CrowdStrike Jumps On 4Q Earnings

The stock of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (CRWD) jumped 12.5% on Thursday after the company’s fourth quarter results conference call was held on Wednesday. 

The cloud-delivered cybersecurity firm reported both better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on its fiscal fourth quarter earnings.  

CrowdStrike management said its adjusted revenue per share for 2022 would likely be between $0.22 and $0.24, higher than initial estimates of around $0.17. CRWD's adjusted earnings per share posted at $0.30, higher than initial estimates.  

The company’s total revenue for fiscal year 2022 came in at $1.45 billion, a 66% increase from their fiscal 2021 earnings of $874.4 million. The company also set new personal records for both operating and free cash flow, coming in at $575 million and $442 million, respectively. 

In all, 154 ETFs currently hold CRWD, totaling 14.9 million shares overall. 

The ETFs with the most CrowdStrike exposure are thematic in nature and include the Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF (VCLO), with an 11.92% weighting to the stock. VCLO combines exposure to a concentrated portfolio of equities with an options strategy. CRWD is its largest holding.  

The TrueShares Technology, AI & Deep Learning ETF (LRNZ) has CRWD weighted at 7.83% of its portfolio, while the Spear Alpha ETF (SPRX) weights the stock at 6.58%. The $65.6 billion First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR) has fairly significant exposure to the stock, at 5.64%, withhile the $229 million Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO) weightsing itCRWD at 5.22%. 

When it comes to total shares held, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) tops the list, with 2.83 Mmillion shares, followed by CIBR, with 1.64 Mmillion shares, and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) , with 1.2M million shares. 

A diverse group of ETF strategies currently hold CrowdStrike stock. Despite thematic ETFs having the greatest exposure, cap-weighted plain -vanilla ETFs are the largest group holding CRWD, at 38 funds. That ’is followed by the 31 actively managed ETFs that hold the security.  

Before the stock’s spectacular leap upward on Thursday, the $1.1 billion Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) has enjoyed the greatest boost as a holder of CRWD stock in recent weeks, seeing a 7.83% increase during the prior 30-day period.  

Behind BUG sits the SPDR S&P Kensho Future Security ETF (FITE) and CIBR, which have increased 6.13% and 5% during the 30-day period, respectively.  

Another reason for optimism this calendar year and beyond is CRWD's stark increase in membership subscriptions during fiscal year 2022.  

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. added 1,638 new subscribers in the fourth quarter four alone, a growth of 65% year-over-year. Among these customers, CRWD reports users are continuing to add new modules within their platform. Overall, 69% of their membership base uses at least four different CRWD security modules to run their company. 

In a world where business has become increasingly digital and many operations now run 100% remotely, cybersecurity products like CrowdStrike, should have great opportunities for growth in 2022 and beyond, especially when you consider that internet crimes are at an all-time-high. 

The 2021 IC3 report from the FBI states that 791,790 cybercrimes took place in 2020, an increase of nearly 300,000 cases from 2019.