CrowdStrike Still the ‘Gold Standard’ in the Endpoint Security Market, Says Analyst

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CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) hosted its annual user conference called Fal.Con this week, with its management also holding an investor briefing, prompting analysts to release notes providing their thoughts on the company and event.

A Wells Fargo analyst maintained an Overweight rating and $250 price target on the stock, telling investors the most actionable data point coming out of the conference was the “panel discussion with the channel partners, including Worldwide Tech and Optiv.”

“They both noted improving demand trends, and Optiv said the month of August was the strongest month in company history,” said the analyst. “CrowdStrike is still the gold standard in the endpoint security market and is expanding the platform across many new areas. We believe they are well-positioned to capitalize on the improving demand trends in the back half of the year, and therefore reiterate CRWD as one of our top picks.”

A Guggenheim analyst has a Buy rating and $270 price target on CrowdStrike. He said the company announced two new strategic investments via the Falcon Fund (Salt Security and Vanta), a new service provider program (CrowdStrike Powered Service Provider), new product releases and capabilities, and the intent to acquire External Attack Surface Management firm Reposify.

“We had conversations with some of CrowdStrike’s customers and partners and got a real sense that CrowdStrike’s modular platform approach is resonating with them. A customer we spoke to in particular said he was looking to replace other vendors with the equivalent CrowdStrike module as it has become difficult to manage the multiple products but said that his organization is still focused on best-of-breed, so capabilities are still important,” added the analyst.

A BTIG analyst, who has a Buy rating and $234 price target on CrowdStrike, said all in, they came away from the event with “a higher degree of confidence” in CrowdStrike’s growth potential and the company’s ability to withstand increased IT budget pressure stemming from a weakening economy.

“On the product side, we were most surprised by the overwhelmingly positive feedback on CRWD’s identity modules, which seem to be hitting an inflection point. And lastly, we left the event feeling good on the potential for CRWD to drive incremental growth with announcements in tangential areas – namely DLP and External Attack Surface Management,” wrote the analyst.

Finally, a Morgan Stanley analyst said the investor briefing focused on communicating the longer-term platform vision and the strategic drivers for getting there.

The analyst, who has an Overweight rating and $217 price target on the stock, stated that bottom-line, with their estimates unchanged on the back of today’s briefing, they don’t believe it offered any major surprises. The analyst said the most compelling takeaways “include: partner commentary which suggests security budgets are still proving defensible through August and into September and the emerging opportunity in Identity Protection.”

CrowdStrike shares fell 2.6% Wednesday.