Identity management group Okta rises on earnings beat, sunny guidance

Invesitng.com - Shares in Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) spike by more than 15% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the IT services management group announced upbeat guidance and better-than-anticipated fourth-quarter results that were powered by solid cybersecurity demand.     

The company, which provides cloud software that helps enterprises secure their user authentication practices, reported adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.78 on revenue of $682 million for the three months ended January 31, beating estimates for $0.74 and $668.9 million, respectively.

"Demand for both workforce and customer identity products was strong, and our growing portfolio of new products is starting to make an impact," CEO Todd McKinnon told analysts in a post-earnings call.  

For the current quarter, adjusted per-share income, which strips out one-time items, is seen at $0.76 to 0.77, compared with Wall Street projections of $0.70. Revenue of $678 million to $680 million was also above the $669.4 million called for by analysts. 

Current remaining performance obligations, or cRPO, a gauge of booked revenue, was seen $2.185 billion to $2.190 billion in the first quarter, representing growth of 12% year-over-year.

Full-year adjusted diluted net income per share was also forecast to be in a range of $3.15 to $3.20, while revenue was seen at $2.850 billion to $2.860 billion.

McKinnon added that product innovation will be a "key investment area" in Okta's 2026 fiscal year, particularly as more companies look to secure their operations and fold artificial intelligence capabilities into their offerings.

"To get security right, organizations need to get identity right. With the steady rise of cloud adoption, machine identities, and now, AI agents, there has never been a more critical time to secure identity," McKinnon said.

In a note to clients, analysts at DA Davidson said double-digit sales growth is "sustainable," citing " increasing new product mix, enterprise traction, channel momentum, and sales productivity." The analysts raised their rating of Okta to "buy" from "neutral."

(Yasin Ebrahim contributed reporting.)