Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (CRWD) were ticking lower in Thursday's premarket session. It's one of those days where the company is announcing something that sounds strategically smart—a new partnership to secure artificial intelligence systems—while the stock chart tells a different, more cautious story.

Here's the news: VAST Data, a data platform company, is teaming up with CrowdStrike. The goal is to stitch together VAST's data-layer governance with CrowdStrike's enterprise-grade threat detection. Think of it as building a security fence not just around the AI application itself, but around the entire lifecycle—from the moment data is ingested to when the AI model is deployed and running.

George Kurtz, CrowdStrike's CEO, framed the need pretty clearly. "AI is becoming the operating system of the modern enterprise," he said. That's a big statement. If AI is the new OS, then securing the data that feeds it becomes as fundamental as securing the kernel of an operating system. This partnership is aimed at companies moving from just experimenting with AI to actually putting it into production, where the risks from constant data flows and complex workflows get real.

What the Charts Are Saying

Now, let's talk about the stock, because the market's reaction seems muted. A quick technical look shows the stock is trading about 12.5% below its 20-day simple moving average and 20.3% below its 100-day average. That's generally read as a bearish signal for the short to medium term. Over the past year, shares have seen a significant decrease and are currently hanging out much closer to their 52-week lows than their highs.

The momentum indicators are giving mixed signals. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is sitting at 44.45, which is basically neutral—not oversold, not overbought. Meanwhile, the MACD is at 0.15, which is below its signal line (0.22), suggesting there's still some bearish pressure in the mix. So, you have neutral momentum from one angle and bearish from another. It reflects the uncertainty traders might be feeling about where the stock goes next.

• Key Resistance: $375.00
• Key Support: $298.00

Earnings and the Analyst Take

All of this is happening as the countdown ticks toward the company's next earnings report, scheduled for March 3, 2026. The expectations are a bit of a mixed bag themselves. The consensus estimate for earnings per share (EPS) is 74 cents, which is down from $1.03 last quarter. On the revenue side, the estimate is $1.30 billion, up from $1.06 billion. So, the story might be one of growing sales but potentially shrinking profitability, at least for this quarter.

The overall analyst consensus hasn't budged from a Buy rating, with an average price target sitting at a lofty $549.00. However, if you look under the hood, several analysts have been quietly adjusting their targets downward in recent days, even while keeping their positive ratings intact.

• Evercore ISI Group: Maintained an In-Line rating but lowered its target to $375.00 (Feb. 25).
• TD Cowen: Maintained a Buy rating but lowered its target to $480.00 (Feb. 24).
• Oppenheimer: Maintained an Outperform rating but lowered its target to $500.00 (Feb. 24).

It's a classic Wall Street move: "We still like the company long-term, but maybe not as much right this second." The recent price action shows the stock was down 0.79% at $360.45 in premarket trading Thursday.

So, you have a company making a forward-looking move to secure the next big thing (AI), while its stock deals with the present-day realities of technical weakness and analysts tempering their near-term enthusiasm. It's a reminder that in the market, a good strategic partnership doesn't always translate to an immediate uptick on the chart.