Why Okta Shares Are Rising Today

Okta Inc OKTA is trading higher Thursday after the company announced better-than-expected third-quarter financial results and issued guidance above estimates.

Okta reported a quarterly adjusted earnings loss of 7 cents per share, which beat the estimate for a loss of 24 cents per share. The company reported quarterly revenue of $351 million, which beat the estimate of $327 million.

Okta expects a fourth-quarter adjusted earnings loss to be in a range of 25 cents to 24 cents per share versus the estimate for a loss of 28 cents per share. The company expects revenue of $358 million to $360 million versus the estimate of $354.79 million.

"Our strong third quarter results reflect the continued shift to Identity-First architectures and the critical adoption of Zero Trust security environments, which are both propelling our market leading position," said Todd McKinnon, co-founder and CEO of Okta.

See Also: Okta's Return On Capital Employed Insights

Analyst Assessment: Multiple analyst firms weighed in on the stock following Okta's financial results:

• Piper Sandler analyst Rob Owens upgraded Okta from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $250 to $270.
• BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman maintained Okta with an Outperform rating and lowered the price target from $293 to $270.
• Morgan Stanley maintained Okta with an Overweight rating and lowered the price target from $315 to $300.
• Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz maintained Okta with a Neutral rating and lowered the price target from $305 to $250.

Okta addresses two primary security concerns via its workforce identity and customer identity solutions. The pureplay cybersecurity firm sells products to protect employees, contractors and partners, as well as its customers' end users.

OKTA Price Action: Okta has traded as high as $294 and as low as $196.78 over a 52-week period.

The stock was up 10.20% at $218.34 at time of publication.

Photo: courtesy of Okta.