CrowdStrike shares surged nearly 20% in early trading on Thursday after the cybersecurity firm delivered a strong quarterly performance and raised its outlook, signalling that its AI-linked investments are beginning to translate into stronger customer demand.
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. was trading at $225.02, up $35.84 or 18.95%, as of 10:19 a.m. GMT-4 on August 27. The stock touched an intraday high of $225.78, up about 19.3% from the previous close.
The company's results prompted several Wall Street analysts to raise their price targets, with expectations that growing AI adoption and an increasingly challenging cyber threat environment could drive further demand for CrowdStrike's security products.
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Needham retained its Buy rating and raised its price target to $250 from $235, saying CrowdStrike had outperformed every guided metric and raised its outlook for the remainder of the year. The brokerage also noted that fiscal 2027 net-new annual recurring revenue growth guidance was raised by 630 basis points to 34% year-on-year.
Analysts said companies are increasingly modernising their cybersecurity systems as they adopt agentic AI, creating additional demand for CrowdStrike's security offerings.
Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating and lifted its price target to $238 from $227. The brokerage pointed to several encouraging indicators, including a near-tripling in AI detection and response (AIDR) sequentially and accelerating endpoint detection and response (EDR) growth for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Goldman Sachs also raised its price target, to $230 from $208, while retaining its Buy rating. The brokerage said AI projects are encouraging companies to undertake broader cybersecurity upgrades, potentially supporting higher growth for CrowdStrike in the coming years.
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CrowdStrike had already gained more than 60% this year through Wednesday's close. The stock jumped as much as 12% in after-hours trading after the company forecast third-quarter revenue of up to $1.53 billion, above analysts' $1.52 billion estimate. Its full-year revenue forecast of $5.99 billion-$6.01 billion also topped expectations of $5.94 billion.
The broader cybersecurity sector gained as well, with Palo Alto Networks rising 9% and SentinelOne climbing 7% on Thursday.
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