Cybersecurity is becoming more important than ever. A hacker’s abilities are increasingly enhanced by technology, including access to agentic AI, which can help bad actors exploit vulnerabilities in a company’s information systems.
Ensuring a business has the best available cybersecurity protection is key. It’s an industry not likely to be disrupted by generative artificial intelligence. It will be boosted by it.
I think the best stock to buy in this space is CrowdStrike (CRWD 3.86%). CrowdStrike is a major cybersecurity player already, and the company is taking its protection to the next level by incorporating several key elements in defending its clients from cybersecurity attacks.
Image source: Getty Images.
CrowdStrike’s stock is on sale thanks to AI
As AI coding agents become more popular, many software stocks have heavily sold off in fear that someone could re-create the platform in-house with the aid of an AI coding platform.
While I think some companies are rightfully worried, I don’t think the cybersecurity industry should be. If someone makes an error (be it the AI platform or the human directing it), the results could be catastrophic. This makes this area too risky to use internal resources to build a cybersecurity platform, so they need to turn to experts like CrowdStrike.
Today’s Change
(-3.86%) $-15.23
Current Price
$379.44
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$96B
Day’s Range
$364.50 – $396.14
52wk Range
$342.72 – $566.90
Volume
424K
Avg Vol
4.1M
Gross Margin
74.53%
CrowdStrike’s base functionality is endpoint security, which protects network endpoints from cyberthreats. It uses AI to detect abnormal activity on each endpoint, then shuts down the attack before it has a chance to do serious damage. In total, it has more than 30 modules of increased functionality, with each add-on increasing the level of protection a client has. Indeed, 50% of clients have more than six modules, showcasing the strength of CrowdStrike’s ability to upsell clients.
Cybersecurity is a massive and expanding market, and CrowdStrike believes that its total addressable market will more than double by 2030. This should make the market bullish on the stock and cybersecurity in general, but because CrowdStrike is grouped with other software companies, its stock is being hammered.
CrowdStrike’s stock is down around 30% from its all-time high, and its valuation has seldom been this cheap.
CRWD PS Ratio data by YCharts
While 21 times sales may appear expensive (and it is), CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity leader and deserves a premium compared to its peers. I still think the company can deliver market-crushing returns, and the need for best-in-class security products is only going to rise as cyberthreats ramp up.
