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CRWD vs. CYBR: Which Cybersecurity Stock is the Better Buy Now?
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Key Takeaways
CYBR earnings are projected to grow 26.4% YoY as Venafi and Zilla expand its identity security platform.
CRWD's FY26 earnings face a 10.9% drop amid outage fallout, slower upsell, and margin compression.
CYBR trades at a lower valuation with stronger ARR momentum, while CRWD navigates profitability headwinds.
CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report) and CyberArk Software (CYBR - Free Report) are both U.S.-based cybersecurity companies that specialize in protecting enterprises from evolving digital threats. While CrowdStrike specializes in endpoint protection and extended detection and response (XDR), offering AI-native cloud security through its Falcon platform, CyberArk leads in identity security and privileged access management. Their shared emphasis on AI-enhanced cybersecurity positions them as key players in the evolving digital security landscape.
CrowdStrike and CyberArk are capitalizing on the rapid improvement of the cybersecurity space, fuelled by the rise of complex attacks, including credential theft and abuse, remote desktop protocol attacks and social engineering-based initial access. Per a Mordor Intelligence report, the cybersecurity market is projected to witness a CAGR of 12.63% from 2025 to 2030.
With this robust industry growth forecast, the question remains: Which stock has more upside potential? Let us break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case.
The Case for CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike provides its cybersecurity services mainly through its Falcon platform. CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is renowned for being the industry’s first multi-tenant, cloud native, intelligent security solution. The Falcon platform helps in securing workloads across on-premise, cloud-based and virtualized environments running on several endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, servers, virtual machines and IoT devices.
CRWD’s cloud-based Falcon platform currently provides 29 cloud modules via a SaaS subscription model that is categorised under three categories - Endpoint Security, Security & IT Operations, and Threat Intelligence. The share of subscription-based sales to CrowdStrike’s total revenues grew from 72% in fiscal 2017 to 95% in fiscal 2025.
However, the company is facing several headwinds related to customers’ negative sentiments since the global IT outage incident on July 19, 2024. The company has been implementing the Customer Commitment Package to retain its customers, which includes product additions and discounts, hence compressing its profitability.
Regardless of all these measures, the company’s upsell into existing customers showed signs of slowdown, and the churn rate remained moderate. These factors are likely to weigh on CRWD’s profitability in the near term. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CrowdStrike’s fiscal 2026 earnings indicates a year-over-year decline of 10.94%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Case for CyberArk
CYBR is leading the identity security market with its cutting-edge products. As cyber breaches grow more sophisticated, organizations are intensifying their focus on privileged access management and Zero Trust capabilities. CYBR’s offerings, such as its Zero Standing Privilege approach, are well-aligned with these industry trends, ensuring its significance in the ever-changing threat landscape.
CYBR’s $1.54-billion acquisition of Venafi, a leader in machine identity management, and the $165-million acquisition of Zilla Security have strengthened its position in the security space. These buyouts have broadened CyberArk’s capabilities in machine-to-machine security, complementing its core human identity offerings. The long-term potential to expand the company’s addressable market and enhance ARR growth makes these acquisitions promising growth drivers.
A major innovation that CyberArk is advancing lies in the emerging field of agentic AI, wherein CyberArk introduced its Secure AI Agent solution. The Secure AI Agent Solution integrates CyberArk’s platform capabilities with AI-specific discovery and context, privilege controls, policy automation, life cycle management and governance. CyberArk expects this solution to be widely available to customers later this year.
A strong demand environment, along with the sustained focus on strengthening its portfolio, has been aiding CyberArk’s financial growth. These factors are likely to continue driving growth in CyberArk’s top and bottom lines. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CyberArk’s 2025 earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 26.4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Price Performance and Valuation of CRWD and CYBR
Year to date, CrowdStrike shares have appreciated 39.1% and CyberArk shares have surged 15.8%.
YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CYBR is trading at a forward sales multiple of 13.07X, below the security industry’s 14.34X. Whereas, CRWD is trading at a forward sales multiple of 22.57X, indicating its overvaluation at present.
Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CYBR: A Better Investment Option
Both CrowdStrike and CyberArk are key players in the cybersecurity space, but CrowdStrike is still navigating the headwinds emerging from reputational damage caused by the global IT outage and shrinking profit margin. In contrast, CyberArk is delivering robust growth, expanding through acquisitions, and innovating in identity and AI security. With stronger earnings momentum and a sharper focus on emerging threats, CYBR appears better positioned and more attractive for investors at present.
Image: Bigstock
CRWD vs. CYBR: Which Cybersecurity Stock is the Better Buy Now?
Key Takeaways
CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report) and CyberArk Software (CYBR - Free Report) are both U.S.-based cybersecurity companies that specialize in protecting enterprises from evolving digital threats. While CrowdStrike specializes in endpoint protection and extended detection and response (XDR), offering AI-native cloud security through its Falcon platform, CyberArk leads in identity security and privileged access management. Their shared emphasis on AI-enhanced cybersecurity positions them as key players in the evolving digital security landscape.
CrowdStrike and CyberArk are capitalizing on the rapid improvement of the cybersecurity space, fuelled by the rise of complex attacks, including credential theft and abuse, remote desktop protocol attacks and social engineering-based initial access. Per a Mordor Intelligence report, the cybersecurity market is projected to witness a CAGR of 12.63% from 2025 to 2030.
With this robust industry growth forecast, the question remains: Which stock has more upside potential? Let us break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case.
The Case for CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike provides its cybersecurity services mainly through its Falcon platform. CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is renowned for being the industry’s first multi-tenant, cloud native, intelligent security solution. The Falcon platform helps in securing workloads across on-premise, cloud-based and virtualized environments running on several endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, servers, virtual machines and IoT devices.
CRWD’s cloud-based Falcon platform currently provides 29 cloud modules via a SaaS subscription model that is categorised under three categories - Endpoint Security, Security & IT Operations, and Threat Intelligence. The share of subscription-based sales to CrowdStrike’s total revenues grew from 72% in fiscal 2017 to 95% in fiscal 2025.
However, the company is facing several headwinds related to customers’ negative sentiments since the global IT outage incident on July 19, 2024. The company has been implementing the Customer Commitment Package to retain its customers, which includes product additions and discounts, hence compressing its profitability.
Regardless of all these measures, the company’s upsell into existing customers showed signs of slowdown, and the churn rate remained moderate. These factors are likely to weigh on CRWD’s profitability in the near term. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CrowdStrike’s fiscal 2026 earnings indicates a year-over-year decline of 10.94%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Case for CyberArk
CYBR is leading the identity security market with its cutting-edge products. As cyber breaches grow more sophisticated, organizations are intensifying their focus on privileged access management and Zero Trust capabilities. CYBR’s offerings, such as its Zero Standing Privilege approach, are well-aligned with these industry trends, ensuring its significance in the ever-changing threat landscape.
CYBR’s $1.54-billion acquisition of Venafi, a leader in machine identity management, and the $165-million acquisition of Zilla Security have strengthened its position in the security space. These buyouts have broadened CyberArk’s capabilities in machine-to-machine security, complementing its core human identity offerings. The long-term potential to expand the company’s addressable market and enhance ARR growth makes these acquisitions promising growth drivers.
A major innovation that CyberArk is advancing lies in the emerging field of agentic AI, wherein CyberArk introduced its Secure AI Agent solution. The Secure AI Agent Solution integrates CyberArk’s platform capabilities with AI-specific discovery and context, privilege controls, policy automation, life cycle management and governance. CyberArk expects this solution to be widely available to customers later this year.
A strong demand environment, along with the sustained focus on strengthening its portfolio, has been aiding CyberArk’s financial growth. These factors are likely to continue driving growth in CyberArk’s top and bottom lines. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CyberArk’s 2025 earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 26.4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Price Performance and Valuation of CRWD and CYBR
Year to date, CrowdStrike shares have appreciated 39.1% and CyberArk shares have surged 15.8%.
YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CYBR is trading at a forward sales multiple of 13.07X, below the security industry’s 14.34X. Whereas, CRWD is trading at a forward sales multiple of 22.57X, indicating its overvaluation at present.
Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CYBR: A Better Investment Option
Both CrowdStrike and CyberArk are key players in the cybersecurity space, but CrowdStrike is still navigating the headwinds emerging from reputational damage caused by the global IT outage and shrinking profit margin. In contrast, CyberArk is delivering robust growth, expanding through acquisitions, and innovating in identity and AI security. With stronger earnings momentum and a sharper focus on emerging threats, CYBR appears better positioned and more attractive for investors at present.
Currently, CyberArk flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), making the stock a stronger pick compared with CrowdStrike, which has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.