Cybersecurity company Crowdstrike’s (NASDAQ:CRWD) stock joined the S&P 500 index alongside the stocks of GoDaddy (NASDAQ:GDDY) and KKR (NYSE:KKR).
CRWD stock rose sharply in pre-market trading this morning. Despite a slight dip around 11:00 a.m. Eastern, the shares have been mostly stable since the market opened. CRWD stock carries a price of $378 per share and a market capitalization of about $92 billion. Shares are up 53% so far in 2024 and nearly 490% since it came public .
Big Days for CyberCops
Cybersecurity has become a huge market over the last few years due to growing global tensions, the rise of criminal gangs, and the increased complexity of cloud-based computing.
The total market was estimated to be worth $181 billion last year and is .
Crowdstrike, based in Austin, is considered the leader in endpoint security within the cloud security market. It has about despite competing directly with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). The company is expanding into general cloud security.
For the quarter ending in May Crowdstrike earned $43 million, 18 cents per share fully diluted, on revenue of . The company is estimating full-year earnings will be about $4 per share on revenue of about $4 billion.
Crowdstrike’s lead product is Falcon Defender, which it says can detect a cyberattack on a client’s infrastructure . Equivalent products using the same tests from Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) took 24 minutes to detect an attack. Crowdstrike also said its attack reports were more accurate than those of competitors.
Stocks entering the S&P 500 as hedge funds trading the index are required to buy them. Shares of private equity firm KKR have gone up 11% since their inclusion was announced.
Crowdstrike has recently benefited from Microsoft’s of its Recall feature. Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz has called Microsoft’s statements on cybersecurity “lip service.”
CRWD Stock: What Happens Next?
Cybersecurity will remain a hot market but will also remain subject to disruption by new technology. No lead is truly safe.
As of this writing, Dana Blankenhorn had a LONG position in MSFT, and PANW. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
