CrowdStrike shares tumble 13% on IT outage impact
Updates shares in paragraph 1, adds analyst comments in paragraphs 5-6
July 22 (Reuters) -Shares of CrowdStrike CRWD.O plunged 13% on Monday, extending their loss-making streak,after Wall Street analystsdowngraded the stock on concerns over the financial fallout from a global cyber outage last week.
CrowdStrike's glitchy update to its security software crashed computerspowered by Microsoft's Windows operating system, disrupting internet services across the globe and affecting a broad swathe of industriesincluding airlines, bankingand healthcare.
Microsoft MSFT.O said on Saturday about 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than 1% of all Windows machines, were affected.
While analysts largely expect CrowdStrike to recover from the incident given its leading position in the industry, concerns around reputational damage, a hit to new customer contracts, competition and possible legal tussles remain.
"We don't believe it will materially affect renewals, at least not in the short term ... However, we do think this will at least delay deal signings, if not cause some losses in closely contested deals," Guggenheim analysts said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, rival SentinelOne's S.N shares surged 11% on Monday, with J.P. Morgan calling the company "the most obvious beneficiary" of what analysts say is the widest IT outage in modern history.
There was a non-zero chance that legal battles will be fought after CrowdStrike's customers get their systems up and running again, Bernstein analyst Peter Weed said.
Services across industries gradually came back online later on Friday but firms weredealing with backlogs, delays and even canceled flights, raising questions on how to avoid such a situation in the future and whether such critical software should remain in the hands of a few companies.
CrowdStrike's shares were trading at $265.24 on Monday, following an11% drop on Friday. At least six brokerages cut their price targets on CrowdStrike, with two more downgrading the stock's rating to "neutral" from "buy".
"The globally disruptive nature of this event will likely have an impact on CrowdStrike's financial and operational performance... Time spent on damage control is time spent on not selling," J.P. Morgan analysts said.
Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
