Okta stock is up 15% in extended hours: what happened?

Shares of Okta Inc (NASDAQ: OKTA) jumped 15% in extended trading after the identity and access management company reported market-beating results for its fourth financial quarter.

Okta stock up on exciting guidance

The tech stock is also being rewarded because the company’s future outlook came in well above the Street expectations.

Okta says its full-year earnings on a per-share basis will come in between 74 cents and 79 cents this year. Analysts, in comparison, had called for 32 cents a share of adjusted profit only.

A 16% to 17% annualised growth it expects in revenue, however, is roughly in line with estimates. In the earnings press release, CEO Todd McKinnon said:

Identity remains a top priority for organisations around the world. Despite an evolving macro environment, we’re more excited than ever to advance our leadership position in a massive market as Okta delivers on profitable growth.

The Nasdaq-listed firm issued better-than-expected guidance for its current quarter as well. For the year, Okta stock is now up close to 20%.

Okta’s Q4 financial performance

• Net loss printed at $153 million versus the year-ago $241 million
• Per-share loss also narrowed significantly from $1.56 to 95 cents
• Adjusted EPS came in at 30 cents as per the earnings press release
• Revenue climbed 33% on a year-over-year basis to $510 million
• FactSet consensus was 9 cents a share on $489.9 million revenue

Other notable figures in the earnings report include a 12% increase in remaining performance obligations and billings up 18%. The chief executive added:

Okta is the only independent and neutral platform that brings market leading solutions for both workforce and customer identity at scale. We’re pleased with continued improvement of our go-to-market execution.

Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on Okta stock.