CrowdStrike’s third-quarter results beat expectations across revenue, subscription sales and professional services, reinforcing steady cybersecurity demand and stronger growth in annual recurring revenue. The company also lifted its full-year forecast and reaffirmed expectations for accelerating net new ARR in the second half of the fiscal year.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Todd Weller, managing director of technology at Stephens, who said CrowdStrike’s expanding platform, growing cloud and identity businesses, and broader adoption of AI security tools position the company for continued momentum into 2026.
Key Takeaways
- CrowdStrike delivered broad beats across revenue, subscription sales and services in the third quarter, while lifting its full-year revenue forecast.
- Annual recurring revenue remains the company’s top metric, rising 22.5 per cent as net new ARR acceleration materializes in the second half of FY26.
- Growth in next-gen SIEM, identity security and cloud protection continues to expand CrowdStrike’s platform reach as cybersecurity spending stays resilient.
- AI adoption is creating new attack surfaces and driving demand for AI and data security tools, where CrowdStrike is expanding through products and acquisitions.
- Despite rising competition from hyperscalers and major tech firms, CrowdStrike’s scale, platform strategy and exposure to high-growth cyber markets support its outlook.
Read the full transcript below:
MERELLA: Cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike has just released third-quarter earnings. Here’s our look at what they had to say. Revenue came in at US$1.23 billion, a 22 per cent year-over-year increase. The estimate had been US$1.21 billion, so that is a beat for the company. Subscription revenue came in at US$1.17 billion, a 21 per cent year-over-year increase. The estimate had been US$1.16 billion, so a small beat there as well.
Professional services revenue was US$65.5 million, a 38 per cent year-over-year increase. The estimate had been US$57.3 million, so a very strong beat in that segment. Adjusted earnings per share were 96 cents; the estimate had been 94 cents. CrowdStrike sees fourth-quarter revenue coming in at US$1.29 billion to US$1.3 billion. The estimate had been on the low end of that at US$1.29 billion.
It is also boosting its 2026 forecast, seeing revenue at US$4.8 billion to US$4.81 billion. The Bloomberg consensus estimate had been US$4.78 billion. Let’s talk about this with Todd Weller, managing director of technology at Stephens. Thanks for joining us today.
TODD: Thanks for having me.
MERELLA: So a pretty strong report from this company. Is the annual recurring revenue the key metric here? It came in at US$4.92 billion.
TODD: Yeah, that’s the leading indicator — the top metric to focus on. It was about half a per cent ahead of consensus. Healthy growth at 22.5 per cent. I think that 20 per cent growth bogey is key for CrowdStrike, and keep in mind there has been a tremendous focus on net new ARR acceleration occurring in the second half of this year, and that is materializing.
MERELLA: Can you tell us what products are doing well for the company?
TODD: CrowdStrike is unique in cyber, right? They’re a strategic cybersecurity platform. If you look at the company’s roots, they were endpoint security, but they are much broader today. Going into the call, we’ll be looking at their three emerging growth areas — next-gen SIEM, identity security and cloud security. Those are all big businesses that have been experiencing solid growth. We don’t get that level of detail in the earnings release; we’ll have to wait for the call. But we would expect continued momentum.
We view CrowdStrike as benefiting from security consolidation — this move to strategic platforms — and it’s really them and Palo Alto Networks that are the two strategic cyber platform providers.
MERELLA: Who would be its biggest clients?
TODD: CrowdStrike has lots of customers. They’re large enterprise down to mid-market, and they are widely used. They’re the No. 1 market share player in pure-play next-generation endpoint security. So broad-based across industries — large enterprise to mid-market. CrowdStrike is really a household name, a household brand in cyber.
MERELLA: The AI rollout — would that be positive for them internally, and would it affect their customer base in a way that would require more cybersecurity?
TODD: In cyber, AI has generally been viewed as positive. It’s creating more sophisticated attacks, but it’s also expanding the attack surface as organizations deploy AI infrastructure — whether their own models or AI agents. That’s a new attack surface that has to be secured. Some of that is in cloud environments, which ties to cloud security growth, and some of it is on-prem.
It’s early stages. CrowdStrike recently acquired a company called Pangea. There are a lot of cyber companies going after that market. But we think AI is a big opportunity for cyber in general.
MERELLA: Let’s talk competition. You mentioned Palo Alto. Are other big tech names getting into cybersecurity and posing a threat to CrowdStrike?
TODD: Cyber is competitive. The big are getting bigger. Companies like CrowdStrike and Palo Alto, by staying focused on cyber and being big, have scale advantages.
Microsoft has long been a player in cyber and in endpoint security with Microsoft Defender. But that has still left plenty of growth for CrowdStrike and others. Google, with the acquisitions of Mandiant and its most recent security moves, is eyeing the space. ServiceNow has also made a move.
Cyber has always been competitive. But CrowdStrike, Palo Alto and other focused players have proven there is plenty of growth in the space.
MERELLA: Some tech stocks have been dragging toward year-end as people worry about spending. I would imagine cybersecurity companies aren’t in that same vein?
TODD: The stocks had a tough November. I don’t think it was anything fundamental — a lot of tech and software underperformed due to concerns over AI, valuation and sector rotation. Sometimes you do see an intra-sector rotation where people flow into cyber because it’s safer, but I don’t think you saw that in November.
Generally, we think fundamentals for cyber remain healthy. We saw good September-quarter results, and October-quarter results have also been healthy.
MERELLA: What does the company have moving into 2026 that carries a lot of growth potential?
TODD: As we get into next year for CrowdStrike, it’s going to be these newer areas. Next-gen SIEM — security operations centre platforms — is an established market undergoing modernization, and we think that continues to build momentum. Identity security remains one of the most attractive areas in cyber; CrowdStrike is increasing its focus there, and we expect strong growth.
Cloud will continue as well — a lot of AI is happening in cloud environments. They also have emerging areas like exposure management. CrowdStrike is exposed to a lot of big cyber markets with attractive growth opportunities.
As we look to next year, we expect AI to become more material in demand for AI security solutions. That is also driving data security, where CrowdStrike has exposure.
MERELLA: Is it going to be more efficient if the company uses AI within its own operations?
TODD: CrowdStrike talked about increasing internal use of AI — around customer support and software development. At the margin, that will be a net positive for profitability. We expect continued improvement in profitability next year.
The primary focus will be on growth. And in their release, they reaffirmed next year’s guidance for net new ARR growth of 20 per cent. That initial outlook, shared at their analyst meeting a few months back, was better than street consensus.
MERELLA: Got it. All right, Todd Weller, thanks for joining us. Appreciate your time.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Dec. 2, 2025 interview with Todd Weller are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
