RBRK Stock: What Makes Rubrik a “Compelling Long”?

Founded in 2014, Palo Alto-based Rubrik [RBRK] provides a range of data security solutions, including enterprise, cloud and software-as-a-service data management, backup, recovery and governance. It caters to an estimated 6,100 customers across a range of sectors, and promotes itself as a leader in “cyber resilience”. 

Still early in its growth trajectory, Rubrik made waves with its strong Q2 2026 performance in early September. The company has also recently hit positive free cash flow and expanded its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities through key acquisitions and partnerships. 

Let’s unpack how collaboration with industry giants could be key to Rubrik’s growth trajectory. 

Partner of Choice

Rubrik has announced developments in several high-profile partnerships in recent months that highlight its outsized footprint in the data security space. 

On July 15, it expanded its data protections services for Amazon’s [AMZN] AWS cloud databases, both simplifying operations and lowering costs for cloud-native customers. 

Its June 2025 acquisition of Predibase is already improving its AI capabilities. The startup’s infrastructure supports Rubrik’s new Agent Rewind offering, which, in the words of CEO Bipul Sinha, allows clients to “undo the mistakes of AI agents without full system rollbacks, which is crucial for a scalable and secure AI adoption.”

Rubrik also partners with fellow cyber security firm CrowdStrike [CRWD], pairing its Security Cloud offering with CrowdStrike’s platform to enhance threat detection. The partnership was expanded on September 15; Rubrik’s Identity Resilience offering will help to address identity theft. 

Most recently, on September 24, Rubrik and Okta [OKTA] further enhanced their identity protection partnership with the launch of Rubrik Okta Recovery, providing the industry’s first identity recovery solution that spans all three major identity provider environments: Okta, Active Directory and Entra ID. 

The biggest news driving bullish sentiment on RBRK stock, however, was stronger-than-expected Q2 2026 earnings announced on September 9. 

The company saw 51% year-over-year growth in revenue to reach $309.9m, beating estimates of $282.26m. This was driven by a 55% surge in subscription revenue, and a 36% jump in subscription annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $1.25bn, pointing to medium-term stability in revenue figures. The company also reported a loss per share of $0.03, well above analyst estimates of a loss of $0.34 per share. 

The company offered Q3 revenue guidance of $321m, with loss per share in the $0.18–0.16 range. For the full year, it expects subscription ARR to reach $1.41bn–1.42bn, representing year-over-year growth of around 30%.

RBRK’s Upward Trajectory

Rubrik debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on April 25, 2024, at a price of $32 per share. The stock popped 16% in its first day of trading, and despite several rollbacks since then, its share price trajectory has been generally upward. The September 29 closing price of $83.34 represents growth of 160.44% from its IPO price. 

RBRK soared roughly 22% on September 9 following the Q2 results. However, an 18% plunge the next day erased much of this, as investors demonstrated their disappointment in cautious guidance figures. 

It rallied around 3% on September 23 following the CrowdStrike announcement, signaling growing optimism about its strategic partnerships.

As of September 29, RBRK stock was up 160.76% in the past 12 months, and up 27.51% in the year to date.  

Cyber Security Frenemies: RBRK vs DDOG vs CRWD

Cybersecurity Ventures estimates the global cost of cybercrime will reach $10.5trn by 2025. The cyber security space is becoming increasingly crowded, with several firms both directly competing with and collaborating with Rubrik. 

New York City-headquartered Datadog [DDOG] provides AI-powered cyber security solutions alongside its broader cloud monitoring and analytics platform operations. DDOG stock rose 11% on August 7 after Q2 earnings beat estimates. Revenue grew 28% year-over-year to $827, while EPS grew 7% to reach $0.46. The company raised its full year revenue outlook to $3.312bn–3.322bn.

CrowdStrike, while it partners with Rubrik, operates in overlapping spaces. While a global IT outage in July 2024 made it a household name, its rapid response helped preserve key client relationships and allowed the stock to significantly outperform the S&P 500 in the year to date. At its Fal.Con 2025 event in mid-September management it outlined ARR growth of over 20% for FY 2027, with growth of 40% for the second half of 2026.

Here’s how the three companies compare in terms of fundamentals.

Source: Yahoo Finance

While Rubrik is dwarfed by both CrowdStrike and Datadog in terms of market cap, its comparably high growth forecasts support the bullish sentiment of many analysts. Similarly, given RBRK’s significantly lower P/E ratio, the stock could be considered an undervalued alternative to its larger competitors. 

The Investment Case for Rubrik

The Bull Case for RBRK Stock

Several Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on RBRK stock following the Q2 results. 

Goldman Sachs reiterated its ‘buy’ rating, nudging the price target to $120. The firm attributed the post-earnings drop to the lack of a meaningful increase on subscription ARR targets, but maintains that the “underlying business momentum was decidedly positive.”

KeyBanc also raised its price, from $114 to $117, maintaining its ‘overweight’ rating, while Piper Sandler retained its $115 price target and ‘overweight’ rating. 

“The market shifts towards ‘Gen-Z’ architectures, Rubrik’s go-to-market aggressiveness that is corresponding to share-gains, potential convergence between identity and data security capabilities, cyber-resilience as a priority, consolidation by customers around platforms and leverage make this a compelling long in our view,” Piper Sandler analysts James Fish and Caden Dahl observed in a note post-earnings. 

Of the 21 analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance in September, two rated RBRK stock a ‘strong buy’, and 17 rated it a ‘buy’. The average price target of $115.60 represents an upside of 38.71% from the September 29 close. 

The Bear Case for RBRK Stock

Despite the generally optimistic analyst sentiment surrounding RBRK, some analysts believe the stock to be fairly valued, with little upside left to capture. Mizuho analysts led by Gregg Moskowitz maintained a ‘neutral’ rating, along with a $97 price target. In a note, Moskowitz explained that “with RBRK having appreciated a material 200%+ since its mid-2024 IPO and 51% year-to-date, we view the shares as fairly valued.”  

Rubrik has yet to make a profit, and is expected to continue reporting losses per share in the short term. Critics are skeptical as to whether the company can handle its continued high operating expenses and reverse losses to turn a profit in the near to medium term. 

Another key concern is market saturation in the cloud and enterprise software space generally, and in cyber security in particular. Rubrik may end up being crowded out by its larger, more profitable peers. 

Conclusion

Rubrik’s solid growth, AI focus and strategic partnerships across the cybersecurity space have allowed it to increase its client base despite its comparatively small size, with many analysts bullish on its medium- to long-term prospects. However, persistent losses and saturation of the wider market could mean that RBRK has little upside left to capture.