CrowdStrike’s AI-Powered Platform Boosts Revenue

Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike (CRWD) posted solid earnings for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, driven by the robust performance of its AI-powered Falcon platform.

Profit came in at $8.5 million, compared with a loss of $49.3 million in the same quarter last year. That was equal to 74 cents per adjusted share, above a consensus range of 54 to 57 cents. Revenue surged 37% to $731.6 million, up from $535.2 million in the year-ago quarter and above a consensus estimate of $724.1 million.

Subscription revenue jumped 36% from a year ago to $690 million, while gross margins from the segment improved to 80% from 78% last year. Some of CrowdStrike’s biggest subscribers and clients include prominent Fortune 500 companies like Verizon (VZ), ADP (ADP), and Amgen (AMGN). These companies rely on CrowdStrike’s cloud-powered cybersecurity capabilities, which include risk assessments, endpoint detection, and threat response.

CEO George Kurtz credited the company’s AI-powered Falcon platform for helping drive revenue growth, and described its capabilities as “unique in the market.” The platform contributed more than half a billion dollars to the company’s nearly $3 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) for the quarter, or revenue annualized over 12 months.

The Falcon platform, first launched in 2013, tracks and analyzes trillions of datapoints in order to protect more than 23,000 clients from security breaches.

The company raised its revenue forecast slightly for the 2024 fiscal year to a range of $3.03 billion to $3.04 billion, up from $3 billion to $3.04 billion. Annual earnings per share (EPS) is now projected in a range of $2.80 to $2.84, up from $2.32 to $2.43.

CrowdStrike shares are up by about 7% this week. They’ve risen 53% so far this year as close of trading on Friday.