Will the AI Revolution Make CrowdStrike a Long-Term Winner?

The AI revolution has lifted many stocks, and it has caused some investors to search for the next stock that has any connection to AI. That's why CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) CEO George Kurtz's recent comments drew a lot of attention.

Kurtz told investors that the AI revolution is "creating a massive growth opportunity for CrowdStrike" because enterprise AI needs security across all of its many layers, and his company can provide it. Cybersecurity could be the next hot AI trade, and CrowdStrike has established itself as a leader in the industry.

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Explaining cybersecurity's role in AI

Kurtz summed it up nicely when he said that CrowdStrike is securing "every layer from GPU to agent to prompt."

GPUs hold sensitive data that cybersecurity software like CrowdStrike protects. Furthermore, agentic AI is hackable, which can lead to these agents performing nefarious actions, such as stealing sensitive information. Even individual AI prompts need cybersecurity when they are used in government agencies or enterprises.

Physical data centers are also vulnerable because they rely on digital building management systems. A criminal who hacks into these systems could manipulate the temperature, power, and physical access to these facilities. A malicious hacker could take an AI data center down, and that kind of risk requires a cybersecurity solution like CrowdStrike.

As AI data centers, GPUs, AI agents, and prompts become more prevalent, companies will have to spend more for the services of CrowdStrike and other cybersecurity companies. All of those things are growing in use rapidly, and that trajectory looks poised to continue for multiple years. The fact that Nvidia expects to sell $1 trillion in AI data center chips across 2026 and 2027 shows the industry is still heating up.

How this opportunity specifically applies to CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike hasn't seen revenue acceleration due to the AI revolution quite yet. Its 5-year revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is 40.6%, while its 3-year rate is 29%. That means revenue growth has actually been decelerating. In its fiscal 2026 Q4, which ended Jan. 31, CrowdStrike delivered just 23% year-over-year revenue growth.

CrowdStrike wrapped up its fiscal 2026 with $5.25 billion in annual recurring revenue compared to a market cap of roughly $160 billion. That's an elevated valuation that will make more sense if the company continues to grow its revenue while expanding margins, which did happen in its fiscal 2026 Q4.

The cybersecurity software provider anticipates $6.49 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of its fiscal 2027. That would be a 23.6% year-over-year growth rate.

These numbers currently do not suggest AI is meaningfully transforming CrowdStrike's results. However, the cybersecurity industry undeniably benefits from long-term tailwinds. It's possible CrowdStrike and other companies will experience substantial revenue accelerations in the future. For instance, Micron has a 5-year revenue CAGR of 11.8% if you ignore the past year. In the past year, Micron posted incredible results that helped it grow into a $1 trillion tech company.

What investors should consider

For would-be investors, it all comes down to one question: Might CrowdStrike and other cybersecurity companies follow the same pattern of stable or decelerating growth rates until one big year changes the entire narrative?

Getting in ahead of such shifts has worked well for many semiconductor investors, and the same trend can play out for cybersecurity. If that happens, CrowdStrike should post outsize gains, since it is one of the largest cybersecurity companies, just as Micron is one of the largest memory-chip makers.

However, there are other growth stocks that are already capitalizing on the AI revolution. They have shown more tangible changes to their revenue and net income that you can directly attribute to AI demand. If CrowdStrike realizes a slice of that demand, its revenue growth could quickly accelerate again.

As strange as it may sound, due to the company's high market cap, CrowdStrike may be a sleeping giant in the AI industry. However, it may take a while for it to awaken.

Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CrowdStrike, Micron Technology, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.