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Preliminary brief— based on press release only. Full analysis including management tone and Q&A will be added when the transcript is available.

CRWD · Q2 2026 Earnings

CrowdStrike

Reported August 27, 2025

30-second summary

Revenue grew 21% YoY to $1.169B, beating the prior guide by ~$17M, and net new ARR of $221M arrived a quarter ahead of management's own reacceleration timeline. The FY26 non-GAAP EPS guide was raised to $3.60–$3.72 (midpoint +$0.16 from $3.50), and management now commits to back-half net new ARR growing "at least 40%" YoY — a hard, falsifiable number that replaces last quarter's softer "reacceleration" language. This is the cleanest post-outage print and the most aggressive forward commitment management has made since July 2024.

Headline numbers

EPS

Q2 FY2026

$0.93

Revenue

Q2 FY2026

$1.17B

+21.0% YoY

Gross margin

Q2 FY2026

73.0%

Free cash flow

Q2 FY2026

$0.28B

Operating margin

Q2 FY2026

-10.0%

Key financials

Q2 FY2026
MetricQ2 FY2026YoYQ1 FY2026QoQ
Revenue$1.17B+21.0%$1.10B+6.0%
EPS$0.93—$0.73+27.4%
Gross margin73.0%—78.0%-500bps
Operating margin-10.0%—18.0%-2800bps
Free cash flow$0.28B—$0.28B+1.8%

Guidance

Guidance is issued for both next quarter and the full year. Both may appear below.

Actuals vs prior guidance

MetricPeriodPrior guideActualΔResult
RevenueQ2 FY2026$1,144.7 - $1,151.6 million$1,169.0 million+$17.4M above guide high endBeat
Non-GAAP EPSQ2 FY2026$0.82 - $0.84$0.93+$0.09 above guide high endBeat
Non-GAAP Income from OperationsQ2 FY2026$226.9 - $233.1 million$248.0 million+$14.9M above guide high endBeat
Non-GAAP Net IncomeQ2 FY2026$209.1 - $213.8 million$224.0 million+$10.2M above guide high endBeat

New guidance

MetricPeriodGuideYoY
RevenueQ3 FY2026$1,208.0 - $1,218.0 million20% to 21%
Non-GAAP EPSQ3 FY2026$0.93 - $0.95—
Non-GAAP Income from OperationsQ3 FY2026$256.0 - $262.0 million—
Non-GAAP Net IncomeQ3 FY2026$238.1 - $242.8 million—

Changes to prior guidance

MetricPeriodPrior guideNew guideΔResult
Revenue
FY2026
$4,743.5 - $4,805.5 million$4,749.5 - $4,805.5 million+$6.0M at low endRaised
Non-GAAP EPS
FY2026
$3.44 - $3.56$3.60 - $3.72+$0.16 at midpointRaised
Non-GAAP Income from Operations
FY2026
$970.8 - $1,010.8 million$1,000.1 - $1,040.1 million+$29.3M at midpointRaised
Non-GAAP Net Income
FY2026
$878.7 - $909.7 million$922.4 - $954.0 million+$43.65M at midpointRaised

Segment performance

Q2 FY2026
SegmentQ2 FY2026YoY
Subscription Revenue$1.103B+20.0%

Platform metrics

Q2 FY2026
SegmentQ2 FY2026
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)$4.66 billion
Net New ARR$221 million
YoY ARR Growth20%
Module Adoption (6+ modules)48%
Module Adoption (7+ modules)33%
Module Adoption (8+ modules)23%

Profitability

Q2 FY2026
SegmentQ2 FY2026
Non-GAAP Operating Margin22%
Free Cash Flow Margin24%

Management tone

Narrative arc: Outage recovery (Q4 FY25) → Falcon Flex as operating model (Q1 FY26) → Reacceleration delivered + AI infrastructure positioning (Q2 FY26).

Last quarter management promised back-half reacceleration; this quarter they delivered it a quarter early and immediately raised the bar. The Q1 framing was "sequential net new ARR growth rate to be at least double" the prior-year Q1→Q2 step. This quarter's framing — "We've talked about reacceleration coming in the back half of this fiscal year. It's here now" — converts that aspiration into a fact, and the new "+40% YoY back-half net new ARR" commitment raises the stakes considerably. Management is no longer asking to be trusted on a forward trajectory; they are betting the H2 number on it.

The AI narrative has compounded across three quarters in a specific direction. Q4 FY25 framed Charlotte AI as an SOC productivity tool. Q1 FY26 pivoted to "CrowdStrike will be the protector of autonomous AI agents" — TAM-expansion via agent endpoints. This quarter goes further: "CrowdStrike's role in the agentic era is staying ahead of AI-armed threat actors to secure AI at every layer, beginning with the AI model itself, to the workloads and hosts on which they run, to the actual human and agentic identities, to the end-user devices accessing these systems." The repositioning is now total — from endpoint vendor to AI-lifecycle infrastructure — and management is staking the company's identity on it.

Next-gen SIEM also shifted register. Q1 framed it as "disrupting the proverbial horse and buggy" — competitive displacement language. This quarter, with the ONIM acquisition, it becomes infrastructure: "If our next-gen sim is the engine that powers the modern SOC, then data is the fuel that makes the engine run. ONIM is both the pipeline and the filter." This is a different ambition — owning the data pipeline rather than selling a module that sits on someone else's data. It's also the first quarter where management has framed SIEM as the strategic centerpiece rather than a high-growth attachment.

Falcon Flex has graduated from "experimental" (Q4 FY25) to "validated" (Q1 FY26) to "compounding" (now). The disclosed reflex uplift of ~50% in ending ARR, combined with ~10% of Flex customers having already reflexed within five months, is the strongest evidence yet that the platform consolidation flywheel is real. Management's confidence on the back-half +40% net new ARR number is implicitly underwritten by this reflex cohort behavior.

Recurring themes management leaned on this quarter:

AI-driven market demand and necessity of security for agentic systemsPlatform consolidation via Falcon Flex licensing model and reflex expansionNext-Gen SIM as strategic SOC transformation engine with AI-native architectureData foundation and pipeline control as competitive moat (ONIM acquisition)Charlotte SOC agent automation enabling agentic security operationsCustomer migration from legacy point products and legacy vendors to unified Falcon platform

Risks management surfaced:

Outage-related costs and partner program investments (though characterized as already paid off)Partner rebate and CCP program wind-down impact on revenue; expected to subside Q4 FY26Federal/public sector deals take time and are not yet material to businessLegacy SIM and PAM vendors disrupting market, but CrowdStrike positioned to capture shareSustainability of 40% YoY net new ARR growth in back half (dependency on Flex adoption acceleration and consolidation momentum)

Answers to last quarter's watch list

Net new ARR sequential step from Q1 to Q2. Net new ARR was a record Q2 $221M, with management characterizing the result as net new ARR reacceleration a quarter ahead of expectations — clearing the "at least double" sequential step target from Q1.
Resolved positively
The ARR-to-revenue wedge. Subscription revenue grew 20% YoY while ARR grew 20% YoY — the wedge management warned about (CCP amortization of $10–15M/quarter) did not visibly compress reported growth this quarter, and the company explicitly noted the partner rebate/CCP drag is expected to subside by Q4 FY26.
Resolved positively
Falcon Flex "reflex" cohort. "Nearly 10% of all Flex customers" reflexed within an average of 5 months, with reflexes delivering ~50% uplift in ending ARR. The cohort is expanding and time-to-reflex is compressing — the strongest data point of the quarter.
Resolved positively
Next-gen SIEM disclosure. Next-gen SIEM ending ARR was disclosed at more than $430M, growing more than 95% YoY — the persistent buyside ask was substantially answered, and the ONIM acquisition reframes SIEM as the strategic engine.
Resolved positively
DOJ/SEC inquiry status. No update was provided on the call.
Continue monitoring
Operating margin trajectory toward the 24% FY27 target. Q2 non-GAAP operating margin hit 22%, well above the ~20% implied by the Q1 guide and within striking distance of the FY27 24% target. The FY26 operating income raise (+$29.3M at midpoint) implies the back half runs hotter still.
Resolved positively

What to watch into next quarter

Back-half net new ARR vs the +40% YoY commitment. Management put a hard number on the table. Q3 net new ARR needs to track to clear this — anything materially short breaks the credibility that the new EPS guide implicitly relies on.

Next-gen SIEM trajectory past $430M. With >95% YoY growth and the ONIM acquisition reframing SIEM as the strategic engine, watch whether growth holds as the base scales and whether ONIM-driven data-pipeline economics expand the monetization surface.

Module adoption 6+ tier reactivation. The 6+ tier was flat QoQ at 48% even as 7+ and 8+ ticked up — watch whether new logo land deals re-broaden the 6+ base, or whether net adds are concentrated in existing customer deepening (a different growth profile).

CCP/partner rebate wind-down execution. Management expects the drag to subside in Q4 FY26 — confirm the timing holds and quantify the reported-growth tailwind it unlocks for FY27.

Reflex cohort velocity. With ~10% of Flex customers reflexed in 5 months at +50% ARR uplift, watch whether the next cohort's time-to-reflex compresses further. This is the single best leading indicator of Flex's terminal economics.

DOJ/SEC inquiry status. Still the largest live overhang. Any disclosed movement materially changes the risk profile.

Sources

  1. CrowdStrike Q2 FY2026 press release, August 27, 2025 — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1535527/000153552725000023/crwd-20252708xex991.htm
  2. CrowdStrike Q2 FY2026 earnings call prepared remarks and Q&A, August 27, 2025

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