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Investing.com - Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) to $492.00 from $530.00 on Thursday, while maintaining a Buy rating on the cybersecurity company’s shares. According to InvestingPro data, CrowdStrike has demonstrated impressive momentum with a 60% return over the past year, while maintaining a healthy current ratio of 1.85.
The price target reduction follows CrowdStrike’s second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings report, after which the stock was indicated down 4%. The company reported net new annual recurring revenue (NNARR) 10% above Street expectations, while revenue exceeded estimates by 2% and earnings per share came in 3% higher than consensus. The company’s strong performance is reflected in its robust revenue growth of 26% over the last twelve months, with 31 analysts recently revising their earnings expectations upward, as noted in InvestingPro’s comprehensive analysis.
CrowdStrike guided for NNARR to accelerate 40% year-over-year in the second half of fiscal 2026 as it laps headwinds from last year’s outage, ahead of Goldman Sachs and Street estimates of approximately 29% and 28% growth, respectively. The company noted its third-quarter revenue guidance fell 1% below Street expectations due to its CCP partner rebate program being amortized as contra revenue.
Goldman Sachs cited lower peer multiples as the reason for reducing its 12-month price target, now basing its valuation on 55x its fiscal 2028 free cash flow estimate versus 60x previously.
The firm believes CrowdStrike needs to return to more consistent performance across NNARR, revenue, and earnings per share to drive stock outperformance, which it expects to occur in the first half of fiscal 2026 when abnormal revenue recognition tied to concessions abate.
In other recent news, CrowdStrike Holdings reported impressive second-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2026, surpassing analysts’ expectations. The company achieved an earnings per share of $0.93, exceeding the consensus forecast of $0.83. Revenue for the quarter reached $1.169 billion, slightly above the anticipated $1.1496 billion, marking a 21% year-over-year increase. CrowdStrike’s annual recurring revenue hit $4.66 billion, outpacing the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion and reflecting a 20% year-over-year growth.
In terms of analyst ratings, Citizens JMP reiterated a Market Outperform rating with a price target of $500. Meanwhile, DA Davidson lowered its price target to $490 from $530 but maintained a Buy rating. Piper Sandler also adjusted its price target to $450 from $505, keeping a Neutral rating. Notably, CrowdStrike’s Net New Annual Recurring Revenue returned to positive growth, as the company moves past the comparative period impacted by last year’s security incident.
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