CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (CRWD) - Company Research

Last Updated: 2 May 2026

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) is a cloud-native cybersecurity platform built around Falcon — a single-agent kernel sensor that consolidates endpoint detection & response, next-gen antivirus, identity protection, cloud security, log management/SIEM, exposure management and AI-workload security on one architecture. Fiscal 2026 (52 weeks ended 31 January 2026) revenue was $4.812 bn (+22%), subscription revenue $4.565 bn (+21%), ending ARR $5.25 bn (+24%) and net new ARR $1.01 bn — the first $1 bn+ year, and a full reacceleration following the 19 July 2024 Falcon Sensor outage. Q4 FY26 set fresh records: revenue $1.31 bn (+23%), net new ARR $331 m, non-GAAP operating income $325.8 m (25% margin), non-GAAP EPS $1.12 and free cash flow $376.4 m. Falcon Flex — the consolidated commercial model that absorbed the post-outage Customer Commitment Packages — closed FY26 at $1.69 bn ARR (+120%) with over 1,000 customers. On 30 April 2026 CrowdStrike integrated Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.7 across the Falcon platform and Project QuiltWorks, the new industry coalition (with Accenture, EY, IBM, Kroll, OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, NVIDIA, Salesforce) for vulnerability remediation at AI scale. The Delta Air Lines lawsuit relating to the 19 July 2024 outage remains the principal surviving outage case, with a Georgia judge ruling in May 2025 that the gross-negligence claim could proceed; Delta seeks $550 m. CEO George Kurtz sold a total of ~5,000 shares on 29–30 April 2026 under his pre-set 10b5-1 plan adopted 6 January 2026. Q1 FY27 earnings are scheduled for 9 June 2026; Fal.Con 2026 runs 31 August–3 September at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. For live pricing see our live charts, upcoming releases on the economic calendar, and discussion on the ChartsView forum.

1. Company Snapshot

Company	CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.
Ticker	NASDAQ: CRWD (Class A; Nasdaq-100, S&P 500)
Sector / Industry	Technology / Cybersecurity Software
HQ	Austin, Texas (relocated from Sunnyvale, CA in 2022)
President & CEO	George Kurtz (founder; in role since founding 2011)
President	Michael ("Mike") Sentonas (since February 2023)
CFO	Burt W. Podbere (since February 2018)
Co-founders	George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch (departed 2020), Gregg Marston
Founded	2011
Employees	10,698 (as of 31 January 2026, FY26 10-K)
Fiscal year end	31 January (FY26 ended 31 Jan 2026)
Index membership	Nasdaq-100 (added July 2021); S&P 500 (added 24 June 2024)
Share price (1 May 2026)	$451.24 (intraday range $432.55–$451.25)
52-week range	$342.72 — $566.90
Market cap (1 May 2026)	~$113–114 bn
Enterprise value	~$108–109 bn (cash ~$5.23 bn, debt $0.745 bn)
FY2026 revenue	$4.812 bn (+22%)
FY2026 subscription revenue	$4.565 bn (+21%)
FY2026 ending ARR / net new ARR	$5.25 bn (+24%) / $1.01 bn (record)
FY2026 non-GAAP op income / FCF	$1.05 bn / $1.24 bn
Dividend	None — CrowdStrike has never paid a dividend
Long-term debt	$745.5 m (3.000% senior unsecured notes due Feb 2029, issued Jan 2021)
Website	crowdstrike.com / ir.crowdstrike.com

2. Bull Case vs Bear Case

Bull Case	Bear Case
Outage fully unwound: FY26 net new ARR $1.01 bn (first $1 bn+ year), ending ARR $5.25 bn (+24%); Q4 FY26 net new ARR $331 m (record); gross retention held at 97% throughout FY26.	Delta v. CrowdStrike (Fulton County GA) ongoing: Delta seeks $550 m. May 2025 ruling allowed gross-negligence claim to proceed — if proven, the contractual liability cap (reportedly "single-digit millions") could be overridden.
Falcon Flex consolidation: $1.69 bn Flex ARR (+120% YoY); over 1,000 Flex customers; 100+ "re-flexes" in Q2 FY26 alone; from FY27 non-Flex deals require management exception.	Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: bundled in M365 E5 = structural pricing pressure on standalone EPP licensing; CrowdStrike's defence is platform breadth and Falcon Flex consolidation.
Module land-and-expand intact: 50% of customers running 6+ modules (Q4 FY26); 34% on 7+; 24% on 8+ — all up YoY. Net retention 115%.	Stock-based comp / GAAP losses: FY26 GAAP net loss $162.5 m (vs $15.2 m loss FY25). Q1 FY26 included ~$73 m of outage-related cash costs (sales comp, flexible payment terms).
AI platform pivot: Charlotte AI persona-aware console; Charlotte AgentWorks (no-code agent builder) and Charlotte Agentic SOAR; Falcon Data Security (launched March 2026); AI Detection & Response (AIDR) on Pangea. Anthropic Claude Opus 4.7 integrated 30 April 2026.	AI commoditisation of detection: frontier-model providers building security products natively (Anthropic launched Claude Security beta on 30 April 2026, the same day as the CRWD integration).
Free cash flow: FY26 FCF $1.24 bn (26% margin); Q4 FY26 FCF $376.4 m; Q3 FY26 record $296 m. FY27 management guide of at least 30% FCF margin.	Valuation premium: ~23× trailing P/S, ~92× P/FCF, 72× non-GAAP EV/EBITDA — leaves the stock vulnerable to multiple compression.
Strategic AI partnerships: NVIDIA (Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator), Salesforce Agentforce (Falcon Shield in Salesforce Security Center), AWS, Google Cloud (Security Partner of the Year 2026), Intel (AI PCs), IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, EY, Kroll, OpenAI, Anthropic.	Original $10 bn ARR-by-FY27 target unattainable: FY26 closed at $5.25 bn and FY27 guide is $6.47–$6.52 bn. Updated long-range trajectory: $20 bn ARR by FY36.

3. What Does This Company Actually Do?

CrowdStrike sells the Falcon platform — a cloud-native, lightweight kernel-sensor agent that runs across endpoints, cloud workloads, identities and (increasingly) AI agents. Modules are sold as add-ons that snap into the same agent and the same console.

Modules in active marketing as of FY26:

• Falcon Insight — EDR.
• Falcon Prevent — next-gen AV.
• Falcon Identity Protection — with Adaptive Shield SSPM rolled in (closed Nov 2024).
• Falcon Cloud Security — CNAPP; named Leader in 2026 Frost & Sullivan CNAPP Radar.
• Falcon Next-Gen SIEM — the LogScale / Humio-based "definitive data foundation for agentic security".
• Falcon Data Security — new at RSAC 2026 (24 March 2026); discovers / classifies / stops data theft including from agentic AI apps.
• Falcon for AI Workloads / AI Detection & Response (AIDR) — built on Pangea acquisition.
• Charlotte AI — agentic analyst; Charlotte AI AgentWorks (no-code agent builder); Charlotte Agentic SOAR.
• Falcon Discover, Falcon Spotlight, Falcon Exposure Management, Falcon ASPM, Falcon LogScale, Falcon Onum (telemetry pipeline).
• Falcon Complete (managed) and Agentic MDR.

Customer module penetration (Q4 FY26): 6+ modules 50% (vs 48% Q4 FY25); 7+ modules 34%; 8+ modules 24% (vs 21% Q4 FY25).

Subscription vs Pro Services FY26 split: Subscription revenue $4.565 bn / Total $4.812 bn = 94.9% subscription, 5.1% professional services.

4. The Business Model

• ARR-driven, multi-module land-and-expand: initial Falcon EDR landing followed by upsell across identity, cloud, SIEM, data security and AI modules.
• Gross retention 97% through FY26 despite the outage anniversary; dollar-based net retention 115% in FY26 (recovered from a 112% trough at Q4 FY25 caused by outage credits/discounts).
• Falcon Flex is the dominant new-business commercial model. Customers commit to Falcon at the platform level and pick/swap modules over the contract. Post-outage, Customer Commitment Packages (CCPs) were folded into Flex, converting outage-driven discounts/credits into multi-year platform commitments. From FY27, non-Flex deals require management exception. Flex ARR was $1.69 bn at 31 January 2026 (+120% YoY); over 1,000 Flex customers (achieved Q2 FY26); 100+ "re-flexes" in Q2 FY26 alone.
• Subscription gross margin (non-GAAP): 81% in Q4 FY26 (80% Q4 FY25).
• Non-GAAP operating margin: 25% in Q4 FY26 ($325.8 m on $1.31 bn rev); ~21.8% full-year FY26.
• Free cash flow margin: 26% FY26 ($1.24 bn / $4.81 bn). Management guides at least 30% for FY27.
• R&D: ~25% of revenue.

Subsidy / regulatory credit dependency: CrowdStrike has no material reliance on government subsidies, tax credits or regulatory credits. Revenue is subscription-driven.

5. Financial Health

Five-year fiscal trend (years ended 31 January, $ millions unless noted):

Metric	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26
Revenue	1,452	2,241	3,056	3,954	4,812
Subscription revenue	1,359	2,111	2,866	3,762	4,565
Ending ARR	1,733	2,556	3,440	4,240	5,250
Net new ARR	743	832	885	810*	1,010
Non-GAAP operating income	~80	329	660	879.9	1,050
Free cash flow	441	677	939	1,070	1,240

*FY25 net new ARR depressed by July 2024 outage credits; FY26 represents full reacceleration.

Last five quarters — revenue, subscription gross margin (non-GAAP), and net new ARR:

Quarter	Period end	Revenue	YoY	Subs gross margin (non-GAAP)	Net new ARR	Ending ARR
Q4 FY25	31 Jan 2025	$1.058 bn	+25%	80%	$224.3 m	$4.24 bn
Q1 FY26	30 Apr 2025	$1.103 bn	+20%	~80%	$193.8 m	$4.44 bn
Q2 FY26	31 Jul 2025	$1.169 bn	+21%	~80%	$221.1 m	$4.66 bn
Q3 FY26	31 Oct 2025	$1.227 bn	+22%	~80%	$265 m (record at the time)	$4.92 bn
Q4 FY26	31 Jan 2026	$1.310 bn	+23%	81%	$331 m (record)	$5.25 bn

Q4 FY26 GAAP/non-GAAP detail: GAAP loss from operations ($6.9 m), improved sharply from ($79.3 m) Q4 FY25; GAAP net income $38.7 m (vs $86.3 m loss); non-GAAP operating income $325.8 m (25% margin); non-GAAP net income $289.1 m / $1.12 diluted EPS. Q3 FY26 GAAP operating loss ~$113 m was outage-restructuring-and-SBC-driven but FCF was a record $296 m.

Full-year FY26: GAAP net loss ($162.5 m) (vs ($15.2 m) FY25), driven by ~$36–$53 m of restructuring charges (May 2025 8-K) and higher stock-based comp; non-GAAP net income $956.6 m (vs $814.6 m).

Balance sheet at 31 January 2026: cash & short-term investments $5.23 bn; long-term debt $745.5 m (the original 3.000% senior unsecured notes due February 2029, issued 20 January 2021 — not a new 2025 issuance); D/E ratio ~0.17×. Diluted weighted-average shares used in non-GAAP EPS ~258–260 m for Q4 FY26 (FY27 guide assumes ~260 m).

6. Valuation & Market Data

Metric	Value (as of 1–2 May 2026)
Share price	$451.24 (close 1 May 2026)
52-week range	$342.72 — $566.90
Market cap	~$113–114 bn
Enterprise value	~$108–109 bn
Trailing GAAP P/E	n/a (GAAP net loss FY26 ($162.5 m))
Forward non-GAAP P/E	~92–94× ($451 / FY27 guide $4.78–$4.90 EPS)
TTM Price / Sales	~23.6× ($114 bn / $4.81 bn)
Forward Price / Sales (FY27)	~19.4× ($114 bn / $5.90 bn mid-guide)
EV / Sales (TTM)	~22.5×
EV / EBITDA (TTM)	~72× non-GAAP / >500× GAAP
Price / FCF	~92× ($114 bn / $1.24 bn FY26 FCF)
Short interest	Minimal — "effectively zero days-to-cover"
Dividend yield	0% (no dividend)

7. What Are They Building / What's Coming?

• Charlotte AI persona-aware Falcon console, powered by the Enterprise Graph + Charlotte AI; Charlotte AI AgentWorks (first no-code security-agent development platform); Charlotte Agentic SOAR for real-time reason-decide-act.
• Falcon Next-Gen SIEM — added Microsoft Defender for Endpoint support at RSAC 2026; Identity-Driven Case Management; 5× faster streaming, 50% lower storage, 70% faster response with Onum.
• Falcon Data Security (launched 24 March 2026 at RSAC) — discovers/classifies/stops data theft including from agentic AI apps.
• Agentic MDR (RSAC 2026); AI Detection & Response (AIDR) built on Pangea acquisition; Falcon for AI Workloads; Falcon ASPM.
• Strategic partnerships: NVIDIA Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator (3rd annual; 35 startups for 2026 cohort); Salesforce Agentforce (Falcon Shield in Salesforce Security Center; Charlotte AI in Agentforce for Security); AWS; Google Cloud (Security Partner of the Year 2026 — 2nd year, Infrastructure Protection); Intel (Falcon optimised for Intel-powered AI PCs at RSAC 2026); IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, EY, Kroll, Telefónica Tech (Charlotte AI AgentWorks ecosystem); OpenAI & Anthropic (Project QuiltWorks); Anthropic Claude Opus 4.7 integrated into Falcon (30 April 2026).
• M&A:
  • Adaptive Shield — closed November 2024, ~$300 m, SaaS Security Posture Management (folded into Falcon Identity Protection).
  • Onum — announced 27 August 2025; closed 2025; real-time telemetry pipeline ("Falcon Onum").
  • Pangea — announced 16 September 2025 at Fal.Con; price $260 m; closed late September 2025; AI prompt-layer security; basis for AIDR.
• Long-range: management's 2022-stated $10 bn ARR-by-FY27 target reset; updated trajectory $20 bn ARR by FY36.

8. Competitive Landscape

Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft were named Leaders for the 6th consecutive time in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (published 14 July 2025), with CrowdStrike positioned furthest right for Completeness of Vision and highest for Ability to Execute among 15 vendors (3rd consecutive time at this position). Microsoft is also a Leader.

Vendor	Endpoint protection share (6sense, 2026)	Notes
CrowdStrike	22.62% (#1)	Falcon platform; consolidated EPP/EDR/SIEM/cloud/identity
McAfee ePO	13.64%	Legacy enterprise EPP base
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	13.20%	Bundled in M365 E5
SentinelOne	10.54%	On-device AI; 1-Click Rollback; competes on price
Others (Palo Alto Cortex XDR, Trellix, Trend Micro Vision One, Sophos, Carbon Black, Cisco/Splunk SIEM)	~40%	Long tail; Cisco closed Splunk acquisition in 2024

Customer-recognition signals: 97% of CrowdStrike customers said they would recommend in Gartner Peer Insights (601 reviews, January 2025); MITRE ATT&CK 2025 evaluations awarded 100% protection and 100% detection. CrowdStrike differentiates on platform breadth (now 30+ modules including SIEM, cloud, identity, data) and the Falcon Flex consolidation play; Microsoft competes on bundling distribution; SentinelOne competes on price, on-device AI and 1-Click Rollback.

9. Leadership and Ownership

Executive leadership:

• George Kurtz — founder, President & CEO since founding (2011). Took the President title in 2024.
• Mike Sentonas — President since February 2023 (after Shawn Henry's retirement). 36,304-share RSU grant in 2026 (16 quarterly tranches starting 20 June 2026).
• Burt W. Podbere — CFO since February 2018; signed Q4 FY26 release 3 March 2026.
• Dmitri Alperovitch — co-founder, departed 2020 to start the Silverado Policy Accelerator; no longer an officer or director.

Top institutional holders (2026): Vanguard Group ~23.3 m shares (~9.36%); BlackRock ~13.2 m shares (~5.29%); State Street, Morgan Stanley, FMR/Fidelity, Capital Research, T. Rowe Price all major. Institutional ~70.85%; insiders ~4.16%; retail ~24.99%.

Recent insider Form 4 transactions:

Date	Insider	Role	Type	Shares	Price	Value	10b5-1?
30 Apr 2026	George Kurtz	CEO	Sell	part of 5,000	$432.96–$452.30	~$2.23 m total 29–30 Apr	Yes (plan adopted 6 Jan 2026)
29 Apr 2026	George Kurtz	CEO	Sell	part of 5,000	see above	see above	Yes
24 Apr 2026	George Kurtz	CEO	Sell	582	$448.59–$450.89	~$262k	Yes
23–24 Apr 2026	George Kurtz	CEO	Sell	4,418	$438–$453	~$1.97 m	Yes
Mar 2026	Burt Podbere	CFO	Sell	~14k+	various	~$6.5 m	Yes
23 Mar 2026	Burt Podbere	CFO	Sell	1,630 (separate)	—	—	Yes
Mar 2026	Mike Sentonas	President	RSU grant	36,304	n/a	n/a	Vesting (16 qtrly)
Feb 2026	Burt Podbere	CFO	Sell	1,630	—	—	Yes

A Form 144 filing also disclosed a 155,000-share planned block sale by Kurtz. All Kurtz sales are routine 10b5-1 dispositions; he retains a substantial founder stake.

10. Risks and Challenges

• July 2024 outage long tail: Delta v. CrowdStrike (Fulton County Superior Court, GA) is the principal surviving case. A May 2025 ruling allowed Delta's gross-negligence claim to proceed; if Delta proves gross negligence, the contractual liability cap (reportedly "single-digit millions") would be overridden. Delta seeks $550 m ($380 m revenue loss + $170 m costs). No trial date set as of early 2026. CrowdStrike's contract liability cap to most customers is "fees paid". The securities class action against CrowdStrike was dismissed in Austin TX; the passenger class action was dismissed in Texas under Airline Deregulation Act preemption.
• Microsoft bundling: Defender for Endpoint included in M365 E5; competes on price and embedded distribution.
• AI commoditisation of detection: frontier-model providers building security products natively (Anthropic launched Claude Security beta 30 April 2026). CrowdStrike's response is to be the orchestration layer (QuiltWorks, AgentWorks, AIDR via Pangea).
• Customer concentration / large-deal lumpiness: Flex deals are large multi-year multi-module commitments; FY26 $1.01 bn net new ARR was partly driven by large-deal pull-forward.
• Valuation premium: ~23× trailing P/S, ~92× P/FCF, 72× non-GAAP EV/EBITDA — multiple-compression risk if growth slows.
• Regulatory: DOJ/FTC scrutiny of cyber consolidation; cross-border export controls on Pangea AI tech.
• Capital allocation: three acquisitions in twelve months (Adaptive Shield $300 m, Onum, Pangea $260 m); integration risk.
• CCP roll-off: outage Customer Commitment Packages were converted to Flex; question is whether utilisation rates (now >75% per management) sustain post-incentive period.
• Restructuring charges: May 2025 8-K disclosed $36–$53 m restructuring; FY26 GAAP loss $162.5 m partly reflects this.

11. Recent Developments

• 30 April 2026 — CrowdStrike + Anthropic Claude Opus 4.7 integration across the Falcon platform and Project QuiltWorks. Coincides with Anthropic launching Claude Security in public beta.
• 29–30 April 2026 — CEO Kurtz Form 4 sales totalling 5,000 shares ($432.96–$452.30; ~$2.23 m total) under his pre-set 10b5-1 plan adopted 6 January 2026.
• 28 April 2026 — Kurtz appointed independent director of cybersecurity startup Armadin.
• 23–24 April 2026 — Project QuiltWorks coalition launched (Accenture, EY, IBM, Kroll, OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, NVIDIA, Salesforce) for vulnerability remediation at AI scale; Kurtz Form 4 sales 4,418 + 582 shares.
• 22 April 2026 — Forrester Total Economic Impact study quantifying ROI of Falcon Cloud Security.
• 15 April 2026 — Customers' Choice in 2026 Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for SIEM (most 5-star ratings, most verified reviews of any vendor).
• 6 April 2026 — Customers' Choice in 2026 Gartner Peer Insights for Managed Detection and Response.
• Early April 2026 — 2026 Google Cloud Security Partner of the Year (Infrastructure Protection) for second consecutive year; Google Agent Cloud Ecosystem launch partner.
• 24–27 March 2026 — RSA Conference 2026 (San Francisco): Falcon Data Security launched (data-theft prevention across the agentic enterprise); Agentic MDR announced; Charlotte AI AgentWorks ecosystem launched with 9 partners; Falcon Next-Gen SIEM gained Microsoft Defender for Endpoint support; 35 startups selected for the Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator with AWS/NVIDIA; Intel partnership extended to AI PCs; IBM partnership expanded for agentic SOC.
• 3 March 2026 — Q4 FY26 results: revenue $1.31 bn (+23%); net new ARR $331 m (record); ending ARR $5.25 bn (+24%); FCF $376.4 m; non-GAAP EPS $1.12. FY26 totals: rev $4.81 bn; net new ARR $1.01 bn (first $1 bn+ year); Flex ARR $1.69 bn (+120%).
• February 2026 — 2026 Global Threat Report: average eCrime breakout time fell to 29 minutes (−65% YoY); fastest 27 seconds; AI-enabled adversary activity +89% YoY.
• 2 December 2025 — Q3 FY26 results: rev $1.23 bn (+22%); record net new ARR $265 m (+73% YoY); ending ARR $4.92 bn; record Q3 FCF $296 m. Management raised H2 FY26 net-new-ARR growth target to ≥50%.
• September 2025 — Fal.Con 2025: Charlotte AI AgentWorks unveiled; Charlotte Agentic SOAR; Falcon Onum integration; Falcon Next-Gen SIEM upgrades; Pangea acquisition announced ($260 m).
• 27 August 2025 — Onum acquisition announced (telemetry pipeline). Q2 FY26 results: rev $1.17 bn (+21%); net new ARR $221.1 m; Flex >1,000 customers; 100+ re-flexes.
• 3 June 2025 — Q1 FY26 results: rev $1.10 bn (+20%); net new ARR $193.8 m. May 2025 8-K announced strategic restructuring with $36–$53 m charges; Q1 FCF included ~$73 m of outage-related cash costs.

12. Key Dates Coming Up

• 9 June 2026 — Q1 FY27 earnings (after market close).
• Late August 2026 — Q2 FY27 earnings (typically released the week before Fal.Con).
• 31 August–3 September 2026 — Fal.Con 2026 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas; inaugural Day Zero Threat Summit kicks off Fal.Con week.
• Black Hat / DEF CON — early August 2026; typical CrowdStrike presence.
• Annual stockholders' meeting — referenced in the FY26 PRE 14A proxy filing.
• RSA Conference 2027 — typical April/May 2027.

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