Never mind the AI fears. This beat-up cybersecurity play is a 'screamer,' Josh Brown says
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Artificial intelligence disruption worries have put a dent into CrowdStrike shares, but Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, remains bullish on the stock. CrowdStrike tanked nearly 16% in February. The company suffered alongside a cohort of cybersecurity stocks after Anthropic unveiled a security tool for its Claude model, sparking concerns that AI could upend the sector's business model. "[I] think this idea that Anthropic launched a bug detector, therefore Fortune 500 companies and businesses and governments around the world are going to rip out their cybersecurity is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And I've been on Wall Street 28 years," Brown said on CNBC's " Halftime Report " Tuesday afternoon. He added that he's bullish on CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz as well as its AI-powered Falcon cybersecurity platform. Shares of CrowdStrike traded at around $393 on Tuesday afternoon, up nearly 2% ahead of quarterly earnings due after the bell. "I think this thing under $400 is a screamer," Brown said. CRWD YTD mountain CRWD YTD chart During the same segment Malcolm Ethridge, managing partner at Capital Area Planning Group, also said that he would buy the name if shares dip after CrowdStrike's earnings report. "I think there's still an opportunity here, especially if CrowdStrike follows the mold of the rest of companies that have reported earnings and immediately sold off after," he said. Ethridge added that the shift toward agentic artificial intelligence could provide a tailwind for the cybersecurity sector: As more responsibility is offloaded to AI, cybersecurity companies will need to provide more oversight. "That says to me that the category leader in cybersecurity right now, at least cloud-based cybersecurity, is going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the increased spending that has to come to this category," he said. "That's a place I want to be long for a while."