CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) vs Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS): Which Cybersecurity Stock Is the Better Buy?

Описание: Both CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) just reported strong results, 24% ARR growth and a 34% free cash flow margin for CrowdStrike, and 25% revenue growth with 600%+ year-over-year flexible booking growth for Zscaler. But the stocks couldn't be more different: CrowdStrike is up 56% over the last 12 months trading at 128x free cash flow, while Zscaler is down 54% and now trading at just 24x free cash flow. Simon Erickson breaks down what's actually driving the divergence and which one he'd buy today.
The key story in both earnings reports is Falcon Flex and Z Flex, flexible subscription platforms that let enterprise customers bundle modules and swap product lines without being locked into rigid contracts. CrowdStrike's Falcon Flex is now $2 billion of its $5.5 billion ARR, up 99% year over year, with 26% of customers proactively renewing early. Zscaler's Z Flex bookings jumped from $65 million to $480 million in a single year. This flexibility is becoming the dominant go-to-market model in cybersecurity, and both companies are executing it well.
So why is Zscaler so cheap? Conservative 2027 guidance of 15-16% growth, partly because of its Red Canary acquisition for AI agent security, spooked the market. But Simon argues this is classic Zscaler sandbagging: the company consistently beats conservative guidance, Red Canary is already exceeding internal expectations (guidance raised from $130M to $137M ARR), and at 7x sales and 24x free cash flow, the valuation gap versus CrowdStrike is hard to justify. His verdict: if he's buying one today, it's Zscaler.

Stocks Mentioned:
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS)
SentinelOne (NYSE:S)
ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)
Alphabet / Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)


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