TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst, Obex Capital Research

Aaron Gabin

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research

Obex Capital Research

“Obex” is Latin for Barriers to Entry. Obex Capital Management’s investment philosophy is driven by an intense focus on which business model’s Barriers to Entry are able to withstand the ever increasing competitive disruption in the TMT and Consumer Sectors.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Crowdstrike printed another strong quarter, continues to beat and raise despite overblown competitive concerns.</li>
<li>Revenue growth (+64%), Margin expansion (+520bps) and FCF generation (32% FCF margins) shows best in class rule of 40 SaaS metric.</li>
<li>Humio continues to show great traction, achieved 6 month signup target in 6 weeks.</li>
</ul>


Crowdstrike printed another strong quarter, continues to beat and raise despite overblown competitive concerns.
Revenue growth (+64%), Margin expansion (+520bps) and FCF generation (32% FCF margins) shows best in class rule of 40 SaaS metric.
Humio continues to show great traction, achieved 6 month signup target in 6 weeks.


Crowdstrike FY3Q22: Platform, Not Endpoint

Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Capital Markets

Palo Alto Networks / Equity Capital Markets

<ul><li>Palo Alto Networks delivered an excellent quarterly result surpassing Wall Street expectations in terms of both, revenues as well as earnings.</li><li>The management is already seeing a strong traction in its Prisma offerings and went ahead and launched the Prisma SASE solution catering specifically to network security in the remote working environment.</li><li>We believe that the company has a strong potential upside and maintain our ‘Buy’ rating with a revised target price.</li></ul>

Palo Alto Networks delivered an excellent quarterly result surpassing Wall Street expectations in terms of both, revenues as well as earnings.The management is already seeing a strong traction in its Prisma offerings and went ahead and launched the Prisma SASE solution catering specifically to network security in the remote working environment.We believe that the company has a strong potential upside and maintain our ‘Buy’ rating with a revised target price.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. - Investment Thesis

<p>Our favorite quote from the conference call was Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz throwing shade at recent (wildly unprofitable) security rival IPO SentinelOne:</p><p>“I think if you buy into the marketing hype, that's one thing. But if you look under the covers, we have more automation by far than any other competitor, including SentinelOne. So on the pricing standpoint, we sell on value, and we routinely win with a higher price point because the product works. It doesn't blow up machines, it's scalable. <strong>There's a difference between a Fiero and Ferrari. And we happen to be the Ferrari model, and that's what a lot of customers want</strong>.”</p><p>Indeed, Crowdstrike is the Ferrari of security software...and probably all of software. We continue to stay long and would buy any pullbacks.</p><p></p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.</p></div>

Our favorite quote from the conference call was Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz throwing shade at recent (wildly unprofitable) security rival IPO SentinelOne:“I think if you buy into the marketing hype, that's one thing. But if you look under the covers, we have more automation by far than any other competitor, including SentinelOne. So on the pricing standpoint, we sell on value, and we routinely win with a higher price point because the product works. It doesn't blow up machines, it's scalable. There's a difference between a Fiero and Ferrari. And we happen to be the Ferrari model, and that's what a lot of customers want.”Indeed, Crowdstrike is the Ferrari of security software...and probably all of software. We continue to stay long and would buy any pullbacks.Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.

Crowdstrike FY2Q22: The Ferrari of Security Platforms

<p>Another incredibly impressive quarterly performance for Crowdstrike. It crushed consensus and raised guidance by well more than the beat. The recent Gartner Magic Quadrant on endpoint protection shows Crowdstrike head and shoulders above the legacy competition. The high profile cyber attack backdrop doesn't hurt either. The only issue is...the market has caught up to Crowdstrike, and its a bit of a consensus long now. We stay long but recognize further gains are harder because of this dynamic. </p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.  </p></div>

Another incredibly impressive quarterly performance for Crowdstrike. It crushed consensus and raised guidance by well more than the beat. The recent Gartner Magic Quadrant on endpoint protection shows Crowdstrike head and shoulders above the legacy competition. The high profile cyber attack backdrop doesn't hurt either. The only issue is...the market has caught up to Crowdstrike, and its a bit of a consensus long now. We stay long but recognize further gains are harder because of this dynamic. Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.  

<p>Kind of a mediocre underwhelming analyst presentation by one of our favorite software companies, but the larger long term picture remains intact: a huge pool of legacy incumbent endpoint providers that Crowdstrike will feast on for years to come.</p><p></p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity. </p></div>

Kind of a mediocre underwhelming analyst presentation by one of our favorite software companies, but the larger long term picture remains intact: a huge pool of legacy incumbent endpoint providers that Crowdstrike will feast on for years to come.Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity. 

Crowdstrike Analyst Day: Really, Just $3B in ARR?

United States

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides network security solutions. The Company offers firewalls that identify and control applications, scan content to stop threats, prevent data leakage, integrated application, user, and content visibility. Palo Alto Networks serves customers worldwide.

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Palo Alto Networks (PANW US)

Crowdstrike FY3Q22: Platform, Not Endpoint

Another strong beat and raise despite overblown competitive concerns. Revenue growth (+64%), Margin expansion (+520bps) and FCF generation (32% FCF...

Aaron Gabin

Palo Alto Networks Inc. - Investment Thesis

Palo Alto Networks delivered an excellent quarterly result surpassing Wall Street expectations in terms of both, revenues as well as earnings. The...

Baptista Research

Crowdstrike FY2Q22: The Ferrari of Security Platforms

Crowdstrike had another monster beat and raise quarter. It is the most deserving of any software company with an extreme valuation. Stay Long.

Aaron Gabin

Crowdstrike 1Q2022: The Best in the Biz

Incredibly strong quarter for Crowdstrike. The business is humming, clearly separating itself from its legacy peers. High profile ransomware...

Aaron Gabin

Crowdstrike Analyst Day: Really, Just $3B in ARR?

Crowdstrike Analyst Day was underwhelming with easily reached ARR and Operating Model Targets introduced. We like the stock anyway, especially with...

Aaron Gabin

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