Freedom Expects CrowdStrike Shares to Rise 28%. How Could the AI Boom Help the Company?

Freedom Finance raised its price target for shares of cybersecurity solutions provider CrowdStrike from $260 to $320. This target implies a 28% increase from the most recent closing price. Analysts maintained their “Buy” rating on CrowdStrike shares, expecting the company’s business to be supported by increased corporate budgets for AI and demand for comprehensive platform solutions.

According to Freedom Finance, CrowdStrike is gradually evolving from a provider of computer and server security into a comprehensive cybersecurity platform for businesses. Its Falcon ecosystem integrates protection for devices, cloud infrastructure, accounts, and data.

Analysts consider Falcon Flex—a flexible pricing model that allows customers to purchase multiple CrowdStrike products under a single agreement—to be one of the key drivers of growth. According to Freedom Finance, this simplifies sales, speeds up contract closing, and encourages customers to adopt a broader range of the company’s solutions. Thanks to Falcon Flex, CrowdStrike’s associated annual recurring revenue (ARR) doubled to $2.29 billion as of the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2027 (which ended on July 31, 2026).

The spread of enterprise AI opens up new opportunities, according to a Freedom note. Analysts estimate that demand for CrowdStrike’s products will grow as protecting AI agents and the environments in which they operate becomes a prerequisite for AI adoption in business. The company may also see new orders from cloud marketplaces, which make it easier for enterprise customers to purchase its products.

Freedom Finance also notes that CrowdStrike continues to have significant growth potential: 48% of its target market still uses outdated security systems that need to be upgraded.

Analysts cite competition from Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks—which are also vying for corporate cybersecurity budgets—as a key risk. In addition, market expectations are high, and even a slight delay in securing major contracts could trigger stock volatility. The integration of acquired assets, including XM Cyber, may also prove more challenging than expected.

CrowdStrike shares fell 3% on October 15. Nevertheless, the company’s stock is up more than 100% year-to-date. The average price target is $248.57—0.3% below the previous trading session’s closing price. Of the 57 analysts tracking CrowdStrike shares on Wall Street, 42 recommend buying, 13 are neutral, and two recommend selling, according to MarketWatch data.

Earlier in September, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called cybersecurity the next major market for AI. According to him, the automation of programming is transforming the industry: AI makes it possible to find vulnerabilities in code more quickly, but at the same time reduces the time attackers have to exploit them. This forces companies to identify and fix security issues more quickly.

Investor interest in cybersecurity stocks has intensified in recent months following incidents in which AI models and agents from leading AI labs hacked third-party services or websites during testing. Such incidents have occurred with developments from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and other AI companies, among others. Against this backdrop, in mid-September, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in the pace of AI development. He was supported in this by OpenAI and SpaceX executives Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor