Shares of CrowdStrike (CRWD) are down 2% after the cybersecurity firm lowered its forward guidance, citing the continued fallout from its global software outage earlier this year.
Despite the diminished outlook, CrowdStrike reported strong fiscal second-quarter financial results that topped Wall Street forecasts.
Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.04 U.S., which beat the $0.97 U.S. expected among analysts.
Revenue in the quarter totaled $963.9 million U.S., which was better than the consensus estimate of $959 million U.S. Sales grew 32% from a year earlier.
The positive financial results come less than two months after CrowdStrike distributed a flawed update for its Falcon sensor to computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems that caused millions of computers to crash.
The global software crash led to flight cancellations, delayed deliveries, and canceled medical procedures in countries stretching from Germany to the U.S.
Shareholders have since filed class action lawsuits against CrowdStrike and Delta Air Lines, which claims to have incurred a $380 million U.S. loss because of the incident, said it plans to seek damages from CrowdStrike.
Owing to this ongoing fallout, CrowdStrike lowered its guidance, saying it expects earnings of $0.80 U.S. to $0.81 U.S. and revenue of $979.2 million U.S. to $984.7 million U.S. in the current third quarter.
For all of this year, CrowdStrike now forecasts earnings of $3.61 U.S. to $3.65 U.S. and revenue of $3.89 billion U.S. to $3.90 billion U.S. That’s down from a previous outlook that called for earnings per share of $4.03 U.S. on revenue of $4.01 billion U.S.
Before today (Aug. 29), CrowdStrike’s stock was up 7% this year and trading at $264.20 U.S. per share. That’s below the S&P 500 index’s 17% year-to-date gain.
