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Earning on and off the grid is the daily focus of CrowdStrike (CRWD) Founder and CEO George Kurtz.
Kurtz is an accomplished endurance racer with a passion for driving Mercedes AMG cars. That led him to recently buy a minority stake in the Mercedes F1 team (which CrowdStrike has sponsored) for a whopping $300 million.
It’s an incredible combination of Kurtz’s public company experience, his technological expertise, and his passion for high-speed racing.
“I’ve always been a gearhead, I’ve always loved cars and going fast and the thrill of adrenaline, so to speak, and I never had the opportunity to do that as a kid. So I got into this a little bit later in life,” Kurtz told me in a new episode of Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast (video above; listen below).
Kurtz explained of his recent purchase: “For the last two years I have been chatting with him (Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff) about what other opportunities there are. And this kind of thing has been going on for a while. Now there are only 10 to 11 F1 teams. There is only one Mercedes team… I am delighted to say that I am now a technical advisor with them, working both on commercial data and leveraging data for performance on the track.”
At the same time, CrowdStrike is gearing up for a big 2026 as more AI agents increase the risk of cybersecurity threats. The company is already beginning to benefit from companies that are betting on threat protection.
CrowdStrike had a solid third quarter. Sales rose 22% from a year earlier to $1.23 billion. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) improved 23% year over year to $4.92 billion. Non-GAAP operating income hit a record $264.6 million.
For the current quarter, CrowdStrike said it expects sales in a range of $1.29 billion to $1.3 billion. Earnings are set between $1.09 and $1.11. Data from Yahoo Finance shows that analysts expect CrowdStrike to hit the high end of its revenue and bottom line outlook.
“You’re going to need AI to combat it and you’re going to need to protect all of these AI agents. We think it’s a huge opportunity,” Kurtz said of the cybersecurity demand backdrop.
Shares have gained 24% in the past year, outpacing the Nasdaq Composite’s 17% gain.
“CrowdStrike is a significant platform provider with a number of drivers to sustain at least teens top-line growth and improve profitability in the coming years and remain buyers,” Stifel analyst Adam Borg said in a note.