Shares of CrowdStrike surged 14.5% Thursday after the cybersecurity platform provider reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $1.47 billion, up 25.8% year-over-year and ahead of the $1.44 billion analysts had expected. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.31 beat the $0.29 consensus estimate by more than 6%, while adjusted operating income of $371.6 million topped expectations by nearly 7%.
The company forecast third-quarter revenue of $1.52 billion to $1.53 billion, above the roughly $1.51 billion Wall Street had modeled, and raised its full-year fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to a range of $5.99 billion to $6.01 billion, ahead of the prior $5.93 billion consensus. Full-year adjusted earnings-per-share guidance was also lifted, to a range of $1.25 to $1.26.
CrowdStrike Chief Executive George Kurtz has repeatedly pointed to artificial intelligence as a growing driver of cybersecurity spending, arguing that enterprises need to secure their AI deployments before they can safely put them into production. That dynamic appeared to show up clearly in Thursday's results, with the company citing continued strong demand tied to AI-related security threats as a driver of both the quarterly beat and the raised full-year outlook.
Free cash flow for the quarter came in strong, and the company's non-GAAP operating margin continued to expand, extending a trend of improving profitability that has helped ease investor concerns about the durability of CrowdStrike's growth as competition in the cybersecurity software market has intensified from rivals including Palo Alto Networks and SentinelOne. The company's net new annual recurring revenue, a closely watched growth metric for subscription software businesses, also came in ahead of expectations.
Thursday's rally stood out even against a backdrop of broadly positive earnings reactions across the technology sector, with CrowdStrike's stock move ranking among its strongest single-day gains of the year. The report landed the same evening as results from Nvidia and Salesforce, giving investors a broad same-session view of enterprise technology demand spanning artificial intelligence infrastructure, customer relationship management software and cybersecurity.
CrowdStrike's Falcon platform has increasingly incorporated artificial intelligence-specific detection and response capabilities aimed at protecting customers' AI deployments and model usage, an emerging product category the company has highlighted as a meaningful long-term growth opportunity. Management pointed to accelerating adoption of these newer AI-security offerings as a contributor to the quarter's outperformance, alongside continued strength in the company's core endpoint protection and identity security products.
Investors will be watching subsequent quarters for confirmation that the current growth acceleration, and the associated margin expansion, can be sustained as CrowdStrike continues to invest in expanding its product portfolio to address the security implications of enterprise artificial intelligence adoption.
The stock's sharp move higher also reflected relief among investors after a choppy stretch in recent months during which shares had pulled back from highs, with Thursday's beat-and-raise quarter reinforcing the bull case that cybersecurity spending remains resilient even in a more cautious enterprise software spending environment.