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Despite causing a major tech outage that impacted businesses and airports around the world Friday morning, cybersecurity firm “CrowdStrike remains the gold standard,” Wedbush analysts wrote in a note on Friday.
A defect in a regular software update to the firm’s malware protection software Thursday night impacted Microsoft’s Windows operating system, giving users around the world the “Blue Screen of Death.” CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz wrote in a post on X that the outage was not due to “a security incident or cyberattack,” and that the firm “is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.” He added that a “fix has been deployed.”
While the IT outage “is clearly a major black eye for CrowdStrike,” and will put its stock under pressure, Wedbush analysts wrote that they still “believe George Kurtz is one of the best tech CEOs in the world and has been front and center this morning in the eyes of the industry, customers, and the broader public.” They added that “Kurtz has stepped up and helped the damage control immensely” amid “the biggest IT outage globally.”
CrowdStrike’s stock was down almost 11% during mid-day trading on Friday after being down 9% at the market open and down over 12% during pre-market trading.
Wedbush analysts said they “believe this historical incident will only be a dark chapter for the company and not impact the long term bull story for the name,” adding that they are not changing their positive long term view of the firm or wider cybersecurity industry.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, which saw its stock down almost 1% during mid-day trading Friday, could be pushed by the outage “to look more aggressively at cybersecurity M&A,” Wedbush analysts wrote.