Summary
CrowdStrike finished fiscal 2021 with a fourth quarter that pushed annual recurring revenue past the $1 billion mark. Revenue for the quarter ended January 31, 2021, was $264.9 million, up 74.2% from $152.1 million in the prior-year quarter. Gross profit was $198.2 million, up from $108.7 million, and gross margin rose to 74.8% from 71.5%. ARR increased 75% year over year to $1.05 billion, and net new ARR of $142.7 million set a quarterly record. The company added a record 1,480 net new subscription customers, lifting the total to 9,896, up 82% year over year.
Profitability improved on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. The GAAP operating loss narrowed to $15.8 million from $31.1 million a year earlier, and operating margin was -6.0%, compared with -20.5%. The GAAP net loss narrowed to $19.0 million from $28.4 million. Non-GAAP income from operations was $34.4 million against a loss of $6.7 million, and non-GAAP net income was $31.6 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared with a loss of $3.9 million, or $0.02 per diluted share. Non-GAAP subscription gross margin reached 80%, up from 77%.
Cash generation was the standout. Operating cash flow was $114.5 million, up 73.1% from $66.1 million. Free cash flow, which subtracts purchases of property and equipment and capitalized internal-use software, was $97.4 million against $50.7 million. Capital expenditures were $12.6 million, down 6.0% from $13.4 million. Deferred revenue rose 59.7% to $911.9 million, and remaining performance obligations reached $1.40 billion, up 83.2% from $764.0 million. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.92 billion as of January 31, 2021. CrowdStrike also issued $750 million of 3.000% senior notes due 2029 and expanded its revolving credit facility to $750 million, which remained undrawn.
The product and go-to-market story kept broadening. The company acquired Humio, a cloud log management and observability provider, adding index-free data ingestion to the platform. It also expanded cloud security posture management and cloud workload protection and integrated Falcon threat intelligence feeds with AWS Network Firewall. Module adoption continued to climb, with 63% of customers using four or more modules, 47% using five or more, and 24% using six or more.
For the full fiscal year, revenue was $874.4 million, up 81.6% from $481.4 million. The GAAP net loss was $92.6 million against $141.8 million, and the GAAP diluted loss per share was $0.43 against $0.96. Operating cash flow for the year was $356.6 million, up from $99.9 million, and free cash flow was $292.9 million against $12.5 million. The dollar-based net retention rate was 125% as of January 31, 2021, and gross retention stayed consistently high.
Guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 calls for non-GAAP income from operations of $18.5 million to $21.7 million, non-GAAP net income of $10.8 million to $13.9 million, and non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.05 to $0.06. For the full fiscal year 2022, the company guided non-GAAP income from operations of $94.8 million to $102.5 million, non-GAAP net income of $63.8 million to $71.4 million, and non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.27 to $0.30. Those targets exclude stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangibles, and other items, and no reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measures was provided. Risks include the uncertain path of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenge of managing rapid growth, integration of the Preempt Security and Humio acquisitions, defects or vulnerabilities in new products, and long sales cycles. Management expects operating losses to continue for the foreseeable future, and interest expense should rise in fiscal 2022 because of the senior notes.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q4 FY2021 | Q3 FY2021 | QoQ | Q4 FY2020 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $264.9M | $232.5M | +14.0% | $152.1M | +74.2% |
| Gross profit | $198.2M | $170.9M | +16.0% | $108.7M | +82.3% |
| Gross margin | 74.8% | 73.5% | +1.3 pp | 71.5% | +3.4 pp |
| Research & development | $66.1M | $57.5M | +14.8% | $38.7M | +70.8% |
| Sales & marketing | $112.4M | $105.6M | +6.5% | $75.8M | +48.3% |
| General & administrative | $35.5M | $32.0M | +11.0% | $25.3M | +40.1% |
| Total operating expenses | $214.0M | $195.1M | +9.7% | $139.8M | +53.0% |
| Operating income (loss) | -$15.8M | -$24.2M | +34.6% | -$31.1M | +49.2% |
| Operating margin | -6.0% | -10.4% | +4.4 pp | -20.5% | +14.5 pp |
| Net income (loss) | -$19.0M | -$24.5M | +22.5% | -$28.4M | +33.1% |
| Net margin | -7.2% | -10.6% | +3.4 pp | -18.7% | +11.5 pp |
| Net retention rate | 100.0% | 100.0% | ±0.0 pp | 100.0% | ±0.0 pp |
Risks
CrowdStrike's headcount grew from 324 employees as of January 31, 2016 to 3,394 as of January 31, 2021, while subscription customers grew 82% year over year to 9,896 as of January 31, 2021. Managing this expansion requires effective hiring, infrastructure, and financial controls, and failure could impair platform quality and compliance.
The security market is intensely competitive and fragmented, with competitors including Microsoft, McAfee, Broadcom's Symantec Enterprise division, Blackberry Cylance, VMware Carbon Black, SentinelOne, Palo Alto Networks, and FireEye. Larger competitors may bundle competing functionality or cut prices, which could reduce CrowdStrike's revenue growth and gross margins.
CrowdStrike hosts its Falcon platform using third-party data centers, primarily Amazon Web Services, and its own colocation facilities. Service interruptions, capacity constraints, or contract terminations at these facilities could cause customers to terminate subscriptions and harm renewal rates.
As a cybersecurity provider, CrowdStrike has been and expects to continue to be a target of cyberattacks, including from sophisticated adversaries. A breach of its internal systems or customer data could damage its reputation, reduce customer confidence, and lead to litigation or regulatory action.
A substantial majority of customers purchase one-year subscriptions and have no obligation to renew, and some customers have elected not to renew in the normal course. The dollar-based net retention rate was 125% as of January 31, 2021, compared with 124% as of January 31, 2020 and 147% as of January 31, 2019, and any failure to retain and expand customers could materially harm results.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused CrowdStrike to move its workforce remote until at least April 30, 2021, restrict travel, and shift events to virtual formats, which could delay and lengthen sales cycles and reduce customer spending. MD&A notes the impact has been modest so far, with some customers requesting special billing or payment terms, but uncertainty remains.
In January 2021 CrowdStrike issued $750.0 million of 3.000% Senior Notes due 2029 and has a $750.0 million revolving credit facility. The debt contains restrictive covenants, and interest expense is expected to be higher in fiscal 2022, which could limit operational flexibility.
CrowdStrike is highly dependent on CEO George Kurtz and other key technical, sales, and management personnel, and competition for cybersecurity talent is intense. Many employees have vested or will soon vest in substantial equity awards, which may make retention more difficult.
Sales cycles for the Falcon platform can be long and unpredictable, particularly with large enterprises and government entities that require significant evaluation and approvals. COVID-19 has shifted customer interactions to virtual formats, which could further delay and lengthen sales cycles and make revenue timing harder to predict.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Free Cash Flow Margin
Non-GAAP Operating Margin
Net New ARR
Free Cash Flow
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Non-GAAP Subscription Gross Margin
Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate
Subscription Customers
Net New Subscription Customers
Customers with 5+ Modules
Customers with 6+ Modules
Customers with 4+ Modules
ARR Growth YoY
Subscription Customer Growth (YoY)
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.'s SEC filings for Q4 FY2021 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 2, 2026.