The cybersecurity company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) reported second-quarter earnings of 36 cents per share on revenue of $535.15 million after the close yesterday -- besting Wall Street's estimates. Plus, the company raised its current-quarter revenue forecast. In response, no fewer than seven analysts raised their price objectives, including Citigroup to $245 from $235.
These bull notes are made even more impressive by the fact that analysts are already optimistic towards CrowdStrike stock. In fact, all 21 in coverage carry a "buy" or better rating, while the 12-month consensus target price of $243.91 is a 26.9% premium to current levels.
Meanwhile, short sellers have been piling on the equity, with short interest up 15.5% in the last two reporting periods. The 13.68 million shares sold short make up 6.5% of the stock's available float.
Despite today's strong results and slew of bull notes, the security was last seen down 3.6% to trade at $186.37. Support remains at the 40-day moving average, though the shares twice failed to conquer the $205 moving average in August. Year-over-year, CRWD is down 31.8%.
Overall options volume is today running at nine times the intraday average, with 30,000 calls and 23,000 puts across the tape so far. Most popular is the 9/2 200-strike call, with positions being bought to open there, followed by the 210-strike call in the same weekly series.
Options look like a solid route at the moment. This is per CRWD's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 80 out of 100, which suggests the security has frequently exceeded option traders' volatility expectations during the past year.