CrowdStrike forecasts weak quarterly revenue as Windows-outage impact lingers

Aug 27 (Reuters) - CrowdStrike CRWD.O forecast weak third-quarter revenue on Wednesday, as incentives to retain customers after its botched cybersecurity update continue to weigh on subscription sales.

The quarterly revenue outlook overshadowed upbeat second-quarter results, sending the company's shares down nearly 3% in extended trading. The stock has risen about 24% so far this year.

CrowdStrike has said the incentive program will have a $10 million to $15 million revenue impact each quarter for the rest of the fiscal year.

More than a year after CrowdStrike's faulty update crippled airlines, banks and hospitals for hours, the company is still grappling with its fallout.

"We expect to make third-quarter cash payments of approximately $51 million in connection with outage-related costs," Chief Financial Officer Burt Podbere said on a post-earnings call.

The program, which ended as an active offer in fiscal 2025, continued to impact timing of the subscription revenue, as it let customers pick more products or extend usage.

CrowdStrike expects current-quarter revenue to be between $1.21 billion and $1.22 billion, broadly in line with analysts' average estimate of $1.23 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Its forecast for third-quarter adjusted per-share profit of 93 cents to 95 cents came in above estimates of 91 cents.

The company's second-quarter revenue rose 21% to $1.17 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $1.15 billion.

The adjusted profit of 93 cents per share exceeded estimates of 83 cents apiece for the quarter ended July 31.

It reported a net loss of $77.7 million in the second quarter, compared with a net income of $47.0 million for the same period last year, driven by stock-based compensation, outage-related costs and strategic plan charges.