Insider Monkey’s comparison favors Palo Alto Networks for risk-adjusted value, citing 34% fiscal fourth-quarter revenue growth and a roughly 78-times free-cash-flow multiple, versus CrowdStrike’s 26% fiscal second-quarter growth and roughly 167-times multiple.
CrowdStrike’s fiscal second-quarter revenue rose 26% to $1.47 billion, ending ARR increased 25% to $5.84 billion, and net new ARR set a record at $333 million. Its non-GAAP subscription gross margin was 81%, with $377 million in free cash flow, about 26% of revenue. Palo Alto’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rose 34% to $3.41 billion; Next-Generation Security ARR grew 63% to $9.10 billion, and remaining performance obligations reached $21.2 billion.
Palo Alto’s full-year adjusted free-cash-flow margin was 38.4%, and management targets 40% in fiscal 2028. The article cites acquisitions, integration work and accounting costs as risks: Palo Alto posted a GAAP net loss in its latest quarter despite strong adjusted profitability and still needs to show that NGS ARR growth can remain durable after acquisition-assisted comparisons normalize. CrowdStrike’s bull case is that Falcon can consolidate endpoint, identity, cloud and AI security workloads on one platform.
