Costs from Windows outage and related matters rise to $117.7 million in fiscal 2026
Fourth-quarter revenue rises 23% to $1.31 billion
Company forecasts first-quarter revenue above estimates
By Jaspreet Singh
March 3 (Reuters) - CrowdStrike CRWD.O forecast fiscal 2027 revenue above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, betting on resilient demand for its artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity solutions.
Shares of cybersecurity companies, including CrowdStrike, have fallen recently as investors assessed the potential impact of AI startup Anthropic's Claude Code Security tool, even as some analysts said the worries were overblown.
CrowdStrike's shares closed 1.7% higher. They were down 0.8% in volatile extended trading.
"I think people are still digesting numbers. But in this environment, having a software stock trade close to flat post print seems like a good outcome," said Truist Securities analyst Junaid Siddiqui.
The company is benefiting from rising enterprise cloud adoption and modernizing security needs amid a wave of high-profile cyberattacks that has hit global companies, including cybersecurity company F5 FFIV.O.
CrowdStrike expects fiscal 2027 revenue of $5.87 billion to $5.93 billion, above analysts' average estimate of $5.86 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
It projected annual adjusted earnings per share of $4.78 to $4.90, compared with estimates of $4.81.
First-quarter revenue forecast of $1.360 billion to $1.364 billion came above estimates of $1.35 billion.
It expects adjusted earnings per share of $1.06 to $1.07 in the first quarter, largely in-line with estimates of $1.06.
Revenue rose 23% to $1.31 billion in the fourth quarter. The adjusted EPS of $1.12 exceeded estimates of $1.10.
The company said costs associated with the Windows outage of July 19, 2024 and related matters widened to $117.7 million in fiscal 2026, compared with $60.1 million a year earlier.
The costs, however, narrowed to $16.2 million in the quarter ended January 31, compared with $21 million a year ago in the same quarter.
In January, CrowdStrike said it will buy identity security startup SGNL for $740 million and Israeli browser runtime security startup Seraphic Security for about $420 million.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
((Jaspreet.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; on X @i_jass;))