CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) shares plunged 6.48% to $457.09 in after-hours trading despite beating Q1 earnings expectations, as the cybersecurity company’s second-quarter revenue guidance of $1.14-$1.15 billion fell short of the $1.16 billion analyst consensus. The disappointing outlook overshadowed strong quarterly results and a $1 billion share buyback authorization, highlighting ongoing challenges from last summer’s global software outage.
CrowdStrike Shares Drop Dramatically in After-Hours on Guidance Miss
CrowdStrike shares closed regular trading at $488.76, up 2.00% for the day, before dropping dramatically to $457.09 in after-hours trading, representing a 6.48% decline following the earnings announcement.
The cybersecurity company has been a standout performer in 2025, with year-to-date gains of 42.85% compared to the S&P 500’s modest 1.51% increase.
Over the past year, CrowdStrike has delivered impressive returns of 58.33% versus the broader market’s 13.00% gain, while its three-year performance shows a remarkable 201.52% increase compared to the S&P 500’s 45.32% rise.
The company’s market capitalization stands at $121.737 billion, reflecting its position as a leading cybersecurity provider. CrowdStrike’s 52-week range spans from $200.81 to $491.20, with the stock having reached near all-time highs before the after-hours decline.
Key valuation metrics show the premium investors have been willing to pay for the company’s growth, including a price-to-sales ratio of 29.66 and an enterprise value-to-revenue multiple of 29.29. The dramatic after-hours reaction demonstrates how sensitive investors remain to any signs of slowing growth or lingering effects from the company’s previous operational challenges.
Q1 Results Beat Expectations Despite Challenges
CrowdStrike reported strong first-quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations on both earnings and revenue metrics, demonstrating the underlying strength of its cybersecurity platform. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.73, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by a significant margin of 10.62%.
Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.10 billion, matching analyst expectations and representing nearly 20% growth compared to the same period last year. However, the company swung to a net loss of $110.2 million, or 44 cents per share, compared to net income of $42.8 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same quarter last year, reflecting increased costs related to recovery efforts from last summer’s global software outage. The revenue growth demonstrates continued demand for CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity solutions despite the operational challenges the company has faced.
Operating expenses increased across multiple categories, including sales and marketing as well as research and development, partly due to costs associated with addressing the broad software outage that occurred in July 2024.
The strong earnings beat suggests that while the company is investing heavily in recovery and improvement efforts, its core business model remains robust and profitable on an adjusted basis.
Guidance Disappointment Drives After-Hours Decline
The primary driver of CrowdStrike’s after-hours decline was the company’s second-quarter revenue guidance, which fell short of analyst expectations and raised concerns about the lasting impact of operational challenges. CrowdStrike projected Q2 revenue of $1.14 billion to $1.15 billion, trailing the average analyst estimate of $1.16 billion and representing a notable shortfall that spooked investors.
The company provided adjusted earnings per share guidance of 82 cents to 84 cents for the current quarter, which slightly exceeded analyst expectations of 81 cents, but the revenue miss overshadowed this positive aspect.
For the full fiscal year, CrowdStrike maintained its revenue expectation of $4.74 billion to $4.81 billion while raising its adjusted earnings guidance to $3.44 to $3.56 per share from the previous range of $3.33 to $3.45.
The revenue guidance disappointment suggests that the company may still be experiencing headwinds from the July 2024 global software outage that affected numerous customers and potentially damaged some client relationships.
Investors appeared particularly sensitive to any signs that the cybersecurity leader might be losing market share or facing prolonged recovery challenges, leading to the sharp after-hours selling despite the otherwise solid quarterly performance.
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Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult our website policy prior to making financial decisions.
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