Summary
CrowdStrike finished fiscal 2024 with a fourth quarter that showed operating leverage arriving on the GAAP line. Total revenue for the quarter ended January 31, 2024 was $845.3 million, up 32.6% from the prior-year quarter. Gross profit rose 37.9% to $636.8 million, and gross margin improved 2.9 percentage points to 75.3%. GAAP income from operations was $29.7 million, a swing from a loss of $61.5 million a year earlier, and operating margin moved up 13.2 percentage points to 3.5%. Net income attributable to CrowdStrike was $53.7 million, against a loss of $47.5 million in the prior-year quarter. The company reported its fourth consecutive quarter of GAAP net income, a milestone management highlighted.
Cash generation and bookings held up. Net cash provided by operating activities was $347.0 million for the quarter, up 27.0% from a year earlier, while capital expenditures of $52.6 million were down 5.1%. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure that deducts purchases of property and equipment, capitalized internal-use software costs and deferred compensation investments from operating cash flow, was $283.0 million, compared with $209.5 million in the prior-year quarter. Annual recurring revenue reached $3.44 billion as of January 31, 2024, up 34% year over year, and net new ARR was a record $281.9 million, up 27%. Deferred revenue rose 29.7% to $3.05 billion, and remaining performance obligations were $4.60 billion, up 35.3%.
Adoption metrics point to the platform story. Module adoption rates were 64%, 43% and 27% for five or more, six or more and seven or more modules, and cloud security, identity protection and LogScale next-gen SIEM together represented more than $850 million of ending ARR. Dollar-based net retention slipped to 119% from 125% a year earlier, a reminder that large upfront purchases can dampen that metric in later periods. For the full fiscal year, revenue was $3.06 billion, up 36.3%. GAAP net income attributable to CrowdStrike was $89.3 million, a swing from a loss of $183.2 million, and the GAAP operating loss narrowed to $2.0 million from $190.1 million. Diluted EPS for the year was $0.37, versus a loss of $0.79. Operating cash flow for the year was $1.17 billion, up 23.9%, and capital expenditures fell 24.9% to $176.5 million.
Non-GAAP results move in the same direction with the add-backs. Non-GAAP net income attributable to CrowdStrike was $751.8 million for fiscal 2024, compared with $368.4 million, and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $3.09 versus $1.54. Guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 sets non-GAAP net income attributable to CrowdStrike at $220.4 million to $223.1 million, or $0.89 to $0.90 per diluted share, and non-GAAP income from operations at $188.1 million to $190.8 million. For the full fiscal year 2025, the company guided to non-GAAP income from operations of $863.6 million to $913.0 million, non-GAAP net income attributable to CrowdStrike of $940.3 million to $989.7 million, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $3.77 to $3.97.
Balance sheet and strategic items carry their own risks. CrowdStrike agreed to acquire Flow Security for approximately $115.0 million, a deal expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. The company disclosed $1.8 billion of additional non-cancellable purchase obligations covering fiscal 2025 through fiscal 2031, on top of the $747.6 million outstanding as of January 31, 2024. Standard risk disclosures cite difficulty managing rapid growth, execution challenges, defects or vulnerabilities in new products, intense competition, long and unpredictable sales cycles, customer retention, acquisition integration, macroeconomic deterioration, inflation, geopolitical conflict and volatility in the banking and financial services sector. Management also noted that a material reversal of the U.S. valuation allowance is reasonably possible given recent profitability. Recognition during the quarter included a Leader position in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, general availability of Falcon Data Protection, Charlotte AI and Falcon for IT, and an expanded Dell partnership for managed detection and response.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q4 FY2024 | Q3 FY2024 | QoQ | Q4 FY2023 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $845.3M | $786.0M | +7.5% | $637.4M | +32.6% |
| Gross profit | $636.8M | $591.0M | +7.7% | $461.8M | +37.9% |
| Gross margin | 75.3% | 75.2% | +0.1 pp | 72.5% | +2.9 pp |
| Research & development | $214.0M | $196.1M | +9.1% | $191.8M | +11.5% |
| Sales & marketing | $290.4M | $286.2M | +1.5% | $246.4M | +17.8% |
| General & administrative | $102.7M | $105.6M | -2.7% | $85.0M | +20.9% |
| Total operating expenses | $607.1M | $587.8M | +3.3% | $523.3M | +16.0% |
| Operating income (loss) | $29.7M | $3.2M | +838.1% | -$61.5M | +148.2% |
| Operating margin | 3.5% | 0.4% | +3.1 pp | -9.7% | +13.2 pp |
| Net income (loss) | $54.9M | $26.7M | +106.0% | -$48.9M | +212.3% |
| Net margin | 6.5% | 3.4% | +3.1 pp | -7.7% | +14.2 pp |
| Diluted EPS | $0.23 | $0.11 | +$0.12 | -$0.21 | +$0.44 |
| Net retention rate | 119.0% | — | — | 120.0% | -1.0 pp |
Risks
The competition risk states market conditions could change rapidly due to AI, and competitors may more successfully incorporate AI, gain or leverage superior access to AI technologies, and achieve higher market acceptance of their AI solutions. This could pressure CrowdStrike's competitive position despite its AI-native Falcon platform messaging.
MD&A reports ARR increased 34% year-over-year to $3.4 billion as of January 31, 2024, after increasing 48% year-over-year to $2.6 billion as of January 31, 2023. Risk factors state the company may not sustain current growth rates, and investments to support growth may not be successful.
Risk factors state customers have no obligation to renew subscriptions after terms that are generally one year, and some customers have elected not to renew, may renew for shorter lengths, or may decline additional cloud modules. MD&A reports the dollar-based net retention rate was 119% as of January 31, 2024 and 125% as of January 31, 2023.
As a cybersecurity provider, CrowdStrike has been and expects to continue to be a target of cyberattacks, including sophisticated adversaries and nation-state actors. A compromise of internal systems, source code, or customer data would be especially detrimental to reputation and customer confidence.
Sales cycles are described as long and unpredictable, requiring considerable time and expense, with large enterprises and government entities often undertaking significant evaluation processes. Uncertain economic conditions may lead to additional budget scrutiny, longer sales cycles, and slower adoption of new technologies.
Deterioration in general economic conditions, inflation, higher interest rates, volatility in the banking and financial services sector, or geopolitical unrest have in the past and may in the future cause customers to delay or cut security and IT spending, increase churn, lengthen sales cycles, and reduce demand for cloud-based security solutions like CrowdStrike's.
The filing states intense competition and competitive pricing pressure may reduce gross profits and margins if CrowdStrike cannot maintain pricing due to discounts, competitor price reductions, or bundling by larger competitors. Fiscal 2024 gross margin was 75.3%, up 2.1 percentage points, but the risk remains.
CrowdStrike relies on third-party data centers, primarily Amazon Web Services, and its own colocation data centers to host and operate the Falcon platform. Service interruptions, AWS contract termination or less favorable renegotiation, or failure of redundancy systems could cause delays, additional expenses, and customer terminations.
The company is highly dependent on George Kurtz and other key personnel, and faces intense competition for experienced sales professionals and engineers in cybersecurity. Headcount grew from 4,965 employees as of January 31, 2022 to 7,925 employees as of January 31, 2024, increasing integration and retention demands.
The business strategy includes acquisitions, and MD&A notes the Bionic acquisition for $239.0 million in fiscal 2024 and a definitive agreement to acquire Flow Security Ltd. for approximately $115.0 million expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Integration may divert management, disrupt operations, dilute stockholder value, or incur unanticipated liabilities.
The revolving facility and the indenture governing the Senior Notes contain restrictive covenants and cross-default provisions. Failure to comply could result in default, acceleration of indebtedness, or inability to fund operations, and interest expense was $25.8 million in fiscal 2024.
The vast majority of sales flow through channel partners, and CrowdStrike relies on those partners to sell and support the Falcon platform. Loss of a substantial number of channel partners or failure to recruit additional partners could limit its ability to market, sell, and distribute the platform.
International customers accounted for approximately 32%, 30%, and 28% of total revenue for fiscal 2024, fiscal 2023, and fiscal 2022, respectively. Expansion exposes CrowdStrike to regulatory, tax, currency, localization, and personnel risks, and nearly all sales contracts are denominated in U.S. dollars while expenses increasingly are in foreign currencies.
The company is subject to data protection, security, privacy, and government- and industry-specific laws and regulations. Failure to comply could harm business, results of operations, and financial condition, with risks including data localization requirements and evolving government certification standards.
The company incurred net losses each year prior to fiscal 2024 and had an accumulated deficit of $1.1 billion as of January 31, 2024. Although fiscal 2024 net income attributable to CrowdStrike was $89.3 million and operating income was a $2.0 million loss, risk factors state it may not achieve or sustain profitability as operating expenses are expected to increase.
Future growth depends in part on increasing sales to government organizations, which are subject to budgetary uncertainty, long sales cycles, FedRAMP certification costs, security clearance requirements, and political changes. These factors could delay or reduce public sector demand for the Falcon platform.
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
Module Adoption Rate (6+ modules)
Module Adoption Rate (7+ modules)
Module Adoption Rate (5+ modules)
Non-GAAP Income from Operations
Non-GAAP Gross Margin
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.'s SEC filings for Q4 FY2024 (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.