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CRWD vs. CSCO: Which Cybersecurity Stock Should You Buy Right Now?
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Key Takeaways
CRWD's growth is slowing, with expected FY26 revenue growth of 21-22%, down from growth of 29% in FY25.
CSCO is expanding security with new products, strong adoption and Splunk integration.
CSCO trades at a lower valuation than CRWD, offering better value and stability.
CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report) and Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) are well-known players in the cybersecurity domain. While CrowdStrike specializes in endpoint protection and extended detection and response, offering AI-native cloud security through its Falcon platform, Cisco Systems is growing its presence based on Threat Intelligence, Detection and Response offerings, which include the offerings from Splunk and Network Security.
CrowdStrike and Cisco Systems are capitalizing on the rapid improvement of the cybersecurity space, fueled 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 12.28% from 2026 to 2031.
With this strong industry growth forecast, the question remains: Which stock has more upside potential? Let’s break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case.
The Case for CrowdStrike Stock
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 secure workloads across on-premise, cloud-based and virtualized environments running on several endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, servers, virtual machines and IoT devices.
CrowdStrike’s cloud-based Falcon platform currently provides 33 cloud modules via a software-as-a-service subscription model that is categorized 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 2026.
CrowdStrike’s Falcon Flex subscription model is becoming an important driver of its growth. Falcon Flex makes it easier for customers to access multiple modules of the Falcon platform through a single contract. This makes it easier for customers to deploy additional security products over time and expand their use of the Falcon platform, which has now become the company’s primary go-to-market model.
Annual recurring revenues (ARR) from Flex accounts crossed $1.69 billion, growing more than 120% year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which shows strong adoption across enterprise customers. CrowdStrike now has more than 1,600 customers using the Flex model. In the fourth quarter alone, the company added more than 350 new Flex customers. Flex customers are also large accounts. On average, each Flex customer generates more than $1 million in ARR.
However, CrowdStrike’s recent quarterly reports have shown a deceleration in its growth rate. The company's revenue growth, while still robust, is not as explosive as in previous years. CrowdStrike had enjoyed more than 35% year-over-year top-line growth till fiscal 2024. The growth rate decelerated to 29% in fiscal 2025 and to 22% in fiscal 2026. For fiscal 2027, CrowdStrike expects total revenues to be in the range of $5.868 billion to $5.928 billion. This indicates that the top-line growth is expected to stay around 22% to 23%, which is way lower than the explosive growth enjoyed by the company in the previous years.
The Case for CSCO Stock
Cisco Systems is making steady progress in its security business. The company has added several new security products, such as Secure Access, XDR, Hypershield, AI Defense and refreshed firewalls. These newer products are seeing good customer adoption, which now represents about one-third of its security portfolio. Excluding firewalls, more than 1,000 new customers adopted these products in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, marking more than 100% sequential growth in new customer additions.
Cisco booked more than 2.5 million Secure Access users in the second quarter, where new customer logos contributed to more than half of the new bookings. Management noted that Secure Access is benefiting from rising use of cloud applications, AI tools and agentic workflows at the network edge, which are increasing demand for secure, identity-based access across distributed environments.
On the firewall side, Cisco reported three consecutive quarters of double-digit unit growth, supported by the recent launch of Cisco's new high-end firewall platforms. Here, management expects the demand to remain strong as customers continue to modernize security infrastructure.
Cisco is also embedding AI deeper into its security stack. Enhancements to AI Defense allow customers to scan AI models and repositories for vulnerabilities and create an AI bill of materials for governance. Within SASE, Cisco introduced a semantic inspection engine that evaluates the intent of agentic interactions to help block more advanced threats.
Overall, Cisco Systems is expanding its security capabilities with new products, stronger Splunk performance and more focus on AI-driven security needs. The above-mentioned factors demonstrate the company’s efforts to support stronger security performance as customer adoption continues to scale and strengthen its position in the security market.
CRWD vs. CSCO: Earnings Estimate Trend
The earnings estimate revision trend for the two companies reflects that analysts are turning more bullish toward Cisco Systems.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRWD’s fiscal 2027 and 2028 EPS is pegged at $4.85 and $6.15, respectively. The estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have both been revised upward by a penny over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cisco Systems’ fiscal 2026 and 2027 EPS is pinned at $4.15 and $4.49, respectively. The estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have both been revised upward by 4 cents and 9 cents, respectively, over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CRWD vs. CSCO: Price Performance and Valuation
Year to date, Cisco Systems shares have risen 6.7%, while shares of CrowdStrike have plunged 19.2%.
CRWD Vs. CSCO: YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Currently, Cisco Systems is trading at a forward sales multiple of 5.12X, lower than CrowdStrike’s forward sales multiple of 15.64X. CrowdStrike does seem pricey compared with Cisco Systems. In contrast, Cisco Systems’ reasonable valuation makes it more attractive for investors looking for value and stability.
CRWD vs. CSCO: Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Conclusion: Buy CSCO, Hold CRWD Right Now
Both CrowdStrike and Cisco Systems are key players in the cybersecurity space, but CrowdStrike is witnessing a slowdown in its sales growth. In contrast, Cisco Systems’ strong security portfolio, driven by the acquisition of Splunk, is aiding its top-line growth. Cisco Systems’ reasonable valuation offers some downside protection as well, making the stock an attractive buy, particularly for investors seeking exposure to cybersecurity growth at a fair price.
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CRWD vs. CSCO: Which Cybersecurity Stock Should You Buy Right Now?
Key Takeaways
CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report) and Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) are well-known players in the cybersecurity domain. While CrowdStrike specializes in endpoint protection and extended detection and response, offering AI-native cloud security through its Falcon platform, Cisco Systems is growing its presence based on Threat Intelligence, Detection and Response offerings, which include the offerings from Splunk and Network Security.
CrowdStrike and Cisco Systems are capitalizing on the rapid improvement of the cybersecurity space, fueled 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 12.28% from 2026 to 2031.
With this strong industry growth forecast, the question remains: Which stock has more upside potential? Let’s break down their fundamentals, growth prospects, market challenges and valuation to determine which offers a more compelling investment case.
The Case for CrowdStrike Stock
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 secure workloads across on-premise, cloud-based and virtualized environments running on several endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, servers, virtual machines and IoT devices.
CrowdStrike’s cloud-based Falcon platform currently provides 33 cloud modules via a software-as-a-service subscription model that is categorized 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 2026.
CrowdStrike’s Falcon Flex subscription model is becoming an important driver of its growth. Falcon Flex makes it easier for customers to access multiple modules of the Falcon platform through a single contract. This makes it easier for customers to deploy additional security products over time and expand their use of the Falcon platform, which has now become the company’s primary go-to-market model.
Annual recurring revenues (ARR) from Flex accounts crossed $1.69 billion, growing more than 120% year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which shows strong adoption across enterprise customers. CrowdStrike now has more than 1,600 customers using the Flex model. In the fourth quarter alone, the company added more than 350 new Flex customers. Flex customers are also large accounts. On average, each Flex customer generates more than $1 million in ARR.
However, CrowdStrike’s recent quarterly reports have shown a deceleration in its growth rate. The company's revenue growth, while still robust, is not as explosive as in previous years. CrowdStrike had enjoyed more than 35% year-over-year top-line growth till fiscal 2024. The growth rate decelerated to 29% in fiscal 2025 and to 22% in fiscal 2026. For fiscal 2027, CrowdStrike expects total revenues to be in the range of $5.868 billion to $5.928 billion. This indicates that the top-line growth is expected to stay around 22% to 23%, which is way lower than the explosive growth enjoyed by the company in the previous years.
The Case for CSCO Stock
Cisco Systems is making steady progress in its security business. The company has added several new security products, such as Secure Access, XDR, Hypershield, AI Defense and refreshed firewalls. These newer products are seeing good customer adoption, which now represents about one-third of its security portfolio. Excluding firewalls, more than 1,000 new customers adopted these products in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, marking more than 100% sequential growth in new customer additions.
Cisco booked more than 2.5 million Secure Access users in the second quarter, where new customer logos contributed to more than half of the new bookings. Management noted that Secure Access is benefiting from rising use of cloud applications, AI tools and agentic workflows at the network edge, which are increasing demand for secure, identity-based access across distributed environments.
On the firewall side, Cisco reported three consecutive quarters of double-digit unit growth, supported by the recent launch of Cisco's new high-end firewall platforms. Here, management expects the demand to remain strong as customers continue to modernize security infrastructure.
Cisco is also embedding AI deeper into its security stack. Enhancements to AI Defense allow customers to scan AI models and repositories for vulnerabilities and create an AI bill of materials for governance. Within SASE, Cisco introduced a semantic inspection engine that evaluates the intent of agentic interactions to help block more advanced threats.
Overall, Cisco Systems is expanding its security capabilities with new products, stronger Splunk performance and more focus on AI-driven security needs. The above-mentioned factors demonstrate the company’s efforts to support stronger security performance as customer adoption continues to scale and strengthen its position in the security market.
CRWD vs. CSCO: Earnings Estimate Trend
The earnings estimate revision trend for the two companies reflects that analysts are turning more bullish toward Cisco Systems.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRWD’s fiscal 2027 and 2028 EPS is pegged at $4.85 and $6.15, respectively. The estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have both been revised upward by a penny over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cisco Systems’ fiscal 2026 and 2027 EPS is pinned at $4.15 and $4.49, respectively. The estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have both been revised upward by 4 cents and 9 cents, respectively, over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CRWD vs. CSCO: Price Performance and Valuation
Year to date, Cisco Systems shares have risen 6.7%, while shares of CrowdStrike have plunged 19.2%.
CRWD Vs. CSCO: YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Currently, Cisco Systems is trading at a forward sales multiple of 5.12X, lower than CrowdStrike’s forward sales multiple of 15.64X. CrowdStrike does seem pricey compared with Cisco Systems. In contrast, Cisco Systems’ reasonable valuation makes it more attractive for investors looking for value and stability.
CRWD vs. CSCO: Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Conclusion: Buy CSCO, Hold CRWD Right Now
Both CrowdStrike and Cisco Systems are key players in the cybersecurity space, but CrowdStrike is witnessing a slowdown in its sales growth. In contrast, Cisco Systems’ strong security portfolio, driven by the acquisition of Splunk, is aiding its top-line growth. Cisco Systems’ reasonable valuation offers some downside protection as well, making the stock an attractive buy, particularly for investors seeking exposure to cybersecurity growth at a fair price.
Currently, Cisco Systems carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), making the stock a better pick over CrowdStrike, which has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.