Wedbush: The global chip shortage has had a "significant impact" on CrowdStrike (CRWD.US) and peers are likely to benefit

Wedbush Securities said the global network outage caused widespread computer crashes and flight disruptions, and was a "blow" to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD.US).

The firm added that it could potentially give its rivals an opportunity to take advantage.

The stock price of CrowdStrike fell 10% in pre-market trading on Friday after the company said it was deploying fixes.

Avis, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note to investors: "This is clearly a major blow to CrowdStrike, as its stock will face pressure after the global outage at Microsoft resulted in widespread disruption globally." "This is an upgrade, not more worrying hacker/cybersecurity threats. CrowdStrike has strong brand and global marketing influence and needs to move to the next stage in the next few weeks and months to mitigate the damage."

Avis added that while the issues needed to be resolved over time, it did not change the firm's positive outlook on CrowdStrike or the broader cybersecurity industry.

Rivals may benefit

Avis said that while CrowdStrike's problems affected global companies and customers, it could potentially create an opportunity for other cybersecurity firms.

Avis explained: "This could create an opportunity for some rivals, but it will take time to determine the CIOs and future paths of the companies and legal actions related to the outage."

Avis did not name any cybersecurity firms he thought could benefit. However, shares of rivals such as Palo Alto Networks (PANW), F5 Networks (FTNT.US) and others traded higher in pre-market trading.

Avis said that Microsoft (MSFT.US) was not a big problem considering its impact on Windows PCs, but it was a "PR nightmare" for two companies.