of real-world attacks, and CrowdStrike not only meets but exceeds these challenges. Its ability to deliver flawless accuracy, zero false positives and unparalleled support for security teams highlights the innovation and trustworthiness that make CrowdStrike a leader in the fight against ransomware,” Edwards said.
This positive news comes just one day after CrowdStrike signed a deal with cloud provider Commvault to integrate the Falcon platform into the Commvault Cloud. And it comes one week after it inked a partnership with Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH) to provide enterprise cybersecurity services for the technology company.
Is CrowdStrike Stock a Buy?
CrowdStrike has been a revenue juggernaut over the years, with the numbers just going up and up year after year. In 2023 annual revenue rose 54% and in 2022 it jumped 66%.
In the most recent quarter, CrowdStrike saw a 28% increase in revenue to $1 billion. It also posted $4 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR). ARR is the annualized value of CrowdStrike’s customer subscription contracts. And for the 12 months ended October 31, revenue surged 31% year over year.
The company had a net loss of $16 million in Q3 but beat estimates. The earnings were impacted by a CrowdStrike outage that crashed Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows back in July. The outage delayed some deals heading into the fourth quarter, CEO George Kurtz said on the Q2 earnings call.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, CrowdStrike guided for revenue of $1.028 billion to $1.035 billion in the quarter. That would be up slightly from Q3. Non-GAAP net income is targeted at 84 cents to 86 cents per share in Q4, which would be down from 93 cents per share in Q3. CrowdStrike releases fourth quarter earnings on March 4.
The concern is the valuation, which seems way too high in relation to its earnings outlook right now. CrowdStrike stock is trading at a massive 732 times earnings with a forward P/E of 86.
Analysts are wary as well, with a median price target of $385 per share. That would be 4% lower than the current price. Cantor Fitzgerald, however, just bumped it up to $410.
CrowdStrike stock has been on an incredible run, culminating with this all-time high. But investors should be very wary about buying high, because it seems due for a correction, given its high valuation. But stay tuned for the Q4 earnings results, which should provide more insight.