Společnost Okta získala hodnocení Zacks Rank #2 (Koupit); pro aktuální čtvrtletí se očekává zisk na akcii (EPS) ve výši 0,93 USD, což představuje meziroční nárůst o 13,4 %.
Okta (OKTA - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.
Shares of this cloud identity management company have returned +2.7% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.5% change. The Zacks Security industry, to which Okta belongs, has lost 5.4% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Revisions to Earnings EstimatesRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
Okta is expected to post earnings of $0.93 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +13.4%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged.
The consensus earnings estimate of $3.93 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +12.3%. This estimate has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $4.44 indicates a change of +13% from what Okta is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has remained unchanged.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for Okta.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
In the case of Okta, the consensus sales estimate of $815.52 million for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +9.9%. The $3.22 billion and $3.55 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +10.4% and +10.1%, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryOkta reported revenues of $805 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +10.6%. EPS of $1.05 for the same period compares with $0.91 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $792.14 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +1.62%. The EPS surprise was +9.38%.
The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Okta is graded F on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Okta. However, its Zacks Rank #2 does suggest that it may outperform the broader market in the near term.
Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA – Get Free Report)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $235.00 and last traded at $227.08, with a volume of 2,885,827 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $232.13.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Okta from $126.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Okta from $105.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $219.00 target price on shares of Okta in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Okta from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Okta from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.10.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Okta
Okta Stock Performance
The firm has a market cap of $39.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 136.80, a P/E/G ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.67.
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.09. Okta had a return on equity of 4.50% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $805.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.900-3.940 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.920-0.940 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Okta, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Okta
In other Okta news, CFO Brett Tighe sold 41,251 shares of Okta stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.44, for a total transaction of $6,700,812.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 7,693 shares in the company, valued at $1,249,650.92. The trade was a 84.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Todd McKinnon sold 48,822 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.48, for a total transaction of $9,446,080.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 44,029 shares in the company, valued at $8,518,730.92. The trade was a 52.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 137,766 shares of company stock valued at $23,927,112 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.61% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKTA. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Okta by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Okta by 64.2% in the second quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 197 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Okta in the third quarter worth $26,000. CX Institutional boosted its stake in Okta by 5.1% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Okta by 10.7% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.64% of the company’s stock.
Okta Company Profile
(Get Free Report)
Okta, Inc is an identity and access management company that helps organizations secure and manage access to applications, systems, devices and digital services. Its platform is designed to support employees, contractors, partners, customers and other users across cloud-based and on-premises environments.
Okta’s products include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, lifecycle management, identity governance, privileged access and identity threat protection. Through its Workforce Identity Cloud and Customer Identity Cloud, the company provides tools for workforce access management and for integrating authentication and authorization capabilities into customer-facing applications.
Read More
Five stocks we like better than Okta
Salesforce Just Got a Rare Double Upgrade—What Changed?
OpenAI’s Revenue Scare Could Be a Big Opportunity for Investors
China Still Dominates Rare Earths—These 3 U.S. Companies Could Benefit
3 REITs That May Win in a Higher Interest Rate Environment
Receive News & Ratings for Okta Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Okta and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA – Get Free Report) CEO Todd McKinnon sold 48,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.48, for a total value of $9,446,080.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 44,029 shares in the company, valued at $8,518,730.92. This trade represents a 52.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Todd Mckinnon also recently made the following trade(s):
On Wednesday, July 8th, Todd McKinnon sold 68,936 shares of Okta stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.62, for a total transaction of $10,107,396.32. Okta Stock Down 5.5% Okta stock opened at $195.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.59, a PEG ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $158.62 and its 200 day moving average is $119.79. Okta, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.66 and a 52-week high of $212.50.
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $805.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.00 million. Okta had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 4.50%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.900-3.940 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.920-0.940 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Okta, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Okta A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OKTA. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Okta by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,553,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,963 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Okta by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,261,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,246,000 after buying an additional 57,605 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in Okta by 28.4% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,490,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,844,000 after buying an additional 550,328 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Okta by 21.9% during the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,216,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,468,000 after buying an additional 397,507 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Okta during the 4th quarter valued at $175,193,000. Institutional investors own 86.64% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Okta from $115.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Okta in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Okta from $155.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Okta from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Okta from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.41.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on OKTA
Key Headlines Impacting Okta Here are the key news stories impacting Okta this week:
Positive Sentiment: AI-agent opportunity strengthens the growth story. Okta unveiled Agent SSO, runtime enforcement, an AI-agent gateway, lifecycle-management tools and an “AI kill switch.” The products are designed to secure and govern enterprise AI agents, potentially expanding Okta’s market beyond traditional identity software. BofA raises Okta price target on AI-agent positioning Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong. BofA raised its price target to $220, while RBC, Wells Fargo, DA Davidson, Guggenheim and BMO also issued higher targets, generally citing Okta’s positioning in AI identity and the possibility of renewed growth. Analysts issue bullish signals on Okta Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings were solid but not a new catalyst. Okta’s latest quarterly earnings and revenue exceeded consensus estimates, with revenue up 10.6% year over year. However, the conference did not include a major financial update, leaving investors without clear evidence of when AI-agent products will materially accelerate results. Negative Sentiment: Sell-the-news and valuation concerns are pressuring the stock. Okta’s shares had climbed sharply and were near recent highs, making them vulnerable to profit-taking. Mizuho retained a Neutral view pending proof that growth can sustainably reaccelerate, while Jefferies identified customer confusion as an adoption hurdle. The elevated valuation also leaves limited room for execution disappointments. Mizuho remains neutral on Okta Negative Sentiment: Insider selling adds a modest overhang. CEO Todd McKinnon sold 48,822 shares worth approximately $9.45 million, reducing his direct holdings by about 53%. The sale occurred under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which reduces its significance but may still weigh on sentiment. SEC filing for Todd McKinnon stock sale About Okta (Get Free Report)
Okta, Inc provides cloud-based identity and access management solutions for organizations. Its platform helps businesses securely connect employees, customers, partners and applications while managing authentication, authorization and user access across cloud, on-premises and mobile environments.
The company’s offerings include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, adaptive access controls, lifecycle management, identity governance and privileged access capabilities. Through its Customer Identity Cloud, powered by Auth0, Okta also provides tools for developers and businesses to embed authentication and authorization features into applications and digital services.
Founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, Okta completed its initial public offering in 2017.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Okta Costco Ends Its Fiscal Year on a High Note, Eyes Big Expansion Cracker Barrel Stock Is Rallying Again, But the Turnaround Still Has a Traffic Problem Oracle’s Force Majeure Notice Exposes a Bigger Problem for the AI Build-Out Oil May Be Stronger Than It Looks—And Diamondback Is on Sale
Receive News & Ratings for Okta Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Okta and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Okta (OKTA - Free Report) . Shares have added about 19.5% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.
But investors have to be wondering, will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Okta due for a pullback? Well, first let's take a quick look at the latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Okta, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late.
OKTA Q2 Earnings Beat on Subscription Growth, FY27 View RaisedOkta reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings of $1.05 per share, which increased 15.4% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.38%.
Revenues increased 10.6% year over year to $805 million, beating the consensus mark by 1.62%. Subscription momentum supported the quarter, with subscription revenues rising 12% to $793 million.
Location-wise, revenues from the United States contributed 87.6% to total revenues in the fiscal second quarter. The figure increased 10.19% year over year to $638 million. International revenues contributed 22.9% to total revenues. The figure increased 12.08% year over year to $167 million.
OKTA's Subscription Growth Supports the Top LineSubscription revenues accounted for nearly all of the top line, while Professional services and other revenues were $12 million, down 29.4% year over year from $17 million. Management said growth benefited from steady momentum across its core Workforce and Customer Identity businesses and contributions from newer products, led by Okta Identity Governance.
Workforce Identity represented 59% of annual contract value, or ACV, at quarter-end and grew 11% year over year. Customer Identity accounted for the remaining 41% and increased 13%, underscoring balanced growth across Okta’s two core identity businesses.
Okta's Backlog and Large Customers ExpandIn the second quarter of fiscal 2027, remaining performance obligations, which represent subscription backlog, increased 17% year over year to $4.858 billion. Current remaining performance obligations (cRPO), a key indicator of future subscription revenues, advanced 14% year over year to $2.585 billion.
Customers generating more than $100,000 in ACV increased 6% year over year to 5,255. The trailing-12-month dollar-based net retention rate was 107%, up one percentage point from the year-ago period, reflecting expansion within the existing customer base after accounting for contractions and churn.
OKTA's Profitability Shows Operating LeverageNon-GAAP gross margin was 81.9%, up 40 basis points year over year, while non-GAAP subscription gross margin improved 20 basis points to 83.9%.
On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses increased 10.7% year over year to $434 million. Research and development expenses rose 16.5% to $127 million, while sales and marketing expenses increased 17.6% to $241 million. General and administrative expenses declined 15.4% to $66 million.
Non-GAAP operating income increased 11.9% year over year to $226 million. Non-GAAP operating margin expanded 50 basis points to 28.2%, highlighting continued profitability despite growth investments.
Okta's Cash Generation Remains StrongOkta ended July 31, 2026, with $2.299 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments compared with $2.589 billion as of April 30, 2026.
Net cash provided by operating activities was $234 million, representing 29% of revenues, compared with $167 million, or 23%, a year ago. Free cash flow increased to $227 million from $162 million, while the free cash flow margin expanded to 28% from 22%.
OKTA Raises Its Fiscal 2027 OutlookFor the third quarter of fiscal 2027, OKTA expects revenues of $813-$817 million, implying 10% year-over-year growth. cRPO is projected at $2.59-$2.60 billion, implying growth of 11-12%. Non-GAAP earnings are expected between 92 cents and 94 cents per share, with free cash flow of $175-$185 million.
For fiscal 2027, management raised its revenue outlook to $3.216-$3.226 billion, suggesting 10-11% growth, from the prior $3.185-$3.205 billion range. Non-GAAP earnings are now projected at $3.90-$3.94 per share compared with the previous $3.79-$3.87 range. Free cash flow guidance increased to $910-$930 million from $855-$885 million, with an expected margin of 28-29%.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?It turns out, estimates review have trended upward during the past month.
The consensus estimate has shifted 6.16% due to these changes.
VGM ScoresCurrently, Okta has a nice Growth Score of B, though it is lagging a lot on the Momentum Score front with a D. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of F on the value side, putting it in the lowest quintile for value investors.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions has been net zero. Notably, Okta has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
Okta na konferenci Oktane představila Blueprint Alliance pro zabezpečení AI agentů s AWS, CrowdStrike a Salesforce a rozšířila standard Agent SSO. Zároveň uvedla, že Okta for AI Agents od dubna přidala 25 nových funkcí.
Securing AI: 5 Most-Upgraded Stocks From the Q2 Reporting SeasonOkta NASDAQ: OKTA outlined its strategy for securing artificial intelligence agents at its Oktane event, introducing an industry “Blueprint Alliance,” expanding its Agent SSO standardization efforts and highlighting the generally available Okta for AI Agents platform.
The company said AI agents can improve efficiency and create new capabilities, but their growing access to enterprise systems also creates security and governance risks. Okta’s keynote speaker argued that enterprises need “visibility and control” to avoid choosing between locking down AI systems and allowing them broad, unmanaged access.
Get Okta alerts:
Blueprint Alliance Targets Agent Security Okta Stock Surges 29%—Is $200 the Next Stop?Okta said it has formed a Blueprint Alliance with technology companies including AWS, CrowdStrike and Salesforce to address what it described as market confusion around AI-agent security. The alliance’s framework centers on four questions:
Where are an organization’s agents? What can they do? What are they actually doing? How should an organization respond when something goes wrong? The blueprint calls for an agent registry that assigns unique identities, access governance to ensure agents retain only appropriate permissions, runtime monitoring and observability, and response capabilities such as a “kill switch” to disconnect an agent. It also includes common risk signals and standardized formats for sharing telemetry across participating technologies.
5 Stocks to Buy in September Before Wall Street Catches OnChet Kapoor, vice president at Amazon, said AI agents differ from traditional software because they are probabilistic rather than deterministic. He said organizations need controls that let them deploy agents at speed without relying on additional manual reviews and approval gates.
Kapoor said enterprises should verify each agent’s identity and owner, use task-scoped access, monitor and trace activity in real time, and contain an agent without affecting the rest of the environment. He also described the blueprint as a way to avoid vendor lock-in as customers use agents from cloud providers, software vendors and their own internal development teams.
Agent SSO and Cross App Access Okta also presented Agent SSO, which it said is available at no additional charge across its products. The capability is designed to allow AI agents to access enterprise resources without requiring users to repeatedly enter credentials and approve individual consent prompts.
During a demonstration, Mallory Sword Glenn, Okta’s director of product marketing, showed an AI workflow that needed access to Atlassian, GitHub and Slack. Without Agent SSO, the workflow required separate logins and approvals for each application. With Agent SSO, she said, the AI system was already connected to those resources after the user signed in through Okta FastPass.
Okta said Agent SSO is based on an open standard called Cross App Access. Rather than relying on a conventional OAuth consent flow for each connection, Cross App Access allows an enterprise identity provider to supply a predefined authorization policy for the agent.
David Soria Parra, a member of the technical staff at Anthropic and a co-creator of the Model Context Protocol, or MCP, said open standards give enterprises choice and enable the industry to build secure agent infrastructure together. He said enterprise-managed authorization can shift security decisions from end-user consent screens to IT administrators while maintaining a smoother user experience.
Okta said Claude now supports Cross App Access with Okta as its first identity provider. The company encouraged other software vendors and identity providers to adopt the protocol.
Okta for AI Agents Expands Okta said its flagship Okta for AI Agents product has been generally available since April. The platform is intended to provide the identity-related components of the broader agent-security blueprint, including unique agent identities, ownership, access controls and runtime governance.
The company said it has released 25 major features since April. Among the highlighted additions were Shadow AI Agent Discovery for Endpoints, Agent Gateway and support for third-party identity providers.
Harish Peri, Okta’s senior vice president and general manager for AI security, said each agent is treated as a “unique first-class identity” in Okta’s Universal Directory, rather than as a user or service account. He said the platform can identify agents across environments including endpoints, AWS, Salesforce, browsers and unapproved MCP servers.
Peri demonstrated how Okta’s Identity Security Posture Management capabilities could discover an unregistered endpoint agent and MCP server, register them in Universal Directory and map the agent’s connections to resources. He said the system is designed to provide traceability across a chain involving a user, agent, sub-agent, MCP server and resource.
Okta’s Agent Gateway acts as a centralized control point for MCP server connections, according to the presentation. Sword Glenn said it can apply granular policy to agent tool calls, log activity in real time and block access when an agent attempts an unauthorized action. In the demonstration, a sales agent was prevented from sending Salesforce-derived account information to a personal email address, and its Salesforce connection was severed.
Okta also said its platform now supports organizations that use another identity provider for human identities while using Okta for AI agent identities. The company said it is also supporting customer-facing agentic commerce through Auth0 for the Universal Commerce Protocol, which is intended to allow AI systems such as Gemini to interact with participating e-commerce services.
Customers Discuss Agent Deployments Okta cited deployments at Ramp, Yahoo and Dell Technologies. The company said Ramp uses an internal AI agent called Glass for employee productivity, while Yahoo uses Okta for AI Agents to broker connections between an internal software-engineering agent system and virtual MCP servers.
Dell Technologies CIO and President Doug Schmitt said Dell began digitizing processes years ago and later built AI platforms focused on supply chain, direct sales, services and research and development. He said agent identities and observability became necessary as Dell sought to track where agents were used, what they were doing and who was using them.
Schmitt said AI adoption is more than a technology shift and should be led across the company rather than solely by IT. “Business models are changing,” he said, adding that the pace of change continues to accelerate.
Okta said it uses an internal AI agent called Dex to connect to internal systems and automate operational work. The company said it expects Dex to save 250,000 hours this year. It also said capabilities shown in its demonstrations are either currently available or expected to be available by January.
About Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA)Okta, Inc provides cloud-based identity and access management solutions for organizations. Its platform helps businesses securely connect employees, customers, partners and applications while managing authentication, authorization and user access across cloud, on-premises and mobile environments.
The company's offerings include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, adaptive access controls, lifecycle management, identity governance and privileged access capabilities. Through its Customer Identity Cloud, powered by Auth0, Okta also provides tools for developers and businesses to embed authentication and authorization features into applications and digital services.
Founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, Okta completed its initial public offering in 2017.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Should You Invest $1,000 in Okta Right Now?Before you consider Okta, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Okta wasn't on the list.
While Okta currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
MarketBeat just released its list of the 7 hottest IPOs expected to hit Wall Street in 2026. See which companies are preparing to go public and why investors are watching closely.
Get This Free Report
Continue following MarketBeat
Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.
Okta za poslední měsíc vzrostla o 28 % na 188,54 USD a výrazně překonala sektor i širší trh. Analytici přesto nevidí další růst k 200 USD jako potvrzený.
Okta surged past its cybersecurity peers while the broader market fell, and now the stock sits within striking distance of a major psychological level that analysts refuse to endorse.
The identity-security trade found a clear leader over the past month, and it wasn’t the broad cybersecurity basket. Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA | OKTA Price Prediction) has led the pack while the wider market slipped, turning a strong earnings response into a full rerating of the stock.
Okta stock is up 28% over the past month and trades at $188.54, though shares are down 1% in Wednesday trading as the rally paused. The First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ:CIBR) rose only 1% over that same stretch, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) fell 2%. Cybersecurity did beat a falling market, but the gains concentrated in individual names rather than spread across the group.
Meanwhile, Okta’s peers have participated, though not on the same scale. CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) stock is up 11% over the past month. Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) stock is up 6% over the same stretch, well behind Okta’s move.
What Drove Okta’s Month Okta reported its fiscal second-quarter results on August 26, and Chief Executive Todd McKinnon described the quarter as broad-based across the company’s workforce and customer identity platforms, with newer products representing 30% of bookings. That mix shift matters because it points to expansion beyond the legacy single sign-on product that first put Okta on the map.
Chief Financial Officer Brett Tighe guided Okta’s full-year total revenue growth to a range of 10% to 11%, framing the results as a record bookings quarter outside the seasonal fourth. McKinnon also flagged early customer wins for Okta’s products securing artificial intelligence agents, including work with Anthropic on managed authorization for enterprise connectors.
However, McKinnon was explicit that Okta’s agent-identity business remains too small to move the reported numbers today, even as he argued it could become the largest category in cybersecurity over time. That framing is the accurate read of what changed at Okta this quarter and what did not.
A Narrow Cybersecurity Rally The CIBR fund’s slim gain against the SPY ETF’s drawdown shows that the cybersecurity trade beat the broad market, but only just. Okta captured the bulk of the flows, CrowdStrike drafted behind it, and Zscaler trailed among the featured names. That is rotation into leaders, not a sector-wide verdict.
Reddit chatter on Okta has run bullish though thinly attended, with sentiment scores in the 68 to 72 range on low activity. The signal is directionally positive for Okta stock but built on very limited retail discussion, and it should not be read as broad conviction behind the move.
The $200 Question Okta stock has cleared several technical levels on this run, and the psychological line at $200 now sits within reach. Yet, the average sell-side price target on Okta currently sits below where the stock trades, which means analysts in aggregate are not underwriting further upside from here.
The bull case for Okta stock rests on identity becoming the control plane for securing artificial intelligence agents, a position management argues Okta holds through neutrality and product breadth. The bear case is that Okta guides to 10% to 11% revenue growth while, on McKinnon’s own account, the agent business is not yet material, so pushing Okta shares to $200 asks the market to pay further ahead of both analyst estimates and Okta’s own revenue trajectory.
What to Watch Next Traders can watch for whether Okta stock defends recent levels after Wednesday’s small pullback, since the next real test comes from execution updates before the next Okta earnings report. Valuations on Okta have moved faster than the fundamentals underneath it, which raises the bar on every subsequent quarterly report.
Shareholders may want to keep an eye on whether Okta’s newer-product bookings hold near the share McKinnon cited, because that is the metric on which the reacceleration case rests. Investors adding new exposure to Okta shares should keep their position sizing modest given the gap between the current price and where sell-side estimates on Okta stock sit.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Akcie Okta v pondělí odpoledne vzrostly o 12,80 % na 187,82 USD a dostaly se na nové 52týdenní maximum. Růst podpořila silná poptávka po identity security a výsledky za 2. fiskální čtvrtletí 2027.
Shares of Okta Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) are trading sharply higher Monday afternoon, tracking a broader rally in enterprise identity and AI security stocks. Here’s what investors need to know.
Okta stock is at critical resistance. What’s behind OKTA new highs? AI Deceleration Shift and Amodei Warnings Elevate Demand for Identity GuardrailsThe rally across cyber software follows weekend statements led by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and supported by Sam Altman and Elon Musk, calling for a voluntary deceleration of frontier model development to prioritize safety alignment and system security.
Amodei specifically warned that unchecked model scaling creates severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities, arguing that defensive governance, identity controls and threat-monitoring frameworks must be fully integrated before the next phase of training begins.
As Wall Street reassesses near-term hardware CapEx, demand is accelerating for identity architecture that secures non-human identities and autonomous workflows, potentially positioning Okta’s Workforce Identity Cloud, Auth0 for AI Agents and Identity Threat Protection as critical layers for controlled enterprise AI deployment.
AI Agent SSO Adoption and Q2 FY27 Momentum Support Fundamental ThesisMonday’s upside builds on strong operational execution reported in Okta’s second-quarter fiscal 2027 update on August 26. The company posted revenue of $805 million, up 11% year-over-year, and total current remaining performance obligations of $2.585 billion, driven by rapid customer expansion across its Auth0 developer platform and Identity Threat Protection suite.
Crucially, enterprise adoption of Okta’s Agent Single Sign-On and continuous access evaluation frameworks doubled quarter-over-quarter as organizations moved to govern non-human identities and AI agents accessing core databases, reinforcing management’s raised full-year fiscal 2027 revenue guidance of $3.216 billion–$3.226 billion.
OKTA Stock Climbs Monday AfternoonOKTA Price Action: Okta shares were up 12.80% at $187.82 at the time of publication on Monday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Read Next
Image: Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Okta uvedla, že firmy stále více řeší zabezpečení AI agentů a že její nabídka je postavená na zjišťování, propojení a autorizaci. Společnost už uzavřela desítky transakcí a první smlouvy jsou většinou na jeden rok.
Securing AI: 5 Most-Upgraded Stocks From the Q2 Reporting SeasonOkta NASDAQ: OKTA President and COO Eric Kelleher said enterprise customers are increasingly seeking guidance on securing AI agents, with uncertainty around the emerging technology representing a central challenge for the identity-security market.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Kelleher said Okta is positioning its AI-agent offerings around three core questions: where agents are deployed, what systems they can connect to, and what actions they are authorized to perform.
Get Okta alerts:
Okta Stock Surges 29%—Is $200 the Next Stop?“The biggest competitor we really have right now is just confusion,” Kelleher said. He described a security environment in which enterprises face a growing number of vendor claims while attempting to understand the risks posed by autonomous software.
Okta Positions Identity Platform for AI Agents Kelleher said Okta’s Blueprint for the Secure Agentic Enterprise is intended to simplify the process for customers exploring agent deployments. The company’s Okta for AI Agents offering maps to the blueprint’s focus on discovery, connectivity and authorization, he said.
5 Stocks to Buy in September Before Wall Street Catches OnHe pushed back on the view that managing agent identities requires an architecture fundamentally separate from human identity systems. While some agents may be temporary, Kelleher said not all agents are ephemeral and each still requires an identity that an enterprise can track and govern.
Okta’s Universal Directory, which has historically supported workforce, customer and service-account identities, is expanding to include agentic identities, according to Kelleher. He said customers can use the company’s recently launched Agent SSO, now generally available on its workforce platform, to add agent identities to their directories at no additional charge.
The same governance capabilities used for human identities can be applied to agents, including just-in-time provisioning and deprovisioning, auditability, and controls over access permissions, he said.
Early Sales and Pricing Approach Okta’s AI-agent product became generally available April 30, and Kelleher said the company has completed dozens of transactions so far. He characterized the sample size as small but cited several drivers behind early customer adoption, including forward-looking chief information officers and chief information security officers, as well as organizations that have identified unexpected growth in agent activity.
He pointed to a multimillion-dollar transaction with a Fortune 50 healthcare company. At an initial discovery call, the customer reported having 50 deployed agents; when Okta returned several weeks later, that number had risen to 1,500, Kelleher said.
To reduce buying friction, Okta is initially pricing its agentic-identity offering as an uplift to per-user pricing rather than charging based on the number or type of agents. Kelleher said that structure is “imperfect from an agent architecture standpoint,” but easier for customers that do not yet know how extensively they will deploy agents.
Most early agreements are one-year transactions, he said, giving both Okta and customers time to collect data before pricing models potentially evolve. The company established its initial pricing in consultation with hundreds of large enterprise customers, according to Kelleher.
Neutrality and Ecosystem Strategy Kelleher said the rise of identity-focused acquisitions by security and technology companies validates Okta’s longstanding view that identity is a core security perimeter. He argued that Okta’s independence and more than 8,000 out-of-the-box integrations differentiate the company from vendors building identity products primarily to support their own technology stacks.
“The stack vendors that are dabbling in identity are just that, they’re dabbling,” Kelleher said, adding that customers want flexibility as AI models and related technologies evolve rapidly.
On CrowdStrike, Kelleher said the companies have thousands of mutual customers and that CrowdStrike’s endpoint position and shared threat signals are complementary to Okta’s products. He said Okta has not seen a material change in competitive dynamics involving CrowdStrike.
Kelleher also discussed Auth0 for AI Agents and Okta’s Cross App Access standard, which is designed to help developers build agents that can connect securely with applications using the Model Context Protocol. He said Cross App Access is an open standard that has been embraced as an extension to the protocol, and that Okta’s products support it out of the box.
Core Business and Go-to-Market Execution Beyond AI agents, Kelleher said Okta’s second quarter reflected strength across its core workforce and customer identity businesses, which he described as roughly a 59% and 41% mix, respectively. He also cited strong performance in large enterprise, small business and commercial markets, public sector, and partner-led business.
The company has reorganized its sales force around buyer personas, separating most sellers into Okta platform specialists focused on CIOs and CISOs and Auth0 specialists focused on developers. Kelleher said the changes have supported stronger pipeline generation, cross-selling and upselling.
Okta’s new product portfolio contributed 30% of bookings in the reported quarter, he said. The company believes it currently has appropriate sales capacity and does not plan to expand capacity immediately because account continuity has helped execution.
Kelleher said Okta is also accelerating product development under technology leader Ric Smith. He highlighted the company’s Permiso acquisition, which closed on the day of earnings and is expected to accelerate the roadmap for Identity Threat Protection, as well as its attainment of IL5 authorization for its FedRAMP business.
Looking ahead, Kelleher said Okta sees continued opportunity in its core identity markets alongside what he called the company’s “Horizon 2” opportunity in agentic identity. He said the company plans to provide additional partnership, product-roadmap and agentic-identity updates at its upcoming Oktane user conference.
About Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA)Okta, Inc provides cloud-based identity and access management solutions for organizations. Its platform helps businesses securely connect employees, customers, partners and applications while managing authentication, authorization and user access across cloud, on-premises and mobile environments.
The company's offerings include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, adaptive access controls, lifecycle management, identity governance and privileged access capabilities. Through its Customer Identity Cloud, powered by Auth0, Okta also provides tools for developers and businesses to embed authentication and authorization features into applications and digital services.
Founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, Okta completed its initial public offering in 2017.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Should You Invest $1,000 in Okta Right Now?Before you consider Okta, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Okta wasn't on the list.
While Okta currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
MarketBeat just released its list of the 7 hottest IPOs expected to hit Wall Street in 2026. See which companies are preparing to go public and why investors are watching closely.
Get This Free Report
Continue following MarketBeat
Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.
Okta v srpnu vzrostla o 21,9 % a výsledky za 2. fiskální čtvrtletí ukázaly tržby 805 milionů USD a upravený EPS 1,05 USD, oba nad odhady. Firma zároveň zvýšila výhled tržeb i zisku na akcii.
Shares of Okta (OKTA -1.76%) soared in August, gaining 21.9%, according to data supplied by S&P Global Market Intelligence. That's more than eight times the 2.6% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period.
It turns out the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) to the cybersecurity sector wasn't as bad as some feared.
Image source: Getty Images.
What SaaSpocalypse? Earlier this year, software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks took a beating, thanks to fears that some investors called the "SaaSpocalypse." The crux of the popular narrative was that AI agents would take over many of the jobs currently handled by SaaS offerings, rendering them obsolete. The ensuing frenzy took down a broad range of cybersecurity stocks, and Okta wasn't spared, losing 27% of its value between early January and early April.
While the jury was still out, patient investors kept their heads, which was a profitable decision. For its fiscal 2027 second quarter (ended July 31), Okta reported results that confirmed what astute investors already knew. Revenue of $805 million rose 11% year over year, driven higher by subscription revenue of $793 million, up 12%. The company's adjusted gross margin held steady at 82%, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05 rose 15%. This was well ahead of analysts' consensus estimates of revenue of $793 million and adjusted EPS of $0.97.
Okta turned a greater percentage of profits into greenbacks. Operating cash flow of $234 million jumped 40%, while free cash flow of $227 million also increased 40%.
Premium Feature
Moneyball Superscore
80/100
Today's Change
(
-1.76
%) $
-3.01
Current Price
$
167.60
Other metrics were equally robust. Okta's remaining performance obligation (RPO) -- or contractually obligated revenue that hasn't yet been recognized -- climbed 17% to $4.86 billion, while current RPO (which will be recognized within 12 months) jumped 14% to $2.59 million. This was far from the SaaSpocalypse-related rout investors had anticipated.
CEO Todd McKinnon explained, "As AI agents transform every layer of technology, every agent needs a trusted identity and clear controls over what it can access and do." Far from being displaced by AI, Okta is becoming an integral part of the process.
Management's forecast also gave investors confidence, as Okta's outlook called for revenue of $815 million and adjusted EPS of $0.93, up 10% and 13%, respectively. The company is also guiding for current RPO of roughly $2.6 billion, up nearly 12% year over year. It's generally a positive sign when RPO growth outpaces revenue, as it indicates the company is building a solid foundation for future growth.
Okta's recovery has caused a commensurate rebound in its valuation. The stock now sells for 53 times forward earnings and 38 times next year's expected earnings -- so it isn't exactly cheap. However, with the SaaSpocalypse seemingly put to rest, the future looks bright for Okta.
Okta těží z rostoucí poptávky po bezpečnosti AI: nové produkty tvořily ve 2. čtvrtletí fiskálního roku 2027 zhruba 30 % objednávek a přinesly asi 40% růst ACV. Firma zároveň rozšiřuje ochranu pro AI agenty a nelidské identity.
Key Takeaways Okta is expanding AI security for agents and non-human identities as enterprise demand grows.New products drove about 30% of fiscal Q2 2027 bookings, with roughly 40% average ACV uplift.Okta is expanding through AI-agent deals, acquisitions and partnerships amid tougher competition. Okta (OKTA - Free Report) is benefiting from growing enterprise demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) security and an expanding identity-security portfolio. The company is extending its platform beyond employees and customers to AI agents and other non-human identities as enterprises rapidly deploy agentic applications. Okta’s offerings include Okta for AI Agents, Auth0 for AI Agents, Identity Threat Protection, Identity Security Posture Management, Privileged Access and Fine-Grained Authorization. These capabilities strengthen Okta’s position against broader security competitors, including CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report) and Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) .
New-product adoption is already supporting bookings and customer spending. In the second quarter of fiscal 2027, newer products accounted for roughly 30% of bookings, led by Okta Identity Governance. Deals incorporating new products generated an average annual contract value (ACV) growth of about 40%. Okta closed dozens of AI-agent deals, including several million-dollar-plus transactions. OKTA noted that AI-related deal sizes remain above the company-wide average, although AI contributions are still too small to materially affect overall revenues.
Rapid AI-agent proliferation could support further demand. In one customer evaluation, Okta initially detected roughly 50 Claude-agent instances, but the number increased to around 1,500 within a few weeks. Such rapid proliferation increases enterprises’ need to discover, govern and secure agents. Okta has already secured a multimillion-dollar AI Agents deal with a Fortune 50 healthcare company, while a global consulting firm selected the platform after considering an internal build. One of the world’s largest asset managers selected Okta to govern thousands of agents from multiple vendors, highlighting the appeal of its vendor-neutral architecture.
Okta is strengthening its capabilities through acquisitions and public-sector expansion. The Permiso acquisition adds a cloud-native platform that detects threats across human, non-human and agentic identities. The company said Permiso brings around 400 native risk detections compared with roughly 90 in Okta’s existing Identity Threat Protection offering, potentially strengthening post-authentication monitoring and runtime security. Okta for AI Agents-Core extends AI-agent governance into FedRAMP and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) environments, while Impact Level 5 authorization expands opportunities with the U.S. Department of Defense as agencies work toward the 2027 Zero Trust mandate. Public sector currently represents less than 10% of Okta’s business, leaving room for further growth.
Okta’s ecosystem provides another advantage. Anthropic named Okta the first identity provider supporting Enterprise Managed Auth for Model Context Protocol connectors, while the company has expanded relationships with Amazon Web Services, Cisco, OpenAI, Databricks and Snowflake and added more than 25 Cross-App Access integrations. These partnerships should help enterprises secure agents across heterogeneous applications and clouds while supporting cross-selling and broader platform adoption.
OKTA Faces Tough CompetitionMicrosoft and CrowdStrike are intensifying competitive pressure. Microsoft’s E7 suite combines Copilot, E5, Entra and Agent 365, attracting hundreds of enterprise customers and millions of seats within two months, including a 400,000-employee deployment at EY. Agent 365 has nearly 40 million agents registered, while Purview has audited more than 50 billion Copilot interactions. Project Perception further combines Entra, Defender, network and application-security signals to automate attack simulation, investigation and remediation.
CrowdStrike reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2027 that AI Detection and Response (AIDR) annual recurring revenues (ARR) nearly tripled sequentially, identity ARR rose 34% to more than $585 million and Falcon Shield ARR surged more than 185%. Privileged-account security ARR increased more than 35-fold, while Signal provides granular access controls for human and non-human identities. Falcon Flex also generates more than 40% average ARR uplift when customers migrate from standard subscriptions, strengthening CrowdStrike’s ability to bundle endpoint, cloud, identity, SIEM and AI security into a broader platform offering.
OKTA’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of Okta have appreciated 92.3% year to date, outperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s 17.1% growth.
OKTA Stock’s Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
OKTA stock is trading at a premium, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 40.46X compared with the broader sector’s 20.76X. Okta has a Value Score of F.
OKTA’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Okta’s earnings is currently pegged at 93 cents per share, unchanged over the past 30 days, suggesting 13.41% growth.
Okta currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Okta a CrowdStrike po silných výsledcích za fiskální 2. čtvrtletí 2027 prudce rostou: Okta přidává 22 % a CrowdStrike 13 %. Okta ale zároveň vykázala pokles billings o 5,4 % na 681,2 mil. USD.
Okta and CrowdStrike both crushed earnings, but one stock is surging nearly twice as hard as the other despite posting slower growth and a troubling dip in a key bookings metric.
Cybersecurity stocks are outrunning the broad market Thursday after twin fiscal Q2 2027 earnings beats from Okta and CrowdStrike reported Wednesday after the close. The First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ:CIBR) is up 3% to $96.20 in early Thursday trading. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.3% to $768.17, a fraction of the sector’s move.
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA | OKTA Price Prediction) stock is surging 22% to $163.98 after fiscal Q2 2027 results reframed the identity leader as the security layer for AI agents. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) stock is climbing 13% to $213.70 following its own beat-and-raise report. Okta stock was up 55% year to date through Wednesday’s close, and CrowdStrike stock was up 61% over the same period.
Peers Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) and Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) are riding the read-through as the platform trade in cybersecurity gets fresh validation. Palo Alto Networks stock is up 5% to $356.17, and Fortinet stock is up 1% to $159.51. Both names sit among CIBR’s largest disclosed cybersecurity-focused positions alongside CrowdStrike.
Twin Beat and Raise Reports Drive the Rally Okta reported revenue of $805 million, up 11% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $1.05 topped consensus. CEO Todd McKinnon stated, “As AI agents transform every layer of technology, every agent needs a trusted identity and clear controls over what it can access and do.”
CrowdStrike posted revenue of $1.47 billion, up 26% year over year, with adjusted EPS of $0.31 clearing estimates. CrowdStrike raised its full-year net new ARR growth outlook by 630 basis points, and CEO George Kurtz declared, “Q2 was the best quarter in CrowdStrike’s history. Delivering record Falcon Flex results, record net new ARR, and accelerating growth, the Falcon is soaring.”
Why Okta Is Moving Twice as Hard CrowdStrike posted the faster growth and larger guidance raise, yet Okta stock is climbing nearly twice as much Thursday morning. Okta had lagged the group heading into the report, slipping 2% over the trailing month through Wednesday’s close, while CrowdStrike stock had gained 5% over that same stretch. That setup created a sharper snapback when the identity thesis received fresh AI-agent fuel.
The re-rating reflects growing appreciation for the agentic identity category McKinnon has been building. Speaking with CNBC, McKinnon added, “Network is the biggest cyber category now, but if you look out five or 10 years, with millions of agents running around, it’s definitely going to be identity.” Okta also closed its purchase of threat detection startup Permiso Security in a deal worth around $200 million.
CrowdStrike was already priced for excellence entering the report, carrying a market cap near $188.7 billion versus Okta’s $22.9 billion. Wall Street’s average price target sits at $210.53 for CrowdStrike and $146.34 for Okta, meaning both stocks are pushing past those consensus levels Thursday morning. That valuation gap helps explain why the same beat-and-raise pattern is producing very different reactions.
The blemish worth naming: Okta’s billings came in at $681.2 million, down 5.4% year over year, a gap between headline strength and underlying bookings that will draw questions on the call. Okta’s raised full-year revenue range still implies growth in the low double digits, well under CrowdStrike’s revenue pace and net new ARR trajectory.
What to Watch Investors can watch for whether Okta stock holds Thursday’s rally into next week, as the billings soft spot will bump up against the AI-agent narrative in follow-up analyst notes. Traders could look for signs that the read-through extends to Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet as the cybersecurity platform trade absorbs the twin reports.
CrowdStrike generated free cash flow of $377.4 million in the quarter, and Okta produced $227 million in free cash flow versus $162 million a year earlier. Both companies are pairing accelerating fundamentals with expanding cash generation, which keeps the cybersecurity platform trade a favored destination for growth capital.
The cybersecurity ETF was up 31% year to date through Wednesday’s close, well ahead of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF’s 12% year-to-date gain. Investors should size their positions with that stretch in mind, since much of the beat-and-raise setup is now reflected in prices. Even the bulls may want to leave room for guidance revisions and follow-on analyst commentary to drive the next leg.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Okta oznámila lepší výsledky za 2. čtvrtletí: EPS 1,05 USD a tržby 805 milionů USD překonaly odhady. Firma zároveň zvýšila výhled pro fiskální rok 2027.
Okta Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) on Wednesday posted upbeat second-quarter results.
Okta reported quarterly earnings of $1.05 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 97 cents, according to Benzinga Pro data. Quarterly revenue came in at $805 million, which beat the consensus estimate of $795.12 million and was up from $728 million in the same period last year.
"As AI agents transform every layer of technology, every agent needs a trusted identity and clear controls over what it can access and do," said Todd McKinnon, CEO of Okta.
Okta raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guidance to a new range of $3.90 to $3.94, versus the $3.84 analyst estimate, and raised its fiscal revenue outlook to $3.22 billion to $3.23 billion, versus the $3.2 billion estimate.
Okta shares jumped 19.9% to trade at $161.13 on Thursday.
These analysts made changes to their price targets on Okta following earnings announcement.
Needham analyst Mike Cikos maintained the stock with a Buy and raised the price target from $140 to $200.Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Jonathan Ruykhaver maintained the stock with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $170 to $200.Evercore ISI Group analyst Peter Levine maintained the stock with an Outperform rating and raised the price target from $130 to $185.Keybanc analyst Eric Heath maintained the stock with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $180 to $190.Truist Securities analyst Junaid Siddiqui reiterated the stock with a Buy and raised the price target from $165 to $200.Trending
DA Davidson analyst Rudy Kessinger maintained the stock with a Buy and raised the price target from $165 to $190.Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman maintained the stock with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $180 to $200.Guggenheim analyst John Difucci maintained the stock with a Buy and raised the price target from $162 to $188.Considering buying OKTA stock? Here’s what analysts think:
Photo via Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Okta čeká za 2Q výnosy 790–794 milionů USD, tedy meziroční růst o 9 %. Nové produkty tvořily asi 25 % objednávek v 1Q a u dealů zvedly ACV zhruba o 40 %.
Key Takeaways Okta expects Q2 revenues of $790-$794 million, up 9% year over year. New products drove about 25% of Q1 bookings, with deals showing about a 40% ACV uplift. Okta's RPO growth supports subscription revenue visibility despite competition and longer sales cycles. Okta (OKTA - Free Report) is set to release second-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Aug. 26.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2027, Okta expects revenues in the range of $790-$794 million, implying 9% year-over-year growth. The company expects non-GAAP net income per share between 95 cents and 97 cents.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has remained steady at 96 cents per share over the past 30 days, indicating a 5.49% year-over-year increase. The consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $792.14 million, indicating an 8.81% increase over the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Okta’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 7.65%.
Let’s see how things have shaped up for Okta prior to this announcement:
Factors to Note for OktaOkta’s second-quarter fiscal 2027 performance is expected to have benefited from an expanding portfolio across governance, privileged access, device access, authorization, posture management and AI-driven threat protection, which continues to support customer wins and cross-sell.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, customers with more than $100K in annual contract value (ACV) increased 6% year over year to 5,180. Remaining Performance Obligations (RPOs) were $4.719 billion, up 16% year over year, and current RPO was $2.499 billion, up 12%. For the second quarter of fiscal 2027, management expects current RPO between $2.505 billion and $2.515 billion, implying 11% year-over-year growth and supporting forward subscription revenue visibility.
A major driver for Okta’s anticipated growth is the rapid adoption of its new and innovative products, particularly those focused on AI security. Products such as Okta Identity Governance, Okta Privileged Access and the newly introduced Auth0 for AI Agents and Okta for AI Agents have seen strong early demand. The company highlighted that new products represented about 25% of fiscal first-quarter 2027 bookings and that deals including new products have shown about a 40% ACV uplift, reinforcing the long-term cross-sell potential as agent deployments scale. This is expected to have driven significant value for customers in the to-be-reported quarter.
Expanding partnerships and integrations are expected to have driven Okta’s top-line growth. Okta has formed alliances with major technology providers such as ServiceNow, Google, Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic. These partnerships extend Okta’s reach into new AI-driven workflows and reinforce its position as an independent identity platform. The integration with ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower and Amazon Bedrock Agent core enables Okta to provide identity governance for agents across multiple platforms, meeting customer demands for flexibility and security in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
However, the company is facing competitive pressure from large platform vendors, and specialists remain intense; sales cycles can stay elongated in a cautious IT spend environment, and past security incidents still weigh on customer confidence, upsell momentum, and retention.
What Our Model SaysPer the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that is not the case here.
Okta has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks to ConsiderHere are some companies worth considering, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in their upcoming releases:
Dell Technologies (DELL - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +6.42% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Dell Technologies shares have surged 251.2% in the year-to-date period. Dell Technologies is slated to report second-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Sept. 1.
Hewlett Packard (HPE - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +9.96% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
Hewlett Packard shares have surged 122.5% in the year-to-date period. Hewlett Packard is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Sept. 2.
Intuit (INTU - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.08% and carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present.
Intuit shares have plunged 44.6% in the year-to-date period. Intuit is set to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Aug. 25.
Okta má ve 2. čtvrtletí vykázat EPS 0,96 USD na akcii a tržby 792,14 mil. USD, což by bylo meziročně o 5,5 % a 8,8 % více. Odhad EPS za posledních 30 dní zůstal beze změny.
The upcoming report from Okta (OKTA - Free Report) is expected to reveal quarterly earnings of $0.96 per share, indicating an increase of 5.5% compared to the year-ago period. Analysts forecast revenues of $792.14 million, representing an increase of 8.8% year over year.
Over the past 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged. This demonstrates the covering analysts' collective reassessment of their initial projections during this period.
Prior to a company's earnings announcement, it is crucial to consider revisions to earnings estimates. This serves as a significant indicator for predicting potential investor actions regarding the stock. Empirical research has consistently demonstrated a robust correlation between trends in earnings estimate revision and the short-term price performance of a stock.
While investors usually depend on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to assess the business performance for the quarter, delving into analysts' forecasts for certain key metrics often provides a more comprehensive understanding.
Bearing this in mind, let's now explore the average estimates of specific Okta metrics that are commonly monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts.
Analysts' assessment points toward 'Revenue- Subscription' reaching $781.51 million. The estimate points to a change of +9.9% from the year-ago quarter.
It is projected by analysts that the 'Revenue- Professional services and other' will reach $10.59 million. The estimate indicates a change of -37.7% from the prior-year quarter.
The average prediction of analysts places 'Current remaining performance obligations (cRPO)' at $2.51 billion. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $2.27 billion.
Analysts expect 'Remaining performance obligations' to come in at $4.73 billion. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $4.15 billion.
The combined assessment of analysts suggests that 'Gross margin- Subscription' will likely reach 79.8%. Compared to the present estimate, the company reported 80.0% in the same quarter last year.
Analysts predict that the 'Total Customers' will reach 20,919 . The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 20,000 .
View all Key Company Metrics for Okta here>>>
Over the past month, Okta shares have recorded returns of -1.4% versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +2.8% change. Based on its Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), OKTA will likely outperform the overall market in the upcoming period. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
NTT DATA říká, že AI mění kyberbezpečnost na boj rychlostí strojů, a proto roste význam bezpečnosti pro AI i identity. Jako klíčového partnera v tom vyzdvihl Palo Alto Networks.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
The most useful thing said about cybersecurity this week came from Abhijit Dubey, the global CEO of NTT DATA, who told CNBC that “the frontier AI effectively has changed the cybersecurity equation” because attacks are now exponentially more sophisticated, the surface area has grown, and everything is happening at machine speed. His conclusion follows directly: “when you have attacks that are operating on machine speed, you cannot have defense. That is human speed.”
Dubey announced an expanded partnership with Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW | PANW Price Prediction) covering both AI for security and security for AI.
The interesting question for investors is which US-listed vendors are positioned for the shift he describes. The money is quietly moving toward whoever can govern autonomous agents, and away from whoever built a business selling vulnerability detection and patching. That reframes the sector from a cost center to a prerequisite for AI adoption.
Why Detection And Patching Is the Losing Side Dubey put the legacy problem this way: “Most cybersecurity postures and enterprises effectively are vulnerability detection oriented” at a moment when attackers are exploitation-driven. Nikesh Arora made the same point on PANW’s June earnings call, saying that frontier models can weaponize a vulnerability “in mere minutes,” whereas it used to take months.
Jay Chaudhry at Zscaler told investors that “you will never be done patching” and that hiding applications and eliminating lateral movement matters more than trying to close every hole. That is the same argument, phrased architecturally.
Vendors whose growth came from selling scanners, dashboards, and remediation queues find themselves in an awkward spot. Their pitch assumes a human has time to look at the alert. The vendors positioned for what comes next sell in-line enforcement, identity, and platform-level context.
Palo Alto Networks Is the Named Partner for a Reason PANW’s most recent quarter had revenue of $3 billion, up 31% year over year, and Next-Generation Security ARR reaching $8.13 billion, up 60%, disclosed in the company’s Q3 FY26 8-K. Arora described a Prisma AIRS deal with a global consulting customer running more than 2 trillion tokens per month on the platform.
PANW trades at a forward P/E of 91x with the stock up 89.77% year to date through August 20. That is not a cheap valuation, and platformization stories have disappointed on margin before.
What PANW has that most rivals do not is IDERA, its identity platform stitched together with the CyberArk acquisition, aimed at what Arora called the “primary attack vector of the future”: agentic identities. That is the layer Dubey said matters.
The risk is straightforward. Stock-based compensation was 17% of revenue in the quarter, and integrating CyberArk without hurting growth remains a priority.
Identity Is What the Market Has Not Priced Todd McKinnon at Okta framed the customer problem cleanly in May, saying “91% of enterprises deploy AI agents, but only 22% have a way to identify them.” That gap is the entire investable idea.
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) trades at a forward P/E of 38x, a meaningful discount to PANW because growth is slower, with FY27 revenue guided to 9-10%. McKinnon said Okta’s pipeline for AI agent products was “bigger than anything we’ve ever seen”, and neutrality across hyperscalers is real leverage for a customer choosing an identity control plane.
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) has taken the endpoint franchise into agent governance through AIDR, with ARR reportedly growing “more than 250% sequentially” off a small base. George Kurtz argued that AIDR could exceed EDR in size because every agent needs a host and an identity. The identity layer has a shorter path to becoming non-optional than the platform layer, because agent identity is essential to governance.
Caveats Worth Weighing Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) is the interesting counter-case, down 22.22% year to date despite ARR reaching $3.5 billion. Its Symmetry Systems acquisition bets on the access-graph problem rather than issuing agent identity itself, which is defensible.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) benefits from a firewall refresh cycle with product revenue up 52% last quarter. That is a real cash-generating business, but closer to infrastructure than to agent governance.
Platform consolidation has been sold to investors before, and margin expansion has been uneven. This cycle differs because Dubey’s framing removes the buyer’s option to wait. His line makes the point: “You have to do it securely from the beginning.” A customer who wants the AI cannot defer the security purchase, which is the first time in a while that has been true.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Okta se dohodla na koupi startupu Permiso Security zaměřeného na identitu a AI; podle zdroje je transakce oceněna na necelých 200 milionů USD. Uzavření se čeká ve třetím čtvrtletí fiskálního roku 2027.
Okta on Thursday agreed to acquire AI identity security startup Permiso Security, betting that demand for protecting AI agents and other machine identities will grow as enterprises deploy autonomous software across their operations.
The identity management company did not disclose the terms of the transaction. But TechCrunch has learned that the acquisition is valued at just under $200 million and is structured as an almost all-cash deal, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. A spokesperson for Okta did not dispute the $200M figure when TechCrunch asked CEO Todd McKinnon for comment about the deal, but the company would not comment on specifics of the deal terms.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of its fiscal 2027, Okta said, subject to customary closing conditions.
Okta’s move to buy Permiso comes as identity management companies seek to expand beyond verifying users at login to continuously monitoring what users, applications, and AI agents do once gaining authorized access to a network environment. That shift has intensified competition to secure machine identities as enterprises embed AI deeper into everyday operations.
Permiso, which emerged from stealth in 2022, develops software that helps security teams spot suspicious activity in cloud environments after users or applications have been granted access. More recently, the startup has expanded its platform to monitor AI agents and other machine identities.
Co-founded by former FireEye executives Paul Nguyen and Jason Martin, Permiso specializes in detecting attacks that use stolen or compromised identities to move through cloud infrastructure. In April, the startup also introduced SandyClaw, a platform designed to analyze AI agent skills in a sandboxed environment to identify malicious behavior before they are deployed.
The deal strengthens Okta’s push into securing AI agents and other non-human identities alongside its core identity management business.
“Permiso will extend Okta’s identity security fabric with proven identity threat detection and response capabilities, and an incredible threat research and security team that will advance Okta’s threat detection and prevention capabilities,” Okta’s chief product officer Ely Kahn said in a prepared statement.
Permiso has raised about $29 million to date, including an $18.5 million Series A round in April 2024 led by Altimeter Capital. People familiar with the financing said the Series A valued the Palo Alto-based startup at about $80 million on a post-money basis.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Jagmeet covers startups, tech policy-related updates, and all other major tech-centric developments from India for TechCrunch. He previously worked as a principal correspondent at NDTV.
You can contact or verify outreach from Jagmeet by emailing [email protected].
AI podle článku přesouvá investiční pozornost od infrastruktury ke kybernetické bezpečnosti, která bude chránit data, sítě i identity. Fortinet, SentinelOne i Okta těží z rostoucí poptávky a vyšších odhadů zisků.
Thus far, the artificial intelligence boom rewarded the companies supplying the necessary computing power. Semiconductors, servers, networking equipment and data centers became the market’s primary focus as technology companies raced to build AI infrastructure.
The next phase may reward the companies responsible for protecting it.
In an increasingly digital economy, cybersecurity has become a foundational piece of modern business infrastructure. These companies often benefit from recurring revenue, attractive margins and powerful secular growth drivers. AI is now adding another catalyst by creating more data, applications, cloud workloads and digital identities that must be secured.
Yet a strong industry does not always produce strong stock returns. The post-pandemic software boom pulled years of expected growth forward, as aggressive spending, easy financial conditions and enthusiastic positioning pushed valuations to unsustainable levels. When growth normalized and interest rates rose, those multiples compressed sharply.
The damage was especially severe for Okta ((OKTA - Free Report) ) and SentinelOne ((S - Free Report) ), both of which remain well below their prior-cycle highs. Fortinet ((FTNT - Free Report) ), by comparison, has traded much better and already demonstrated that it can compound through a difficult software environment.
Now, the investment setup appears to be improving. AI is strengthening the industry’s long-term demand outlook, valuations have moved closer to historical norms and earnings estimates are rising. Fortinet currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while SentinelOne and Okta each hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), indicating positive earnings-estimate momentum across three very different areas of cybersecurity.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Why Cybersecurity Could Be AI’s Next Major Investment ThemeAI creates a powerful two-sided catalyst for the cybersecurity industry.
On one side, enterprise adoption is expanding the attack surface. Every new AI application can introduce additional models, cloud workloads, databases, devices and connections that must be monitored and protected. The growth of autonomous AI agents could be particularly important, as businesses will need to control which systems, applications and sensitive information those agents are permitted to access.
On the other side, AI is making cyberattacks more scalable. The same tools that improve the productivity of software developers and security teams can help criminals automate phishing campaigns, identify vulnerabilities and execute increasingly sophisticated attacks. Fortinet has already described the threat environment as becoming more complex and intensified by AI, while its research has identified agentic AI as an emerging enabler of large-scale data theft.
Cybersecurity spending is also more durable than many other areas of enterprise software. Companies can postpone discretionary technology projects during periods of uncertainty, but they cannot simply ignore a major security vulnerability. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into business operations, security should increasingly be treated as an essential cost of adoption.
Fortinet: The Proven Cybersecurity LeaderFortinet is the highest-quality and most established selection of the three. The company built its leadership position in network firewalls but has expanded into a much broader platform spanning secure networking, operational technology, security operations and secure access service edge, or SASE.
Its integrated hardware-and-software model provides meaningful differentiation. Fortinet designs specialized processors and operates its products through a common operating system, allowing customers to consolidate security functions without stitching together numerous independent products.
AI should increase demand across the platform. Expanding data center infrastructure, heavier network traffic and rising connectivity requirements all create a need for greater throughput, segmentation and protection. Fortinet reported that several recent product deployments were directly related to customers securing AI infrastructure. AI-driven security operations billings increased 23% during the latest quarter.
The underlying financial momentum is already strong. First-quarter revenue increased 20%, billings grew 31% and non-GAAP earnings advanced 41%. Fortinet also raised its full-year revenue-growth outlook to 15%.
FTNT trades at 51x forward earnings,compared with its ten-year median of 63.8x. While that is not necessarily cheap, the valuation is supported by high margins, strong cash generation and demonstrated execution.
Fortinet is the steadier compounder and potentially the lower-risk way to participate in the theme. The primary drawback is that the stock has already performed well, leaving less room for execution errors than the beaten-down alternatives.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
SentinelOne: The AI-Native TurnaroundSentinelOne represents the highest-risk, highest-potential-return selection.
Its Singularity platform uses automation and machine learning to identify and respond to threats across endpoints, cloud workloads, identities and data. That architecture gives SentinelOne a natural connection to the AI theme: as attacks become faster and more automated, companies increasingly need defensive systems capable of responding at machine speed.
The stock remains deeply below its prior cycle high after slowing growth and investor skepticism toward unprofitable software companies crushed its valuation. The current bullish case, however, does not depend on returning to pandemic-era multiples. SentinelOne must instead demonstrate durable growth alongside improving profitability.
That process is underway. First-quarter revenue increased 21%, while annualized recurring revenue grew 23% to $1.16 billion. Non-GAAP operating margin improved to 4% from negative 2%, and management raised its full-year operating-income outlook.
S trades at 54.8x forward earnings, with long-term EPS projected to grow 46.9% annually, giving it a PEG ratio just over 1.
Competition remains intense, and SentinelOne still needs to prove that it can deliver consistent profitability. But if growth stabilizes and operating leverage continues to improve, the stock could undergo a meaningful revaluation.
Image Source: TradingView
Okta: Securing the AI WorkforceIdentity may become one of the most important security layers of the AI economy.
Every employee, customer, application and AI agent requires a verified identity and clearly defined access privileges. As businesses deploy autonomous agents, the number of non-human identities and access decisions could rise dramatically. Okta is positioned directly within that identity-management layer.
Like SentinelOne, OKTA remains far below its 2021 high following the collapse of software valuations and several company-specific execution issues. But the business has become substantially more profitable, and recent results suggest that demand is stabilizing.
First-quarter revenue increased 11%, while remaining performance obligations grew 16%. Okta generated a 35% free-cash-flow margin and a 25% non-GAAP operating margin, demonstrating that the company no longer needs extraordinary revenue growth to produce attractive economics. Management has also identified AI agents as a rapidly emerging workforce that must be secured alongside human users.
OKTA trades at 39x forward earnings, compared with its historical median of ~80x.
Competition from Microsoft and other platform providers remains a major risk. Still, Okta’s independent identity platform, improving profitability and exposure to agentic AI make it a compelling second-act recovery story.
Image Source: TradingView
Cybersecurity Stocks’ Resurgence The first phase of the AI boom was about building the infrastructure. The next phase will increasingly be about protecting the data, networks and identities running through it.
Fortinet offers proven execution and profitable growth. SentinelOne provides the most speculative turnaround opportunity, while Okta offers direct exposure to the growing importance of identity in an agent-driven economy.
With earnings estimates moving higher and valuations far below their previous extremes, cybersecurity may be one of the most compelling areas emerging from the software reset.
Akcie Okta vzrostly o 2,94 % na 140,46 USD a překonaly pokles indexu S&P 500. Trh čeká na výsledky, přičemž analytici odhadují EPS 0,96 USD a tržby 792,14 milionu USD.
Okta (OKTA - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $140.46, demonstrating a +2.94% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.66%.
Shares of the cloud identity management company witnessed a gain of 0.84% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its loss of 2.58%, and the S&P 500's loss of 1.21%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Okta in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect Okta to post earnings of $0.96 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5.49%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $792.14 million, indicating a 8.81% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.83 per share and revenue of $3.2 billion, which would represent changes of +9.43% and +9.51%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Okta should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.72% higher. At present, Okta boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Okta is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 35.64. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 47.54 for its industry.
It's also important to note that OKTA currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.24. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Security was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.14 at yesterday's closing price.
The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 165, this industry ranks in the bottom 33% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.