CrowdStrike Holdings' (CRWD -3.09%) year went from bad to worse last month as its shares plunged 15% on Nov. 30 following the release of the company's fiscal 2023 third-quarter results (for the three months ending Oct. 31). Wall Street was unhappy with the company's outlook, but savvy investors shouldn't miss this opportunity to buy the cybersecurity specialist's stock, as it is quite capable of rebounding in 2023.
CrowdStrike crushed consensus estimates comfortably last quarter, and its guidance for the current quarter suggests it is on track to record solid growth once again. Let's take a closer look at this cybersecurity company's latest report and check why investors looking for a growth stock should consider buying it hand over fist before the new year.
CrowdStrike Holdings delivers a terrific quarter once again
CrowdStrike's fiscal Q3 revenue shot up 53% year over year to $581 million, driven by the impressive growth in sales of its cybersecurity subscriptions. The company's subscription revenue was up 53% year over year to $547 million, allowing it to coast past the $575 million consensus revenue estimate. What's more, CrowdStrike's non-GAAP net income rose to $0.40 per share from $0.17 per share in the prior-year period, well ahead of the $0.32 per share Wall Street had forecast.
The outstanding growth in CrowdStrike's top and bottom lines can be attributed to the nice jump in the company's customer base and higher customer spending. More specifically, CrowdStrike's subscription customer base increased by 44% year over year last quarter to 21,146.
At the same time, the adoption of CrowdStrike's cybersecurity solutions increased during the quarter. The company pointed out that 60% of its subscription customers were using five or more of its cybersecurity modules last quarter, up from 55% in the year-ago period. The number of subscription customers using six or more CrowdStrike modules was up four percentage points year over year to 36%.
Not surprisingly, the company witnessed healthy growth in its annual recurring revenue (ARR). The company's ARR was up 54% over the prior-year period to $2.34 billion last quarter. This metric compares the annualized value of CrowdStrike's subscription contracts at the end of a quarter to the same quarter a year ago. So the metric's growth points toward the robust growth in CrowdStrike's subscription business, and it indicates that the company is building a healthy revenue pipeline.
Coming to the guidance, CrowdStrike anticipates $623.6 million in revenue at the midpoint of its range. Adjusted earnings are expected to land at $0.435 per share. The top-line guidance would translate into year-over-year growth of 44%, while earnings are on track to jump as well. Wall Street, however, was looking for $634 million in revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts had also anticipated CrowdStrike would post $2.36 billion in ARR in fiscal Q3, so it hasn't missed by a big margin on that front either.
As such, it may seem that investors overreacted to CrowdStrike's latest results. Now is a chance for savvy investors to buy the stock at relatively cheap levels, as it is now trading at 14 times sales. For comparison, CrowdStrike was trading at nearly 36 times sales in 2021. There are a few simple reasons why investors may not want to miss the opportunity to buy the stock at these levels, since it could take off in 2023 and remain a winner in the long run.
The company's impressive growth is here to stay
We have already seen that CrowdStrike ended the latest quarter with an ARR of more than $2.3 billion. That number easily exceeds its trailing 12-month revenue of $2 billion, suggesting that the company built a solid revenue pipeline that should help maintain its impressive growth rate.
Not surprisingly, analysts expect solid top-line growth from CrowdStrike next fiscal year and beyond.
CRWD Revenue Estimates for Current Fiscal Year data by YCharts
The company's bottom line is also anticipated to clock an annual growth rate of 74% for the next five years. This is not surprising, as CrowdStrike is taking advantage of the fast-growing cloud-based cybersecurity market that's expected to clock an annual growth rate of 24.4% over the next decade. The company estimates that its total addressable market (TAM) could jump from $76 billion in 2023 to $98 billion in 2025 based on its current portfolio of offerings.
However, CrowdStrike's TAM could increase to a whopping $158 billion by 2026 after accounting for its future product roadmap and the growth in the cloud security market. All this indicates that CrowdStrike stock could soar in the long run. It won't be surprising to see it take off from 2023, as a bull market is expected to arrive next year if inflation keeps cooling and the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates as anticipated by Wall Street.
So now would be a good time to buy CrowdStrike Holdings, as it seems to have a bright future ahead of it that could send shares of this cybersecurity company soaring in 2023 and beyond.
