CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (CRWD): Among the Best Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term

We recently compiled a list of the 12 Best Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term. In this article, we are going to take a look at where CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) stands against the other growth stocks.

What’s the Bull Case for US Equities?

The market closed last week mostly lower, however, the S&P 500 has been up more than 7% since April 11, indicating a returning positive sentiment. On May 10, David Lefkowitz, Equity Strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management, joined CNBC to discuss his bull case for the US equities. Lefkowitz acknowledged the volatility that has been around since the tariff announcement; however, he believes that backdrop remains fairly constructive. He elaborated that the market has had some significant buy signals since early April, characterised by the volatility index giving one of the highest readings, investor sentiment being cautious, and investor positioning has been depressed. Historically speaking, whenever these things have happened in the past, the US equities have performed exceptionally well in the preceding 6 to 12 months. Lefkowitz noted that he is not too concerned with the day-to-day news and volatility, as the market will get choppy on trade negotiation deals. Rather, he is more focused on the bigger picture, which indicates that stocks will ultimately end up higher over the next 12 months.

While answering a question regarding the recent rebound in the market, Lefkowitz highlighted that when the volatility index comes down, as it has over the past few weeks, history tells us that the market does not make new lows. Although the market will still be chopping a little. However, it is anticipated to stay within the historic average of 5%. Moreover, the equity strategist is also not concerned about the valuations and believes that as soon as the companies start posting earnings growth, the backdrop will help the market reach its next high.

While talking about his most convicted sectors, Lefkowitz noted that he likes secular growth stocks. He elaborated that growth as a sector was hit earlier this year due to doubts regarding AI trends and its ability to generate a return on investment. This has resulted in the sector being at the bottom of the market. However, Lefkowitz believes that the demand for AI products and the sophisticated infrastructure will keep growing for at least the next few years, thereby generating sustainable earnings growth.

Our Methodology

To compile the list of 12 best growth stocks to buy and hold for the long term, we used the Finviz stock screener, Seeking Alpha, and Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 hedge fund database. Using the screener, we aggregated a list of growth stocks that have grown their sales by at least 30% over the past 5 years. Next, we cross-checked the 5-year sales growth for each stock from Seeking Alpha and ranked the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge fund investors.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)

5-Year Sales Growth: 52.37%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 77

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is an international cybersecurity company that provides a range of services through its cloud-native Falcon platform. The company specializes in protecting end-points, identities, cloud-workloads, and data. The company operates on a software-as-a-service subscription model with over 29 cloud modules, serving diverse markets.

On May 7, Analyst Shaul Eyal from TD Cowen maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $450. The analyst noted that management is strategically reducing staff by 5% while also investing in critical growth areas. This restructuring is expected to enhance operational effectiveness and better align resources with growth opportunities.

Financially speaking, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) grew its annual recurring revenue by 23% year-over-year to reach $4.24 billion as of January 31, 2025. This is significant as the growth places the company on track toward its long-term goal of $10 billion ARR by fiscal 2031. Moreover, the revenue of the company also grew 29% year-over-year to reach $3.95 billion, driven by an increase in subscription revenue. Notably, the company achieved a 97% gross retention rate, advocating for the long-term prospects of the company. It is one of the best growth stocks to buy and hold for the long term.

Aristotle Atlantic Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) provides cybersecurity products and services that offer endpoint protection and threat intelligence solutions, enabling customers to prevent damage from targeted attacks, detect advanced malware and search all endpoints. The company’s open cloud architecture enables it and third-party partners to rapidly innovate, build and deploy new cloud modules that can provide customers with enhanced functionality across a myriad of use cases.

We see the cloud cybersecurity market as positioned to experience strong growth over the next few years, driven by continued migration from on-premises to cloud-based architecture. We believe CrowdStrike can benefit from this trend due to its early-mover advantage, multiple product offerings and native integrations with leading cloud platforms. The increasing threats from state-sanctioned cybercriminals using high-performance computing and AI necessitate higher spending on advanced cybersecurity products. The total addressable market (TAM) is projected to grow significantly over the next four calendar years. Additionally, CrowdStrike’s cloud-native architecture and unified platform approach provide competitive advantages, resulting in high customer retention and widespread adoption of multiple modules.”

Overall CRWD ranks 5th on our list of the best growth stocks to buy and hold for the long term. While we acknowledge the potential of CRWD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRWD but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.