CrowdStrike NASDAQ: CRWD executives struck an upbeat tone on the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 earnings call, pointing to accelerated demand tied to artificial intelligence and a “blockbuster” finish to what CEO George Kurtz called the company’s “best year yet.” The company highlighted record net new annual recurring revenue (ARR), expanding profitability, and growing adoption of its Falcon Flex subscription model.
Record quarter caps a milestone year
Kurtz said CrowdStrike delivered an “all-time record” $331 million of net new ARR in the quarter, up 47% year over year and ahead of expectations. For the full fiscal year, CrowdStrike reported $1.01 billion of net new ARR, up 25% year over year, marking its first year above $1 billion in net new ARR.
Ending ARR reached $5.25 billion, crossing the $5 billion milestone and accelerating to 24% year-over-year growth, according to management. Kurtz also cited record quarterly free cash flow of $376 million (29% of revenue) and record quarterly operating income of $326 million (25% of revenue). For the year, he said the company generated $1.24 billion of free cash flow (26% of revenue) and $1.05 billion of operating income, exceeding $1 billion in operating income for the first time.
Chief Financial Officer Burt Podbere said total Q4 revenue grew 23% year over year to $1.31 billion, including subscription revenue of $1.24 billion (up 23%) and professional services revenue of $63.1 million (up 26%), which he attributed in part to an elevated threat environment. Podbere added that non-GAAP gross margin was a record 79% and non-GAAP subscription gross margin was a record 81%, “primarily as a result of continued cloud optimization.”
AI theme: demand tailwind and expanding attack surface
Kurtz repeatedly framed AI as both a growth accelerant and a catalyst for more sophisticated attacks, arguing that stopping breaches requires “a closed-loop system” combining sensors, real-time telemetry, expert validation, and enforcement—not just a text model. He said CrowdStrike’s data advantage is reinforced by Threat Graph, which he described as correlating “more than a trillion security events per day” across approximately 2 trillion vertices and analyzing more than 15 petabytes of data.
On product traction tied to AI, Kurtz said Charlotte—CrowdStrike’s flagship security agent—saw usage increase more than 6x year over year while related ARR more than tripled. He also pointed to demand for AI-DR, saying the offering became “one of our most in-demand products,” growing more than 5x versus the prior quarter despite being available for only a few weeks.
In Q&A, Kurtz told analysts that securing AI is already contributing to ARR growth, calling the company “still in the early innings” but citing strong early response to Pangea (linked to AI-DR). He also said AI-related activity should support growth across cloud security, next-generation SIEM, and other parts of the platform that “touch AI.”
Falcon Flex adoption “turbocharging” land-and-expand
Management emphasized the impact of Falcon Flex, CrowdStrike’s subscription model designed to simplify procurement and drive faster expansion. Kurtz said ending ARR from accounts that have adopted Falcon Flex reached $1.69 billion, up more than 120% year over year. The company reported more than 1,600 Flex customers at the end of Q4, adding more than 350 in the quarter.
Kurtz said more than 380 Flex accounts had “reflexed,” representing more than 23% of the Flex base and up from 5% in Q1. He said the average ARR lift after a reflex was 26%, occurring on average within seven months, and that nearly 100 customers had reflexed multiple times, with that cohort seeing an additional average ARR lift of 48% from initial Flex subscriptions.
Podbere added that module adoption continued to rise. As of Q4, 50% of subscription customers were using six or more modules, 34% were using seven or more, and 24% were using eight or more. The company posted gross retention of 97% and dollar-based net retention of 115%.
Platform segment highlights: identity, cloud, and SIEM
Kurtz said net new ARR from cloud, next-generation identity, and next-generation SIEM collectively reached a record level in the quarter, with collective ending ARR growth of more than 45% year over year. He later put the combined ending ARR for those businesses at more than $1.9 billion.
- Next-Gen Identity: Kurtz said ending ARR surpassed $520 million, growing more than 34% year over year, with Privileged Account Security Solution growing more than 170% sequentially. He also said Falcon Shield ending ARR grew more than 300% year over year and more than 5x since the Adaptive Shield acquisition. The company highlighted the February closing of its SGNL acquisition, positioning it as enabling “Zero Standing Privilege” and real-time, context-driven authorization.
- Cloud security: Kurtz said cloud net new ARR growth accelerated for the second consecutive quarter and ending ARR grew more than 35% year over year, exceeding $800 million for the first time. He emphasized runtime protection as a differentiator and described a large deal where a customer “ripped out” its existing provider after testing CrowdStrike’s approach.
- Next-gen SIEM: Kurtz said the next-generation SIEM business grew more than 75% year over year, reaching ending ARR of more than $585 million. He also pointed to Falcon Onum as helping customers connect data sources efficiently and cited deals replacing legacy SIEM systems and pipelines.
Outlook raised for FY2027 ARR; accounting change and acquisitions noted
Podbere said CrowdStrike’s “record Q1 pipeline” entering fiscal 2027 grew 49% year over year and said the company had “strong conviction” to raise its fiscal 2027 ARR outlook. For Q1 FY2027, CrowdStrike guided ARR of $5.502 billion to $5.504 billion, implying net new ARR of $249 million to $251 million. The company guided Q1 revenue of $1.360 billion to $1.364 billion, non-GAAP operating income of $308 million to $310 million, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.06 to $1.07.
For the full FY2027, CrowdStrike guided ARR of $6.466 billion to $6.516 billion, translating to net new ARR of $1.213 billion to $1.264 billion. The company guided revenue of $5.868 billion to $5.928 billion, non-GAAP operating income of $1.422 billion to $1.462 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of $4.78 to $4.90.
The guidance includes the acquisitions of SGNL and Seraphic, which closed in February and are expected to contribute a combined $5 million to $8 million of acquired net new ARR in Q1, with “minimal organic contribution” assumed for the remaining quarters as CrowdStrike focuses on native integration before scaling go-to-market. Podbere also noted the company is changing the sales commission amortization period from four to five years beginning in Q1, a change expected to benefit non-GAAP operating income by $85 million to $95 million in FY2027, partially offset by incremental operating expenses related to integration.
On capital returns, Podbere said the company repurchased about 144,000 shares after fiscal year-end and had roughly $950 million remaining under its current repurchase authorization.
About CrowdStrike NASDAQ: CRWD
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc NASDAQ: CRWD is a cybersecurity company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The firm was co-founded by George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch and became a publicly traded company following its initial public offering in 2019. CrowdStrike positions itself as a provider of cloud-native security solutions designed to protect endpoints, cloud workloads, identities and data against sophisticated cyber threats.
The company's core offering is the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, a modular, cloud-delivered security architecture that combines endpoint protection (EPP), endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat intelligence, and device control through lightweight agents and centralized telemetry.
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