Okta
was one technology stock seeing an impressive bounce on Thursday.
Shares of
Okta
(ticker: OKTA), the maker of cloud identification software that allows workers to access multiple platforms with a single sign-on, were up 11% in premarket trading at $81.65. Analysts were singing the company’s praises after it beat earnings expectations for the second quarter and issued impressive guidance.
The story was dramatically different from this time a year ago, when the company was facing difficulties integrating its acquisition of Auth0 and coping with a weakening economy. The stock dropped 30% in September 2022. Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci called it a “company in disarray” as co-founder Frederic Kerrest embarked on a year-long sabbatical and Chief Product Officer Diya Jolly left the company.
“There’s certainly still work to do, but CEO Todd McKinnon and team have made important strides to improvement,” Guggenheim analysts wrote in a note following Okta’s results. “The vision of a complete identity platform is coming to fruition.” They raised their price target on the stock to $100 from $96.
The company said Wednesday that Kerrest won’t return to an operational role, but will remain a board member.
Evercore ISI analysts led by Peter Levine upgraded the stock to In Line from Underperform with a price target of $75.
“Management seems to have a much better handle on the business today versus when we were coming into the year,” Evercore wrote in a note. “It’s now all about execution.”
Write to Brian Swint at [email protected]
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