Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) boomed higher to close out last week with an earnings performance that may well change the narrative on this stock. It may start to be lumped in with that special group of stocks (WMT, ZM, AMZN, etc) that for one reason or another are deemed “pandemic-proof”. Web security clearly now has become essential, not discretionary. Remote collaboration during this period brings about more vulnerable endpoints that demand protection. CRWD launched a suite of new tools for working from home that are free to use as well.
One big sign that boosts this overall view is the company’s willingness to give precisely stated guidance. CRWD has clearly become the leading enterprise cybersecurity solution that is quickly taking over market share in a competitive space. Most would agree that there’s a secular push into the cloud. But the competitive element in play here is also a tailwind given widespread consolidation in the industry.
We expected another blow out quarter for CRWD. But we were most interesting in seeing the company’s guidance. There has been no change in its ability to close deals amid the COVID-19 panic, which is another very important sign.
In the big picture, a 13x multiple on sales isn’t particularly cheap – that’s where we are with the stock at around $50. But that level is a discount to SaaS peers in the market – remember, cloud was the bubble epicenter before the crash. A slowdown in growth will almost certainly bog things down for CRWD shareholders. But we don’t see any signs at all of genuine weakness. If anything, the 70x multiple to cash flow is a buffer and support, especially if the market starts to treat this one like a pandemic-proof play.
Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) bills itself as a company that develops security solutions in the United States. It offers Falcon platform, a cloud based security solution that protects workloads across on-premise, virtualized, and cloud-based environments running on various endpoints, such as laptops, desktops, servers, virtual machines, and IoT devices. The company also provides Threat Graph, a cloud-based graph database.
CrowdStrike provides cloud-delivered endpoint protection. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the CrowdStrike Falcon platform protects customers against cyberattacks on endpoints on or off the network by offering visibility and protection across the enterprise.
Our CRWD Earnings Summary:
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CrowdStrike beat by $0.06, beat on revs; guided Q1 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; guided FY21 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus
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Reports Q4 (Jan) loss of $0.02 per share, $0.06 better than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.08); revenues rose 88.9% year/year to $152.1 mln vs the $137.8 mln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
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Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) increased 92% year-over-year and grew to $600.5 million as of January 31, 2020, of which $98.7 million was net new ARR added in the quarter.
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Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.07)-($0.06) vs. ($0.08) S&P Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q1 revs of $164.3-$167.6 mln vs. $149.14 mln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
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Co issues upside guidance for FY21, sees EPS of ($0.14)-($0.16) vs. ($0.18) S&P Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY21 revs of $723.3-$733.5 mln vs. $679.62 mln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
Our CRWD Conference Call, Analyst, and Research Notes:
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Estimates were a layup one month ago; apparently they aren't seeing much impact from COVID-19/macro softness. Have to assume guidance is conservative.
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ARR +92%, cash flow positive; valuation remains only sticking point here.
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CRWD reported a non-GAAP loss for Q4 (Jan) at $(0.02), but that was much better than prior guidance of $(0.09)-(0.08). Revenue jumped 88.9% yr/yr to $152.1 mln, also well ahead of prior guidance of $135.9-138.6 mln.
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What jumps off the page to us is the robust revenue guidance for Q1 (Apr) at $164.3-$167.6 mln vs. $149.1 mln consensus.
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There was also slight EPS upside, but the revenue guidance stole the show. There was also pretty significant upside guidance for the full year.