CrowdStrike should sail higher, even as the limited release of Anthropic’s Mythos tests some investors’ faith in the software name, according to KeyBanc. The bank upgraded CrowdStrike to overweight from sector weight. It also set a price target of $525 for shares, implying 21.2% upside from Monday’s close. Earlier this month, Anthropic released an artificial intelligence model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities called Claude Mythos Preview to a limited group of technology companies, including Google and Apple. That rollout has spooked investors who are concerned that Mythos could disrupt CrowdStrike and other security providers. Cybersecurity stocks initially fell on a Fortune report about Mythos’ development published in late March, although the iShares Cybersecurity ETF is still up more than 6% over the past month. However, CrowdStrike is likely to not only survive, but thrive in a post-Mythos security landscape due to a spending increase spurred by concerns tied to the AI model’s unveiling, according to KeyBanc. “We see Mythos as a catalyst for accelerating security budgets, the breadth and depth of the Falcon platform well positioned to capitalize on near-term hygiene priorities and long-term runtime defense requirements, strong defensibility to AI- disruption risk, and an incremental competitive advantage from its Glasswing inclusion,” analyst Eric Heath said in a note to clients. “Fear of Mythos should catalyze cyber spend,” Heath wrote. “CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is well aligned with many of the areas of spending we expect to be prioritized in anticipation of Mythos risk.” The analyst added that CrowdStrike has offerings that are likely to outperform those of AI models on runtime, breadth and execution, among other variables. “While Anthropic and OpenAI’s ambitions in cybersecurity present a credible risk, we believe CrowdStrike will retain a competitive advantage given its narrow focus on cybersecurity, runtime security position, platform breadth, and strong execution,” he said. KeyBanc’s call aligns with consensus on Wall Street. Of the 56 analysts covering CrowdStrike, 42 have buy or strong buy rating on the stock, LSEG data shows. The upgrade comes a few weeks after Wolfe Research also bumped up its rating for CrowdStrike. Shares have fallen nearly 8% since the beginning of the year, underperforming the overall market
