MW Why CrowdStrike's stock just won another fan on Wall Street

By Hannah Pedone

CrowdStrike's revenue growth prospects put it 'in rarified air' within the software sector

Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall just upgraded shares of CrowdStrike to overweight from equal weight.

CrowdStrike's more flexible business model is yielding results, and that's one reason why its stock is garnering more love from Wall Street analysts.

Morgan Stanley's Meta Marshall upgraded shares of CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) to overweight from equal weight on Tuesday, joining a growing group of analysts who are encouraged by demand for the company's Falcon Flex offering, a flexible subscription program that allows customers to pay only for the offerings they require, which has driven larger customer commitments and increased renewals.

Annual recurring revenue from Falcon Flex was up more than 120% in the fiscal fourth quarter.

Read more: 4 reasons cybersecurity stocks are primed for a breakout

With Marshall's upgrade, now 70% of analysts tracked by FactSet have bullish ratings on CrowdStrike's stock, up from 58% at the end of July.

Admittedly, CrowdStrike's stock is one of the "most expensive names" in cybersecurity, and that's been a "stumbling block" for investors, according to Marshall. Yet she's encouraged by the company's potential to grow revenue at an annual clip upward of 20% over a multiyear span. That puts the company "in rarified air as the only software vendor at scale" seeing that sort of growth potential.

Marshall also noted that the company is well positioned to benefit from artificial intelligence given the "long-term shift" in the cybersecurity industry toward integrating agents into security offerings. She expects CrowdStrike to capitalize on this trend by leveraging Charlotte AI, the company's AI assistant that aims to automate security operations.

Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings gave back most of their gains on Tuesday and ended the session with a fractional gain. The stock is up 5% in the past month but down roughly 8% so far this year.

Some investors have worried about the release of cybersecurity tools from Anthropic and OpenAI. But those investors "often miss" that cybersecurity solutions demand 100% accuracy and "real-time" responses, which new AI tools cannot accommodate, Marshall wrote.

She added that security spending is one of the "core backbones" of information-technology budgets and there is "minimal risk" of AI shifting that trend.

The stock has been winning more fans lately. Earlier this month, Piper Sandler analyst Rob Owens upgraded CrowdStrike's stock to overweight from neutral, saying that it is a top stock to own in the AI era.

See also: Software stocks are slumping today, despite recent trend higher

-Hannah Pedone

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March 10, 2026 17:13 ET (21:13 GMT)

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