CrowdStrike cuts annual revenue view as Windows outage weigh on new deals

CrowdStrike cut its annual revenue forecast on Wednesday, in a sign that demand for its cybersecurity products was taking a toll from last month's global Windows outage caused by a faulty update from the company.

The forecast follows the July 19 outage that caused widespread disruptions to internet services, leaving thousands of people stranded at airports after mass flight cancellations and causing broadcasters to go off-air.

Rivals SentinelOne and Palo Alto Networks had raised their annual revenue forecasts this month, in indications that they are gaining market share at the expense of CrowdStrike.

Analysts had said the reputational hit from the incident may affect CrowdStrike's ability to draw new customers, but its dominant industry position and high costs of switching between providers could stave off a bigger impact.

CrowdStrike expects annual revenue to be between $3.89 billion and $3.90 billion, compared with its prior expectations of between $3.98 billion and $4.01 billion. Analysts on average were expecting $3.95 billion, according to LSEG data.

It expects annual adjusted profit per share to be between $3.61 and $3.65, compared with its prior estimates of $3.93 to $4.03.

Revenue for the second-quarter ended July 31 rose about 32 per cent from a year earlier to $963.9 million, beating estimates of $958.6 million.

Shares of the company were up more than 2 per cent in choppy extended trading.