You never know how things are going to turn out in the stock market. Some stocks go up, some go down, and others move sideways for years at a time. With that in mind, I'll review how a $10,000 investment in CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD -0.87%) stock would have changed over the last six years.

To put it simply, a $10,000 investment in CrowdStrike stock in 2019 was a very smart move. After many ups and downs along the way, that initial investment would be worth over $134,000 today. That works out to a total return of more than 1,200%, or a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52%.

Compare that to the performance of the benchmark, the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.50%), which has generated a total return of 129% over six years, or a CAGR of less than 15%.

CRWD Total Return Level Chart

CRWD Total Return Level data by YCharts.

The biggest reason for CrowdStrike's excellent stock performance is the company's skyrocketing revenue. Since 2019, the company's trailing 12-month revenue has climbed by 1,560% to a total of $4.1 billion.

What's more, Wall Street analysts are predicting even more of that explosive growth for the company. According to estimates compiled by Yahoo Finance, CrowdStrike should generate $4.8 billion in revenue this fiscal year (the 12 months ending on Jan. 31, 2026) and $5.8 billion next fiscal year (ending Jan. 31, 2027).

A cybersecurity image.

Image source: Getty Images.

While CrowdStrike should continue to benefit from the unending demand for cybersecurity, in general, and its brand of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cybersecurity, in particular, there are risks to owning the stock.

First, it's expensive, with a price-to-sales ratio (P/S) over 28x. Second, the company has struggled to remain consistently profitable. Taken together, these traits make CrowdStrike stock a poor choice for value investors.

Nevertheless, for growth-oriented investors, the stock remains compelling, thanks to its high-octane growth and the secular trends of cybersecurity and AI-powered software. As CrowdStrike's last six years have proven, growth alone can deliver big returns for patient investors.