March 5 (Reuters) - CrowdStrike Holdings ( CRWD )

forecast annual results above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday,

lifted by strong enterprise spending on cybersecurity to counter

rising online threats, sending its shares soaring in extended

trade.

Shares of CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) jumped 25%, lifting its stock market

value by about $18 billion, while other cybersecurity stocks

also rallied. SentinelOne ( S ) jumped 6.9%, while Palo Alto

Networks ( PANW ) and Fortinet ( FTNT ) each gained over 3%, and

Zscaler ( ZS ) rose over 2%.

The fast adoption of generative AI has opened new challenges

for enterprises and has led to investments in cybersecurity

services, such as the ones offered by CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), to secure

their business operations against external threats.

Analysts expect CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), which offers unified platforms

such as Falcon, to benefit from improved spending trends.

The company sees adjusted profit between $3.77 and $3.97 per

share for fiscal 2025, above analysts' expectations of $3.75,

according to LSEG data.

The Austin, Texas-based company expects annual revenue

between $3.92 billion and $3.99 billion, the midpoint of which

was above estimates of $3.94 billion.

It expects first-quarter revenue between $902.2 million and

$905.8 million, above analysts' estimates of $899.3 million.

Excluding items, it expects profit between 89 cents and 90

cents per share in the first quarter, which was also above

expectations.

The company said it agreed to acquire cloud data runtime

security solution, Flow Security, to expand its data protection

offerings for the cloud.

Crowdstrike's ( CRWD ) revenue for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31

rose 32.6% to $845.3 million, beating Street expectations of

$839.1 million.

"CrowdStrike's ( CRWD ) quarterly revenue signaled ongoing strong

and stable demand for offerings from the premium cybersecurity

vendor, which our experts continue to characterize as a leader

in the market," said Jordan Berger, an analyst at Third Bridge.