(Reuters) – Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike raised its annual revenue and profit forecasts and beat third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, betting on growing demand for cybersecurity services amid growing online threats.
Businesses are increasingly investing in Crowdstrike’s comprehensive cybersecurity services to combat the widespread threat of online hacking and digital fraud.
Several companies, including AT&T, Live Nation Entertainment’s Ticketmaster unit and UnitedHealth Group have been targeted by online hacking attempts this year.
Shares of Crowdstrike were down about 2% in extended trading after its fourth-quarter revenue forecast failed to impress investors.
“Despite expected headwinds from the July 19th incident. We saw incredible success with our customer commitment packages as customers embraced the program and chose to deepen their relationship with CrowdStrike,” CFO Burt Podbere said.
CrowdStrike expects its annual revenue to be between $3.92 billion and $3.93 billion, compared with its prior expectations of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion. Analysts on average were expecting $3.90 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
JP Morgan analysts said in a note ahead of the results that they expect “reaccelaration” of growth and profitability, despite the near-term pressure from the outage.
Similarly, rival Palo Alto Networks beat estimates for its first quarter, benefiting from robust spending in November.
CrowdStrike now expects its annual adjusted profit per share to be between $3.74 and $3.76, up from its previous estimate range of $3.61 to $3.65.
The company’s revenue for the third quarter, ended Oct.31, rose about 29% to $1.01 billion, beating estimates of $982.4 million.
CrowdStrike expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $1.03 billion and $1.04 billion, compared to analysts’ estimates of $1.03 billion.
(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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