We recently published a list of Cathie Wood’s 11 Favorite AI Stocks. Since Crowdstrike Holdings Inc’s (NASDAQ:CRWD) ranks 7th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Cathie Wood’s flagship fund is continuing to face steep losses amid a broader pullback in technology stocks. Wood’s flagship fund ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK) is down about 18% so far this year and has lost about 75% of its value since hitting its peak in 2021. However, the latest data shows that the innovation-focused investor bought the dip on tech stocks after the latest selloff that shook financial markets globally.
Investors have pulled about $2.2 billion from ARK funds in 2024. The fund is on track to post its worst year of investor exodus since 2014. But Cathie Wood is doubling down on her innovation bets and is hopeful the upcoming rate cuts will be positive for the stock market.
Cathie Wood Says “Something Is Changing” and the Fed is Now on “High Alert”
Talking about the market situation, Cathie Wood said in a latest video on her YouTube channel that the recent selloff shows the market is going through a “cathartic” phase and “something is changing.”
“I do believe that the Fed now is on high alert because the stock market seemed to be encouraging the Fed to hold tight, higher for longer, make sure that the inflation was out of the system.”
Cathie Wood said that corporations are now in a weaker position amid high rates and they will initiate layoffs to cut costs and increase productivity. This weak employment situation could encourage the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates, according to Wood.
“Interest rates coming down should be very positive for the equity markets, but they will not arrest a recession very quickly. In fact, if consumers and businesses know that interest rates and maybe prices will be coming down, what will they do? They will wait.”
Cathie Wood’s ARK has posted its latest stock holdings data as of the end of the June quarter. For this article we scanned the fund’s latest portfolio and picked 11 AI stocks it has positions in. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Cathie Wood’s Latest Stake Value: $38,484,921
Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) shares have been battered after a system update at the company was one of the factors that caused the massive global tech outage in July.
However, analysts believe the fundamental story of Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) remains unchanged, despite short-term damages. Wedbush Securities estimates that less than 5% of CrowdStrike’s customers might switch providers, potentially impacting revenue by $150 million out of the projected $3 billion in sales for fiscal year 2024 (FY-24). This would lower the company’s forward revenue growth from 30.6% to 25.6%, but even at this adjusted rate, Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) would remain well above the IT sector median.
The company has $3.7 billion of cash versus $793 million of debt and its FCF margins exceed the IT median by a hefty 250%.
BofA Securities recently highlighted several tech stocks that are presenting attractive entry points amid their latest declines. Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) was among these stocks. CRWD’s generative AI security platform Charlotte AI is seeing a lot of traction. In the June quarter, the platform saw a whopping 90% POV close rate. During the quarter, Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) saw a dramatic surge in deals involving cloud, identity, or Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, more than doubling year-over-year. Management emphasized that customers are reaping substantial cost savings by adopting more modules, a development that bodes very well for Crowdstrike Holdings Inc’s (NASDAQ:CRWD) top-line growth. The strategic expansion of its modules has also tapped into the burgeoning AI-related demand, driving higher adoption rates. The stock’s forward P/E is 60, much higher than the industry average of 24, but 76% lower than the company’s five-year average. Wall Street expects revenue of Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) to grow 26% next year and earnings by 23%.
TimesSquare Capital U.S. Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“The high demand for cybersecurity systems is unlikely to abate, which benefited CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD). The company’s expansion beyond endpoint security to offering security on all cloud workloads, along with its growing product suite in areas such as identity and security information & event management, is driving strong demand for its platform among customers amidst a very active cyberthreat environment. That lifted its shares by 25% this quarter, and we trimmed our position.”
Overall, Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) ranks 7th on Insider Monkey’s list titled Cathie Wood’s 11 Favorite AI Stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRWD but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.