Daily newsletter · Sat 24 Oct 2026
CrowdStrike rose 8.25% after a survey found companies spending more on security
CrowdStrike closed Friday at US$257.57, up 8.25%. Palo Alto Networks and SailPoint both rose more than 5%.
So what did the survey say? Every quarter, the broker Evercore ISI asks the firms that resell security software how business is going. This time they reported budgets firming into the end of the year, with healthy pipelines and no sign of demand dropping off.
The money is going to identity protection, data and AI security, and cloud systems. Evercore named CrowdStrike and Palo Alto as the leading beneficiaries of AI-driven security spending.
A fresh scare helped. On 21 October, two serious flaws were disclosed in PHP, a programming language used by roughly 70% of websites. The flaws, nicknamed PHP2Shell, could let an attacker run their own code on a vulnerable server.
Evercore flagged the flaws as a reason for companies to spend more. Research from VulnCheck finds that AI has helped double the number of software vulnerabilities discovered in 2026.
AI is helping attackers find holes faster, and companies are paying for AI to close them. A reseller survey is a forecast of that spending. The proof comes when CrowdStrike reports its own quarter, and the number to watch then is how fast new business is growing.
General information and commentary only, not financial advice. It does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs, and reflects the author's own reading of public information at the time of writing, which may be wrong. Sharespective, its people and its clients may hold positions in the companies covered. Do your own research and talk to a licensed adviser.