CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)

Current Income Tax Expense

The current income tax expense shows a generally increasing trend over the six-year period. Starting from $2,678 thousand in January 2020, it rises significantly to $86,311 thousand by January 2022, indicating a substantial increase in taxable income or changes in tax rates during that period. However, there is a notable decline to $21,096 thousand in January 2023, followed by a gradual increase again in the subsequent two years, reaching $81,033 thousand by January 2025. This fluctuation suggests variable tax obligations possibly influenced by changes in operating income, tax planning strategies, or reinvestment decisions.

Deferred Income Tax Expense

The deferred income tax expense exhibits more volatility and fluctuates between negative and positive values. It begins with negative amounts of -$681 thousand and -$1,452 thousand in 2020 and 2021, respectively, which could indicate deferred tax benefits or timing differences in recognizing expenses versus revenues. Towards January 2022, the deferred tax expense sharply declines further to -$13,956 thousand, signifying increasing deferred tax assets or reductions in deferred liabilities. In January 2023, however, it swings to a positive $1,306 thousand, representing a deferred tax charge. The deferred tax expense then reverts to negative figures in 2024 and 2025 (-$3,387 thousand and -$9,903 thousand respectively), reflecting dynamic changes in temporary differences or adjustments in tax positions.

Provision for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes, which combines current and deferred components, follows a pattern that reflects the movements observed in both components. Starting at $1,997 thousand in January 2020, it escalates sharply to a peak of $72,355 thousand in January 2022. This increase corresponds with the high current tax expense in the same period despite the negative deferred tax impact. Following this peak, the provision drops to $22,402 thousand in January 2023, aligning with the decrease in current tax expense and the reversal of deferred tax to a charge. In the later years, the provision rises again, reaching $71,130 thousand by January 2025, consistent with the upward trend in current tax expense and the negative deferred tax expense that year. This overall pattern indicates that income tax obligations have become markedly more substantial over time, with deferred taxes contributing to notable fluctuations in the total tax provision.

Summary

The analysis reveals that while current income taxes have generally increased with some fluctuation, deferred income taxes have been more volatile, alternating between deferred tax assets and liabilities. The provision for income taxes reflects these dynamics and indicates growing tax expenses over the years, affected by both operational factors and tax accounting differences. These observations point to a complex tax position that requires ongoing management of both current obligations and deferred tax items.

Federal Statutory Tax Rate

The federal statutory tax rate remained stable at 21% across all reported periods from 2020 to 2025, indicating no changes in the statutory tax framework impacting the company during these years.

Effective Tax Rate

The effective tax rate displayed significant volatility over the analyzed period. Starting at a negative rate of -1.43% in 2020, it became more negative, reaching -5.42% in 2021 and sharply declining to -45.22% in 2022. In 2023, the rate improved but remained negative at -14.01%. A marked reversal occurred in 2024, with the effective tax rate turning positive to 26.24%, surpassing the statutory rate, and surged dramatically to 130.43% in 2025. This extreme fluctuation suggests significant variability in tax expenses relative to pre-tax income, potentially influenced by factors such as tax credits, adjustments, one-time charges, or differences between accounting and tax regulations. The high effective rate in 2025 notably exceeds the statutory rate, possibly indicating substantial non-deductible expenses or other tax impacts affecting profitability.

The financial data reflects several notable trends over the five-year period from January 2020 to January 2025. There is a clear increase in deferred tax assets, propelled primarily by growth in net operating loss carryforwards and research and other credit carryforwards. These carryforwards have shown consistent and substantial increases, suggesting an increasing ability to offset future taxable income.

Intangible assets experienced significant growth between 2020 and 2025, with a notable jump from essentially no value in 2020 to a considerable amount by 2025. This increase implies substantial investments or acquisitions that contribute intangible value to the company’s balance sheet. Conversely, some data entries for intangible assets show negative values in later years, which may indicate amortization or write-downs reducing their net book value.

Stock-based compensation has generally risen over the period, with a peak around 2023 followed by fluctuations but ending higher than the initial 2020 figure. This pattern suggests ongoing use of stock incentives potentially to attract or retain talent, albeit with some variability in expense levels year-over-year.

Deferred revenue expanded dramatically, particularly from 2022 onward, implying increased prepayments from customers or advanced receipts for services. This growth points to expanding sales activity but also an obligation to deliver services in the future. Similarly, accrued expenses and operating lease liabilities show upward trends, reflecting increased operational commitments and lease obligations.

Capitalized research and development has risen robustly, indicating a strong emphasis on investing in future product development and innovation. This capitalized expense more than doubled from 2021 to 2025, an indicator of intensified R&D activities.

Gross deferred assets have expanded significantly, nearly doubling over the reported period, which aligns with the rising deferred tax asset components seen elsewhere in the data. However, the valuation allowance has grown substantially as well, indicating increased uncertainty in the realizability of these deferred tax assets. The allowance nearly doubled from 2020 to 2025, which may reflect management’s cautious stance concerning future taxable profits.

Property and equipment net values have continually declined, possibly due to depreciation exceeding new capital expenditures or asset disposals. The capitalized commissions line followed a similar declining trend, with substantial negative values accruing each year, likely representing amortization of commissions over multiple periods.

Operating right-of-use assets have also decreased in net value over the period, consistent with amortization or reduction in lease assets. Deferred tax liabilities have increased considerably, reflecting growth in taxable temporary differences, though net deferred tax assets remain positive and are increasing, suggesting a net overall tax benefit position.

Summary of Key Trends:

Substantial growth in deferred tax assets driven by loss and credit carryforwards.

Marked increase in intangible assets and capitalized research and development, highlighting investment in intellectual property and innovation.

Rising deferred revenue and accrued expenses, indicating growing operational scale and prepayment patterns.

Increasing valuation allowances alongside deferred tax assets, reflecting caution about asset recoverability.

Declining net values for property and equipment, capitalized commissions, and right-of-use assets, consistent with asset amortization and depreciation.

Overall positive net deferred tax asset position improving over time, but with heightened associated allowances.

The analyzed financial data reveals several noteworthy trends in total assets, stockholders' equity, and net income over the six-year period.

Total Assets

Both reported and adjusted total assets have shown consistent and substantial growth from January 31, 2020, through January 31, 2025. The reported total assets increased from approximately $1.4 billion in 2020 to about $8.7 billion in 2025, indicating a more than sixfold increase over the period. Adjusted total assets exhibit a very similar trend, with negligible differences compared to reported values, suggesting minimal impact of deferred income tax adjustments on asset values.

Stockholders’ Equity

Reported stockholders’ equity also grew steadily, from roughly $742 million in 2020 to approximately $3.28 billion in 2025, representing a more than fourfold increase. The adjusted equity figures track closely with the reported equity, with only minor variations, indicating that adjustments for deferred income taxes have a marginal effect on equity valuation. This growth in equity signals strengthening shareholder value and improved capital base over the term.

Net Income (Loss) Attributable to CrowdStrike

Net income trends show more volatility. Both reported and adjusted net income were negative in 2020 through 2023, with losses peaking in 2022 (around -$234.8 million reported and -$248.8 million adjusted). However, a positive turnaround is observed in 2024, where reported net income becomes positive at about $89.3 million (adjusted $85.9 million). Despite this recovery, the year 2025 sees a return to a net loss, though significantly smaller in magnitude than previous losses, at approximately -$19.3 million reported and -$29.2 million adjusted.

Impact of Deferred Income Tax Adjustments

The differences between reported and adjusted values are minimal across all items, indicating that deferred income taxes have a limited impact on the presentation of total assets, equity, and net income in this context. The adjustments slightly increase the net loss figures in most years, suggesting deferred tax liabilities or reduced tax assets may be influencing the net income adjustments.

Overall, the data reflect a period of strong asset and equity growth for the company, alongside improving profitability trends culminating in a brief period of positive net income. The subsequent return to net loss in the final year analyzed is of note, albeit at a substantially reduced level compared to prior losses. The deferred tax adjustments do not materially alter the financial position or performance trends.

Net Profit Margin Trends

Both reported and adjusted net profit margins display significant volatility over the analyzed periods. Initially, margins are substantially negative at around -29%, indicating high losses relative to revenue. This negative margin narrows notably in the year ending January 31, 2021, to near -10%, suggesting an improvement in profitability. However, margins worsen again in January 31, 2022, reaching approximately -17%, before improving markedly in 2023 and turning positive by 2024 with values near +3%. The latest data for 2025 shows a slight decline back into negative territory, though remaining close to zero. Adjusted margins closely follow the reported margins across all periods, indicating consistent treatment of income tax effects in profitability measurement.

Total Asset Turnover Trends

The reported and adjusted total asset turnover ratios exhibit a steady upward trend over the period. Starting from a level of 0.34 in early 2020, turnover slightly decreases in 2021 to 0.32, then rises consistently through subsequent years to peak at approximately 0.46 by January 2024. The figure remains stable into 2025. This pattern indicates enhancing efficiency in generating revenue from asset investments over time. The close alignment of reported and adjusted figures implies little impact from tax adjustments on asset turnover calculations.

Financial Leverage Trends

Financial leverage ratios, both reported and adjusted, show a rising trajectory from 1.89 in January 2020 to a peak exceeding 3.5 by January 2022. This suggests an increased reliance on debt or other liabilities to finance assets during this period. Subsequently, leverage decreases steadily to approximately 2.65 by January 2025, reflecting a reduction in financial risk or a deleveraging process. The marginal difference between reported and adjusted leverage values indicates tax-related adjustments do not significantly alter leverage assessment.

Return on Equity (ROE) Trends

The ROE follows a pattern similar to net profit margins, with persistent negative returns in the early years, reflecting losses relative to shareholder equity. Values start near -19% in 2020, improve to about -10% in 2021, then deteriorate sharply to around -23% in 2022. A recovery phase ensues, culminating in a positive ROE close to 4% in 2024, before falling back to slightly negative in 2025. Adjusted ROE figures consistently track reported ROE but tend to be marginally lower, indicating the smoothing effect of deferred income tax adjustments on equity returns.

Return on Assets (ROA) Trends

ROA mirrors the trajectory of ROE but with generally lower absolute values. ROA begins significantly negative, near -10% in 2020, narrows to less negative values in 2021, deteriorates again in 2022, then follows a recovery trend peaking at approximately 1.3% in 2024. Slight regression occurs in 2025, but ROA remains close to breakeven. Adjusted ROA values are consistently marginally below reported figures, reflecting the influence of tax adjustments on asset profitability measurement.

Overall Observations

The data reveals a company undergoing substantial fluctuations in profitability and financial structure over the analyzed period. The early years are marked by significant losses and increasing leverage, reflecting either aggressive growth investments or operational challenges. Improved asset turnover suggests enhanced operational efficiency. The partial recovery in profitability and returns by 2024 indicates potential stabilization or effectiveness of strategic initiatives. However, the regression in the latest period signals ongoing uncertainty or emerging headwinds. Adjustments for deferred income taxes moderately affect profitability and return ratios but do not materially alter observed trends.

The financial data reveals significant fluctuations in both reported and adjusted net income (loss) attributable to the company over the six-year period. Initially, during the years ending January 31, 2020, through January 31, 2023, the company experienced substantial net losses. These losses, expressed in thousands of US dollars, showed a worsening trend from -$141,779 in 2020 to a peak loss of -$248,758 in 2022 (adjusted net income), before slightly improving to -$181,939 in 2023.

A noticeable shift occurs in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2024, where both reported and adjusted net income display a positive turnaround, reaching approximately $89,327 and $85,940 thousand respectively. This marked improvement contrasts with previous losses and signifies a noteworthy change in profitability. However, this positive outcome is short-lived, as the figures decline again in 2025 to reported and adjusted net losses of approximately -$19,271 and -$29,174 thousand, respectively, indicating renewed challenges in sustaining profitability.

Examining net profit margins, a similar pattern emerges. The reported net profit margin, which was deeply negative at -29.45% in 2020, improves gradually to -8.18% in 2023. A positive margin of 2.92% is then realized in 2024, aligning with the temporarily profitable net income figures. This margin decrease to a slight negative of -0.49% in 2025 mirrors the return to net losses. The adjusted net profit margins follow an analogous trajectory, with slightly lower values but consistent directional movement.

Overall, the trend suggests periods of substantial net losses and negative profitability margins predominantly characterizing the early years, followed by a brief episode of profitability in 2024, and a subsequent reversion to losses in 2025. The data indicates volatility in earnings performance and challenges in establishing a stable and sustained positive net income and margin. This volatility may reflect underlying operational or market factors impacting financial outcomes during the period analyzed.

The reviewed financial data reveals several notable trends in the asset base and efficiency measures over the six-year period ending January 31, 2025.

Total Assets

The reported total assets exhibit a strong upward trend, increasing substantially from approximately 1.4 billion US dollars in early 2020 to nearly 8.7 billion US dollars by early 2025. This growth trajectory reflects a nearly six-fold increase over the period. Adjusted total assets closely mirror reported totals, with slight downward adjustments across all periods but following the same growth pattern. The increase in assets suggests significant expansion or investments undertaken by the company.

Total Asset Turnover

The total asset turnover ratio displays relatively stable dynamics with mild fluctuations. From 0.34 times in 2020, the ratio experienced a slight decline to 0.32 in 2021, followed by a recovery and gradual increase to 0.46 by 2024 and 0.45-0.46 in 2025. Both reported and adjusted ratios show almost identical values. This pattern indicates an improvement in how efficiently the company generates revenues from its asset base after a temporary dip in 2021. However, the overall turnover remains below 0.5, suggesting moderate asset utilization efficiency in the context of its industry.

In summary, the company has grown its asset base substantially over the period under review, while maintaining or slightly improving the efficiency with which it uses its assets to generate sales. The close alignment between reported and adjusted figures suggests that deferred tax adjustments have minimal impact on the asset values and related turnover metrics.

Total assets

The reported total assets of the company have demonstrated a consistent and substantial increase over the period from January 31, 2020, through January 31, 2025. Beginning at approximately 1.40 billion US dollars, assets nearly doubled by January 31, 2021, reaching approximately 2.73 billion, and continued an upward trajectory to about 8.7 billion by January 31, 2025. Adjusted total assets closely mirror this trend with minimal differences, confirming the robustness of asset growth.

Stockholders’ equity

The reported stockholders’ equity has shown a steady and significant increase throughout the same period. Starting from roughly 742 million US dollars in January 2020, it advanced to over 3.2 billion by January 2025. There is a marked acceleration in equity growth between January 31, 2023, and January 31, 2025. Adjusted equity values are slightly lower but remain aligned with the reported figures, emphasizing consistent equity expansion.

Financial leverage

Financial leverage, expressed as a ratio, experienced an initial increase from 1.89 in January 2020 to a peak of approximately 3.53-3.54 in January 2022. Subsequently, it showed a gradual decline to about 2.65-2.66 by January 2025. This pattern indicates that the company increased its reliance on debt relative to equity during the early years but has been reducing leverage in the most recent years. The adjusted financial leverage closely tracks the reported figures, signifying consistent leverage measurement post-adjustment.

General observations

The overall financial data reflect strong growth in both assets and equity, indicative of successful business expansion and capital accumulation. The initial rise and subsequent moderation in financial leverage suggest a strategic balance between debt and equity financing over time. The close alignment between reported and adjusted figures signals stability in accounting practices related to income tax adjustments, ensuring transparent financial reporting.

Net Income (Loss) Trends

Both reported and adjusted net income (loss) exhibit significant volatility over the periods analyzed. Initially, the company experienced substantial losses, with reported net loss declining from -141,779 thousand US dollars in 2020 to a larger loss of -234,802 thousand US dollars by 2022. A partial recovery is visible in 2024 where reported net income turns positive at 89,327 thousand US dollars, before slipping back into a loss of -19,271 thousand US dollars in 2025. The adjusted net income closely follows the reported figures, showing slightly more pronounced fluctuations, especially with a deeper loss of -248,758 thousand US dollars in 2022 and a positive rebound in 2024, followed again by a negative value in 2025.

Stockholders’ Equity Analysis

Reported total stockholders’ equity has demonstrated a steady and robust growth trend from 742,107 thousand US dollars in 2020 to 3,279,494 thousand US dollars in 2025. The adjusted figures reflect a similar increasing trajectory, albeit marginally lower, indicating that adjustments have a minor dilutive impact on equity. This continuous increase suggests accumulating retained earnings or capital inflows, enhancing the company's equity base despite the periods of net losses.

Return on Equity (ROE) Patterns

The reported ROE remains consistently negative for the majority of the timeframe, indicating that the company has been generating losses relative to shareholders' equity. ROE declines from -19.1% in 2020, reaches its lowest at -22.89% in 2022, then improves markedly to a positive 3.88% in 2024, before retreating slightly to -0.59% in 2025. The adjusted ROE mirrors this trend, showing slightly more negative values, with the lowest point at -24.36% in 2022. The short-term improvement into positive territory in 2024 suggests a period of improved profitability or operational performance, but the return to negative in 2025 indicates volatility and ongoing challenges in generating consistent shareholder returns.

Overall Insights

The data depicts a company navigating through phases of heavy losses followed by a brief recovery in profitability. Despite these challenges, the company has managed to strengthen its equity position significantly, which may provide a solid financial base for future growth. However, the inconsistent and mostly negative ROE signals that these equity gains are not yet translating into sustainable returns. The alignment between reported and adjusted figures suggests that deferred income tax adjustments moderately influence reported results but do not alter the general financial performance narrative.

Net Income Trends

The reported net income attributable to the company exhibits significant volatility and predominantly negative values from January 31, 2020, through January 31, 2023, indicating sustained periods of net losses. The largest reported loss occurred on January 31, 2022, at approximately -234.8 million USD. However, as of January 31, 2024, there is a notable positive turnaround, with reported net income reaching approximately 89.3 million USD, marking a temporary profitability before declining again to a loss of about -19.3 million USD on January 31, 2025.

The adjusted net income data mirrors the reported figures closely, with the adjustment primarily reflecting higher losses in most years. There is a consistent trend of negative adjusted income from 2020 to 2023, a positive spike in 2024, followed by a reduction to a loss position in 2025, reinforcing the volatility in profitability during this period.

Total Assets Evolution

Both reported and adjusted total assets demonstrate a strong upward trajectory over the six-year period. Reported total assets almost double from approximately 1.4 billion USD at the start of 2020 to nearly 8.7 billion USD by January 31, 2025, indicating substantial growth in the company’s asset base. Adjusted total assets closely follow this pattern, confirming the underlying expansion in resources controlled by the company.

Return on Assets (ROA) Analysis

ROA figures, both reported and adjusted, indicate persistent negative returns on assets from 2020 through the early years of 2024, highlighting consistent challenges in generating profits from the company’s asset base. The magnitude of negative ROA peaked around 2022, aligning with the largest net losses during the period.

A notable shift occurs in 2024, with ROA turning positive (reported ROA at 1.34% and adjusted ROA at 1.29%), corresponding with the positive net income recorded. Despite this, the ROA reverts to negative territory in 2025, though at a much lower absolute value, suggesting marginal losses relative to asset size.

Overall Observations

The data displays a pattern of rapid asset growth accompanied by fluctuating profitability, marked by predominantly negative earnings impacted by operational or structural factors that outweigh asset expansion benefits in most years. The brief positive net income and ROA in 2024 may indicate an operational improvement or one-off effects, but the subsequent reversion to losses in 2025 suggests ongoing challenges in achieving sustained profitability.

The close alignment between reported and adjusted figures indicates that adjustments for deferred taxes or other non-operational tax effects do not materially alter the overall financial trends observed during this period.