CrowdStrike Faces Short-Term Challenges Like Pipeline Delays, Deal Scrutiny, and Discounting Pressure, Analyst Says
CrowdStrike CRWD | 0.00 | |
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. PANW | 0.00 |
BofA Securities analyst Tal Liani maintained a Buy rating on CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) with a price target of $365.
The price target reflects 17x Liani’s fiscal 2026 EV/Sales, which is a premium to high-growth Software as a Service (SaaS) peers, supported by CrowdStrike’s competitive solid positioning in endpoint security and long-term growth opportunities across Cloud security, log management, and identity protection.
In addition, the analyst flagged CrowdStrike’s higher growth profile and potential to take a meaningful share in new markets.
Liani recently hosted an investor meeting with Burt Podbere, CrowdStrike’s CFO, where management outlined customer retention plans, technology programs, and financial implications following the global outage.
The discussion focused on CrowdStrike incentives for the outage victims, including managing the recovery through discounting, bundling, free product offerings, flexible payment options, and extended contract terms.
Liani noted that delays in pipeline generation activities post-outage and heightened deal scrutiny across new and existing customers are extending sales cycles and impacting near-term growth trajectory.
The company is no longer guiding to free cash flow or net new annual recurring revenue (nnARR). Yet, the analyst noted the potential for near-term pressure related to muted upsell value, longer deal cycles, and recovery of outbound prospecting.
Management is still measuring the magnitude of the impact, and Liani expects further information related to the impact towards the end of the quarter.
While CrowdStrike’s discounting is temporary and aims to address customer retention risk, Liani noted that the general pricing environment is deteriorating. The two largest cybersecurity companies, Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) and CrowdStrike, both now offer variable payment plans, which could drive long-term pricing headwinds should customers continue to push on discounting.
Price Action: CRWD stock is trading lower by 1.51% to $262.58 at the last check on Wednesday.
Photo via shutterstock
Recommend
- Sahm Platform 01/12 03:55
CrowdStrike Delivers Beat-And-Raise Q3: 'One Of Our Best Quarters In Company History'
Benzinga News 02/12 21:39Dollar Tree, CrowdStrike And 3 Stocks To Watch Heading Into Wednesday
Benzinga News 03/12 06:23In One Chart | Is the AI Rally Just Beginning? Wall Street Names 10 Must-Buy Stocks
Sahm Platform 03/12 06:36'AI Is Expanding The Attack Surface:' CrowdStrike CEO Warns China's 'State-Sponsored' Adversaries Are Using LLMs For Cyber Intrusions
Benzinga News 03/12 09:22US Market Preview | VRAX Surges 108.0%; ADP Jobs Data Misses Expectations, Futures Rise; NVDA's OpenAI Investment Pending
Sahm Platform 03/12 13:59Stock Ratings | Guggenheim maintained its "buy" recommendation on Cybin Inc. Common Shares (CYBN) and raised its price target to $48 from $39, representing a potential upside of 378.12%.
Sahm Platform 1hGoldman Sachs Maintains Buy on CrowdStrike Holdings, Raises Price Target to $564
Benzinga News 32m


