Dive Brief:

• CrowdStrike Holdings shares surged after the cybersecurity provider beat consensus estimates for fiscal Q4 earnings and provided a robust earnings outlook strong customer demand for endpoint security.
• CrowdStrike lost $42 million in the quarter, or 18 cents a share, compared with a gain of $19 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago period. However, excluding one-time losses and gains (non-GAAP), the Austin, Texas-based company said it had record profits of $70.4 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with year-ago earnings of $31.6 million or 13 cents a share.
• The fourth-quarter earnings performance beat consensus Wall Street analyst estimates. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 63% to $431 million in the quarter, compared with $264.9 million in the year-ago quarter. CrowdStrike shares were up more than 13% in premarket trading at $193.38.

Dive Insight:

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the current global environment, including the war in Ukraine, is driving strong demand for cybersecurity protection. 

"As we've published in our most recent global threat report, 2021 provided no rest for the weary with an 82% increase in ransomware-related data leaks," Kurtz said during the quarterly conference call. "As the nation-state events of the past few weeks have demonstrated, cyberspace is center stage, joining land, sea, air and space as the fifth dimension of warfare."

There are no borders in cyberspace, Kurtz said, and the "cyber blast radius has no bounds, putting every government and organization at risk as attacks can extend far beyond their intended targets as we saw with NotPetya."

The company reported a record annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $217 million during the fiscal fourth quarter.  ARR grew 65% to $1.73 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2022.

The company is forecasting non-GAAP net income of $52 million to $56.7 million, or 22 to 24 cents a share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, which ends April 30. 

Revenue is expected to rise to between $458.9 million and $465.4 million during the quarter. 

Annual earnings are expected to reach between $251.1 million and $273.6 million or $1.03 and $1.13 a share on a non-GAAP basis for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2023.

Revenue is expected to reach between $2.13 billion and $2.16 billion for the fiscal year.