AI ignites the growth momentum of network security. Wedbush bets on CrowdStrike (CRWD.US) to reach record high stock price in 2026.

The well-known investment firm Wedbush on Wall Street released a research report stating that CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD.US), a key participant in the field of cybersecurity, will be one of the best investment options for the theme of "betting on the intersection of cybersecurity and AI" in 2026. The firm maintains an "outperform" rating on the stock of this cybersecurity service provider and a target price of up to $600, indicating a potential 25% upside and surpassing the historical high of $566 set in November this year. CrowdStrike - regarded as a cybersecurity giant benefiting from the global AI wave. As the world enters the AI era, the current cybersecurity market continues to show strong growth momentum, with global enterprises, especially leading US technology companies, steadily increasing their investments in the cybersecurity field driven by multiple factors. The logic behind this mainly lies in the expansion of the global "attack surface" due to cloud computing and generative AI technology, the increasing complexity of network threat methods (including hackers using advanced AI models), and the increasingly stringent regulatory compliance requirements surrounding AI and data security. CrowdStrike has fully integrated groundbreaking generative AI technology into its cybersecurity platform services, especially through the introduction of an AI security analyst named "Charlotte." This feature is designed to empower every user of the CrowdStrike Falcon platform to quickly create workflows based on generative AI assistance. By asking questions and interacting with Charlotte, the virtual AI analyst, users can quickly and easily mobilize various core modules in a low-threshold AI chatbot Siasun Robot&Automation manner to instantly grasp real-time network security vulnerabilities, threat factors, and other security issues, significantly enhancing the platform's effectiveness and user experience. "CrowdStrike remains one of our favorite tech stocks, and we see trading momentum spreading from AI chips to other targets, with AI being a clear tailwind factor for this positioned technology leader. We believe that CrowdStrike is gaining market share and mindshare among new and existing customers, and the company's product suite will continue to expand over the next 12 to 18 months, covering a broader range of enterprise operating territories." said Dan Ives and his team of Wedbush analysts. Analysts pointed out that the company's continued platform adoption model is driving strong performance, with momentum being quite healthy in cybersecurity cloud, identity verification, and logscale; meanwhile, the expansion trends of data protection and Charlotte AI are better than market expectations. Charlotte AI showed strong funding intensity in the most recent quarter's deal flow, and Wedbush analysts believe that based on recent channel checks, enterprise deals have accelerated in the January quarter to date. Analysts also added that as enterprises continue to prioritize using AI to improve operational efficiency and enter a key year for AI monetization, they see more modules being added in CrowdStrike's core vertical areas, demonstrating the evolutionary trend of the company's AI-based platform growth is still at a very early stage. "Since early 2025, the revenue associated with 'AI + cybersecurity products' significantly exceeded the same period last year, and we expect to see an accelerating trend; this will strengthen all signs pointing to higher returns from AI technology-based cybersecurity spending, and with the strong and high-stickiness of the Falcon platform, CrowdStrike is in a favorable position to continue to seize the trend of AI + cybersecurity." Ives and his team stated. The analysts further noted that as the threat landscape continues to rise, such as the increased use of AI to enhance the complexity of malware attacks, CrowdStrike has taken critical strategic measures to integrate AI into its entire product portfolio to meet the strong demand for advanced and continuously updated cybersecurity solutions, thus protecting IT and AI infrastructure platforms covering the entire tech stack of enterprises. Ives and his team pointed out that CrowdStrike remains the gold standard in the cybersecurity field, and the company's multi-year growth story is still in its early stages; the net addition of Net New Annual Recurring Revenue (NNARR) is expected to accelerate again in 2026. "At this point, we believe Wall Street underestimates CrowdStrike's growth potential as the second/third derivative beneficiary of the AI revolution, which also explains the core reason why we remain strongly bullish on the stock from its current level. In the most bullish scenario, as the company executes its core growth strategy, we could potentially see CrowdStrike's stock price reaching $700 in the next year. We also still believe that the subsector of cybersecurity within the Nasdaq 100 index may significantly outperform the average trend in the broader tech sector." Ives and his team concluded.