Okta topped Wall Street's fourth-quarter estimates after the bell on Wednesday as the identity management provider capitalizes on demand to secure artificial intelligence agents.
Here's how the company did versus LSEG estimates:
- 90 cents adjusted vs. 85 cents expected
- Revenue: $761 million vs. $749 million expected
Revenues for the period grew 11% from a year ago. The company reported net income of $63 million, or 35 cents per share, versus $23 million, or 13 cents, a year ago.
Okta's first-quarter guidance came up short of analyst expectations. The company expects revenue to range between $749 million and $753 million and adjusted earnings between 84 cents and 86 cents per share. Analysts had forecast revenue of $755 million and EPS of 87 cents.
Management cited market conditions as a factor in its "prudent approach" to its forecast. The company used the same phrasing in its financial outlook last quarter.
Okta said it is benefiting from the proliferation of agentic agents and the accompanying security needs.
At the same time, cybersecurity has come under pressure from the proliferation of new AI tools. The sector sold off last month after a new security tool from Anthropic fueled widespread market panic. Okta shares have so far lost a third of their value this year.
CEO Todd McKinnon told CNBC that agentic AI and the solutions built by vendors are a massive opportunity and reiterated his confidence in Okta's ability to win the growing identity market.
"You have to have trust, and you have to have a reputation that you can deliver this securely," he said. "You build up a reputation as being a piece of security infrastructure over many, many years."
Remaining performance obligations, which is the company's subscription backlog, rose 15% from a year ago to $4.83 billion. That also beat a StreetAccount estimate of $4.62 billion.
For the full year, Okta anticipates revenue between $3.17 billion and $3.19 billion, versus an analyst estimate of $3.17 billion.
