CrowdStrike Falls After Disappointing Earnings Outlook

(Bloomberg) — CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD) issued a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings forecast, disappointing investors who have been watching for signs that the cybersecurity company has recovered from a massive summer outage.

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The firm expects adjusted earnings of 84 cents to 86 cents per share, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Analysts were expecting 87 cents, according to Bloomberg-compiled estimates.

Shares of CrowdStrike fell 1.5% in extended trading after the results were announced.

The report is the company’s second since a flawed CrowdStrike update crashed millions of devices operating on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows systems. The outage, which unfolded on July 19, disrupted a wide range of industries, including air travel, banks and health care. The company posted sales three months ago that beat expectations, a sign that investors took to mean the global IT outage wouldn’t significantly affect its finances.

Third-quarter revenue represented a bright spot in Tuesday’s report. Sales for the period came to $1.01 billion, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations.

Delta Airlines’ operations were stunted for days as a result of the outage, costing the airline at least $500 million in out-of-pocket losses, according to a lawsuit it filed against CrowdStrike in October. CrowdStrike said Delta was shifting blame “from its failure to update its antiquated IT infrastructure,” in a statement at the time.

(Updates with additional information throughout.)

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