Mirror Review
July 4th, 2025
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWD), a leading cybersecurity powerhouse, recently shared its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, which wrapped up on April 30, 2025.
While the company posted impressive growth across several key areas, its outlook for the upcoming second quarter (Q2) brought a touch of caution for investors, causing a slight dip in share price.
Here’s a breakdown of the CrowdStrike Q1 Fiscal 2026 earnings report, highlighting the crucial details you need to know.
Key Takeaways from the CrowdStrike Q1 Fiscal 2026 Report
- Revenue Growth:
The company’s total revenue hit a solid $1.10 billion, marking a healthy 20% jump from the same period last year. Subscription revenue also increased by 20% to $1.05 billion.
- Earnings Per Share (EPS):
CrowdStrike delivered an adjusted earnings per share of $0.73, outperforming analyst predictions of $0.65.
However, it’s worth noting that the company reported a GAAP net loss attributable to CrowdStrike of $110.2 million, or $0.44 per diluted share.
This is a huge increase from the GAAP net income of $42.8 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, seen in the prior year (Q1 2025).
- Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR):
ARR (a crucial indicator for software companies) climbed 22% year-over-year, reaching $4.44 billion by April 30, 2025.
Even better, net new ARR for the quarter was $193.8 million, surpassing the consensus estimates of $176.6 million.
- Cash Flow Strength:
CrowdStrike pulled in a record $384.1 million in operating cash flow, with free cash flow at $279.4 million—a strong sign of financial health and operational efficiency.
- Share Repurchase Program:
The board of directors approved a repurchase up to $1 billion of CrowdStrike’s common stock. This move signals strong confidence in the company’s future.
As CEO George Kurtz put it, “Today’s announced share repurchase reflects our confidence in CrowdStrike’s future and unwavering mission of stopping breaches”.
Outlook and Market Reaction On CrowdStrike Earnings Report
Despite strong Q1 results, the company’s guidance for the upcoming quarter (Q2) tempered investor enthusiasm.
- Q2 Revenue Guidance Miss:
For the upcoming second quarter of fiscal 2026 (ending July 31, 2025), CrowdStrike expects revenue between $1.14 billion and $1.15 billion. This figure came in slightly below the average analyst expectation of $1.16 billion.
- Full-Year Revenue Maintained:
Despite the dip in the Q2 outlook, CrowdStrike maintained its full-year revenue projection, expecting between $4.74 billion and $4.81 billion.
- Lingering Impact of Past Outage:
The financial effects of a software update gone astray in July 2024 are still impacting subscription revenue.
CFO Burt Podbere mentioned an $11 million impact in Q1 and anticipates a negative impact of $10 million to $15 million in each of the next three quarters this fiscal year, with the impact expected to lessen in Q4
- Stock Market Performance:
CrowdStrike shares fell about 5% to 6.5% in extended trading after the announcement, despite being up 43% for 2025 through Tuesday’s close.
This reaction highlights how sensitive the market is to future guidance, even after a strong quarter.
- Strategic Vision and AI Opportunity:
CEO George Kurtz emphasized the growing demand for Falcon Flex and the company’s strategic positioning in the “agentic AI era”.
He also highlighted the opportunity presented by AI, seeing CrowdStrike as “uniquely positioned to secure the identity, the workload, the infrastructure, the data and underlying AI models themselves”.
Conclusion
The CrowdStrike Q1 Fiscal 2026 result was packed with positives—strong top-line growth, solid cash flow, and a beat on earnings.
Yet, despite delivering the numbers, the slightly underwhelming Q2 revenue guidance and lingering effects of last year’s software hiccup have influenced the short-term market reaction.
The dip in share price post-earnings wasn’t about what CrowdStrike did this quarter—it was about what it might do next.
Investors are clearly hungry for acceleration in ARR and margin expansion as we head into the back half of fiscal 2026.
Still, CrowdStrike’s leadership remains strong, especially on its AI-powered vision.
With Falcon Flex gaining traction and the company laser-focused on securing the entire digital ecosystem—including identity, workloads, and even AI models—there’s a lot to be excited about.
Bottom line? Q1 proves CrowdStrike is executing well today. Now all eyes are on how it delivers tomorrow.
