Cybersecurity Stocks Drop as CrowdStrike Warns Headwinds Are Growing

Jeran Wittenstein, Bloomberg News

Fiber optic cables, center, and copper Ethernet cables feed into switches inside a communications room at an office in London, U.K., on Monday, May 21, 2018. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will work with the Home Office to publish a white paper later this year setting out legislation, according to a statement, which will also seek to force tech giants to reveal how they target abusive and illegal online material posted by users. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- A disappointing revenue forecast from CrowdStrike that the cybersecurity company blamed on “increased macroeconomic headwinds” sent the shares of peers lower in postmarket trading.

Zscaler Inc. and SentinelOne Inc. fell more than 5% on Tuesday after US markets closed. Palo Alto Networks Inc., Fortinet Inc. and Cloudflare Inc. dropped more than 3%.

CrowdStrike expects fourth-quarter revenue to be $619.1 million to $628.2 million. That fell short of the average of analyst estimates at $634.8 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That sent the stock down more than 18% in extended trading.

“Increased macroeconomic headwinds elongated sales cycles with smaller customers and caused some larger customers to pursue multi-phase subscription start dates,” CrowdStrike Chief Executive Officer George Kurtz said in a statement.

Okta, which is down 2.4% in postmarket trading, is scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday after markets close.