CrowdStrike vs. SentinelOne: Which Cybersecurity Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
2026-10-23 11:23
•Sara Appino •The Motley Fool
••••• •••• Axe Cap view
CrowdStrike Outshines SentinelOne as Cybersecurity Heats Up
CrowdStrike’s profitable growth and AI integration make it a stronger pick than SentinelOne’s high-burn approach.
Cybersecurity is a growth area global investors eye with increasing cyber risks and AI-powered threats. CrowdStrike stands out with its Falcon platform, showing solid revenue growth and turning a lean profit—a rare feat in this space. Its strong balance sheet and strategic AI partnerships are good reasons to back its staying power. SentinelOne dazzles with potential, especially its AI-native Singularity platform, but it’s still burning cash and far from profitability. South African investors should watch how these global trends translate locally. For example, the rand (USD/ZAR) often reacts to shifts in tech risk appetite, influencing offshore tech-cap-heavy shares like Naspers and Prosus. If CrowdStrike stumbles—which could happen if new security breaches or execution missteps occur—SentinelOne's cheaper valuation might look more attractive. But for now, the safer, profitable path with CRWD has clearer upside. this is just our opinion and not financial advice
Buy CrowdStrike (CRWD) for long-term exposure to cloud-native cybersecurity, especially if you own local tech proxies like Naspers. Avoid SentinelOne (S) given its heavy losses and uncertain path to profits.
- CRWD
- USD/ZAR
- Cybersecurity breaches impacting CrowdStrike’s reputation and sales
- SentinelOne eventually turning profitable and gaining market share faster than expected
7/10
The article compares two leading cybersecurity companies: CrowdStrike, which dominates with its unified Falcon platform, cloud-native architecture, and profitability, versus SentinelOne, which offers AI-powered Singularity platform with high-speed automated response but remains unprofitable. CrowdStrike is recommended as the stronger long-term investment due to its scale, profitability, accelerating growth, and deep integration into enterprise AI infrastructure, despite facing reputational risks from a 2024 incident. SentinelOne shows promising momentum and improving economics but is still in heavy investment phase with significant losses.
Our take is based on reporting first published by The Motley Fool.