Quick Update: Apologies for the radio silence. The events of the past 7 days included being boarded by the Mexican Navy in the Socorro Islands, being escorted at top speed 200 miles across the Pacific to port and whisked back to the Bay Area before the borders closed…prior to that I had little internet access and spent several days 80 feet below the surface breathing Nitrox (31% Oxygen) while playing with dolphins and 25’ Giant Pacific Mantas…ahhh, so have been able to stay there and forget about this pesky pandemic that is plaguing us…(gosh that is an awful pun!). Alas, I am back…and very happy to be together with my family!! On the upside, CRWD held a completely insane (read: INCREDIBLE) call. They could not possibly have announced better earnings or been more positive and upbeat. They even implied on several fronts that CV (CoronaVirus) was providing a tailwind (my words, not theirs exactly) and increased their future guidance. That is saying quite a lot in this atmosphere. I took the opportunity to buy more shares and also to add some Leaps (long term call options). I am incredibly bullish at these prices on AYX, CRWD, OKTA and less so, DDOG. I love ZM, but am skittish at its recent price of $150 and sold my remaining shares. I could be wrong and it could continue to soar to $200 or more, but at a $40B market cap…its too pricey for me to hold any longer. That said, psychology and the Zoom bubble will likely prevail for a while at least. Kudos if you own it right now…I’m taking my 100% gain and redeploying into stocks like those above that I may not have an opportunity to get in at these levels again. Back to CRWD earnings call: Revenue up 90% quarter over quarter. Subscription revenue (the best revenue source) up 100%. Crushed expectations…but no surprise there. Due to the estimated 50-100% increase in phishing, malware and fraud, all companies functioning in the cloud now are looking to CRWD to provide a cloud based security platform. Cyberscams are on the rise (be very aware, my friends). They present themselves mostly on email, slack and even Zoom and often look like your bank, credit card company or brokerage account. NEVER click directly on an email to go to one of your accounts. Access the accounts from your bookmarks instead and call them directly from a number YOU have (not from the email) to check on any issues. Regardless, CRWD stands very well positioned to benefit from this current situation.
Be well, wash your hands & stay healthy. This too shall pass and out of crisis always comes incredible opportunities…you just have to look for them!! Cheers!
