On July 19, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) released a corrupted update to its industry-leading cybersecurity software, which led to a computer outage for millions of businesses around the world. CrowdStrike stock sank 42% following the news, as investors feared the incident would lead to a significant loss of customers and revenue.
However, CEO George Kurtz has since put some of those concerns to rest, and CrowdStrike stock has jumped 58% from its low point, which was set on Aug. 2. The company is scheduled to release its latest financial results for its fiscal 2025 third quarter (ended Oct. 31) on Nov. 26, and it will give investors some fresh insights into the recovery.
CrowdStrike is recovering from the worst event in its history
The July 19 software glitch primarily affected devices running the Microsoft Windows operating system. It crashed around 8.5 million computers worldwide and plunged businesses — from airlines to banks — into a state of disarray. Some estimates suggest that CrowdStrike’s top customers suffered over $5 billion in losses because of the outages.
CrowdStrike is facing some legal action, including a $500 million lawsuit from Delta Airlines, but the company isn’t experiencing the customer exodus that many investors feared. In fact, during a conference call with investors on Aug. 28, Kurtz said some new deals are being delayed, but the vast majority remain in the sales pipeline.
Additionally, CrowdStrike recently revised its fiscal 2025 revenue forecast down by just 2.5%, and left its long-term goal to reach $10 billion in annual recurring revenue by fiscal 2031 unchanged.
In other words, potential customers might be monitoring CrowdStrike’s response to the July 19 incident, and making sure it isn’t a recurring issue before they make a commitment — but they don’t appear to be abandoning the company.
CrowdStrike remains a leader in AI-powered cybersecurity
One possible reason there hasn’t been a customer exodus is because there aren’t many good alternatives to CrowdStrike. The cybersecurity industry has a history of fragmentation, meaning businesses used to piece their security stack together from different vendors. However, CrowdStrike is a true platform solution that covers cloud security, identity management, endpoint protection, and more, so it’s extremely convenient and cost-effective.
In fact, CrowdStrike’s flagship Falcon platform offers 28 different modules (products), and during the fiscal 2025 second quarter (ended July 31), 65% of customers were using at least five of them. The company also experienced a whopping 66% year-over-year growth in the number of deals it signed for eight or more modules. That’s where the spending really ramps up — almost half of customers who are spending $100,000 or more annually are using at least eight modules.
Plus, CrowdStrike is an industry leader when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), which it uses to automate everything from threat detection to incident response. The company’s AI models are trained on over 2 trillion security events every single day, so their accuracy is constantly improving.
