Okta, Inc. (OKTA)

Okta, Inc. is the leading independent identity partner, operating in the identity and access management market which is characterized by the acceleration of digital transformation, cloud adoption, and an evolving security threat landscape that continues to drive a shift from network-based security models to a Zero Trust security model focused on adaptive and context-aware controls. The emergence of artificial intelligence and the deployment of AI agents may create new opportunities for identity management, with a potential long-term opportunity for the company's platforms to serve as a unified, independent control plane for non-human identities and AI agents. As of January 31, 2026, more than 20,000 customers across nearly every industry used the company's solutions to secure and manage identities around the world, and the company had over 7,000 integrations with cloud, mobile and web applications, and IT infrastructure and security vendors through the Okta Integration Network.

The markets for the company's product offerings are rapidly evolving, highly competitive, and subject to shifting customer needs and frequent introductions of new competing technologies. The principal competitor is Microsoft. Other competitor categories include authentication providers, identity governance providers, multi-factor authentication providers, infrastructure-as-a-service providers, other customer identity and access management providers, and solutions developed in-house by potential customers. Competitive advantages include flexibility, independence, product capabilities, total cost of ownership, time to value, scalability, user experience, number of pre-built integrations, customer satisfaction, global reach, and ease of integration, management, and use. As of January 31, 2026, the company had 100 issued patents in the United States and 85 issued patents granted outside of the United States that expire between 2030 and 2044.

The company employs a SaaS business model and generates revenue primarily by selling multi-year subscriptions to its cloud-based offerings. Subscription fees include the use of the service and technical support and management of the platforms, and are based primarily on the solutions used and the number of users on the platforms. Customers are typically invoiced in advance in annual installments for subscriptions. Subscription revenue constituted approximately 98% of total revenue for fiscal 2026. The company sells its product offerings directly through its field and inside sales teams, as well as indirectly through its network of channel partners, including cloud marketplaces, resellers, system integrators, and other distribution partners.

The Okta Platform governs and simplifies the way an organization's employees, contractors, partners and non-human identities connect to applications and data from any device, serving as the central system for governance, access management, authentication, connectivity and identity lifecycle management. Key product offerings within the Okta Platform include Access Management (Single Sign-on, Adaptive MFA, API Access Management, Access Gateway, Okta Device Access, Universal Directory), Security (Identity Threat Protection, Identity Security Posture Management, Okta for AI Agents), Identity Governance and Administration (Lifecycle Management, Okta Workflows, Okta Identity Governance, Cross App Access), and Privileged Access Management (Advanced Server Access, Okta Privileged Access). The Auth0 Platform is developer-centric and enables companies, nonprofits and governmental agencies to rapidly embed secure, extensible identity management into customer- and citizen-facing cloud, mobile, and web applications, with product offerings including Universal Login, Attack Protection Suite, Adaptive MFA, Passwordless, Machine-to-Machine Tokens, Private Cloud, Organizations, Extensibility, Enterprise Connections, Fine Grained Authorization, and Auth0 for AI Agents.

In fiscal 2026, the company further specialized its go-to-market organization to better meet the needs of distinct buying centers, with Okta sellers focusing on IT and security buyer needs and Auth0 sellers focusing on the unique needs of developers. On September 4, 2025, the company acquired all of the outstanding equity of Axiom Security Ltd, a privately held company specializing in privileged access management solutions, for acquisition date cash consideration of $54 million ¹. On January 5, 2026, the board authorized a stock repurchase program with authorization to purchase up to $1 billion ² of the company's Class A common stock. During the year ended January 31, 2026, the company repurchased and immediately retired 875,150 ³ shares of its Class A common stock for an aggregate amount, including commissions, of $79 million ⁴ under the Share Repurchase Program. The 2025 convertible senior notes matured on September 1, 2025, and the company settled in full the principal amount then outstanding of $510 million ⁵ in cash. As of January 31, 2026, the outstanding principal balance of the 2026 Notes of $350 million ⁶ is classified as a current liability due to their upcoming maturity on June 15, 2026.

For fiscal 2026, total revenue was $2,919 million ⁷, representing a growth rate of 12% ⁸ compared to fiscal 2025. Subscription revenue was $2,855 million ⁹ and professional services and other revenue was $64 million ¹⁰. The company generated net income of $235 million ¹¹ in fiscal 2026, compared to net income of $28 million ¹² in fiscal 2025 and a net loss of $355 million ¹³ in fiscal 2024. Gross profit was $2,258 million ¹⁴ and total gross margin was 77% ¹⁵. Operating income was $149 million ¹⁶ compared to an operating loss of $74 million ¹⁷ in the prior year. Net cash provided by operating activities was $884 million ¹⁸.

A key growth vector is deepening relationships within the existing customer base by cross-selling and up-selling additional and new product offerings, including expanding customers' use of the Okta Platform and Auth0 Platform and offering solutions to manage and secure non-human identities and AI agents. Another vector is driving growth with large customers using a land-and-expand sales model, with a focus on key markets by size of customers and key verticals, including highly regulated sectors. The company plans to further leverage the sales efforts of global system integrators, managed service providers, technology partners and other distribution partners for growth, scale and specialized expertise through the Okta Elevate Partner Program.

A significant growth vector is expanding the international footprint, with 20% ¹⁹ of revenue generated outside of the United States in fiscal 2026, and the company believes there is a significant opportunity to continue to grow the international business as organizations outside the United States embrace the transition to cloud computing and develop and adopt AI agents. The company also intends to continue making significant investments in research and development, hiring top technical talent and maintaining an agile organization to innovate and extend the platforms with new products, such as Okta for AI Agents, Auth0 for AI Agents and the Cross App Access extension to MCP. The company plans to extend its accessible market with new use cases as technology and customer needs evolve, and to leverage the Okta Integration Network, which includes over 7,000 ²⁰ integrations, to broaden and deepen existing integrations while adding new ones.

The company expects sales and marketing expenses will continue to be the largest operating expense category for the foreseeable future, but expects sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenue to decrease as total revenue grows. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue are also expected to decrease as total revenue grows. The company expects interest income to decrease in fiscal 2027 as it deploys investable cash to fund the Share Repurchase Program, settle the 2026 Convertible Senior Notes obligation, and due to changes in the interest rate environment. Beginning in fiscal 2027, the company expects professional services and other revenue to decline as it shifts more engagements to its partner ecosystem.

The company intends to continue to invest additional resources in its platform infrastructure, platforms' support organizations and security posture. The company will continue to invest in technology innovation and anticipates that costs qualifying for capitalization of internal-use software costs and related amortization may fluctuate over time. The company expects its investment in technology to expand the capability of its platforms, enabling it to improve gross margin over time. The company believes its existing cash and cash equivalents, investments and cash provided by sales of its solutions will be sufficient to meet short-term and long-term projected working capital and capital expenditure needs for the foreseeable future.

Total stock-based compensation expense was $544 million ²¹ in fiscal 2026. Capitalized software costs were $12 million ²² in fiscal 2026. Purchases of property and equipment were $9 million ²³ in fiscal 2026. As of January 31, 2026, approximately $921 million ²⁴ of the originally authorized amount under the Share Repurchase Program remained available for future repurchases. The company has never declared or paid any cash dividends on its common stock and does not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

The company faces headwinds from adverse general economic, market and industry conditions, including economic downturns or recessions, market volatility, geopolitical events, inflation and interest rates, and foreign currency fluctuations, which have in the past and may in the future reduce demand for its solutions. The company has experienced cybersecurity incidents that harmed its reputation and customer relations and adversely impacted its financial results, and it expects the impact of these security incidents to adversely affect future financial performance, though it cannot predict the extent with certainty. The company also faces headwinds from increasing variability in its sales cycles, particularly with larger organizations which involve lengthy purchasing approval processes and less predictable sales cycles, and from the potential for customers to reduce the size of their workforce, which could decrease the number of identities managed and therefore revenue.

The company faces constraints from the highly competitive nature of its markets, especially from larger, well-established companies like Microsoft that have significantly greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, distribution, customer support or other resources, longer operating histories, and greater name recognition. The company's international operations subject it to risks including general political, economic and social uncertainties, unexpected changes in foreign legal and regulatory requirements such as data privacy and cybersecurity regimes, and restrictive governmental actions focusing on cross-border trade including taxes, changes in trade policies, trade restrictions, import and export restrictions or quotas, barriers, sanctions, custom duties or the threat of such actions.

Management's message emphasizes the company's position as the leading independent identity partner and its vision to free everyone to safely use any technology, with identity becoming the most critical layer of an organization's security. Key strategic priorities emphasized for the period ahead include executing with the platforms by deepening relationships within the existing customer base, driving growth with large customers, leveraging the partner ecosystem, and expanding the international footprint. Additional priorities include innovating and extending the platforms with new products such as Okta for AI Agents, Auth0 for AI Agents and Cross App Access, extending the accessible market with new use cases, further specializing the go-to-market organization, leveraging the Okta Integration Network's over 7,000 ²⁷ integrations, expanding the developer ecosystem, leveraging unique data assets with powerful analytics, and pursuing mergers and acquisitions and investments. The company's forward-looking statements include expectations about future financial performance, trends in key business metrics, the impact of general economic conditions, and the ability to retain and sell additional solutions to existing customers, among others.

For fiscal 2026, total revenue was $2,919 million ²⁸ compared to $2,610 million ²⁹ in fiscal 2025 and $2,263 million ³⁰ in fiscal 2024. Subscription revenue was $2,855 million ³¹ in fiscal 2026 versus $2,556 million ³² in fiscal 2025. Net income was $235 million ³³ in fiscal 2026 compared to net income of $28 million ³⁴ in fiscal 2025 and a net loss of $355 million ³⁵ in fiscal 2024. Diluted net income per share was $1.31 ³⁶ in fiscal 2026 versus $0.06 ³⁷ in fiscal 2025 and a diluted net loss per share of $2.17 ³⁸ in fiscal 2024. Operating income was $149 million ³⁹ in fiscal 2026 compared to an operating loss of $74 million ⁴⁰ in fiscal 2025. Total gross margin was 77% ⁴¹ in fiscal 2026 compared to 76% ⁴² in fiscal 2025. Net cash provided by operating activities was $884 million ⁴³ in fiscal 2026. As of January 31, 2026, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $2,553 million ⁴⁴, and the company had total assets of $9,710 million ⁴⁵ and total stockholders' equity of $6,999 million ⁴⁶. The accumulated deficit as of January 31, 2026 was $2,567 million ⁴⁷. Restructuring and other charges were $4 million ⁴⁸ in fiscal 2026, compared to $11 million ⁴⁹ in fiscal 2025 and $56 million ⁵⁰ in fiscal 2024. The gain on early extinguishment of debt was $0 ⁵¹ in fiscal 2026 compared to $19 million ⁵² in fiscal 2025.

The company faces intense competition, especially from larger, well-established companies like Microsoft, which have significantly greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, distribution, customer support or other resources, longer operating histories, and greater name recognition, and may sell at zero or negative margins, bundle products or maintain closed technology platforms. The company has experienced cybersecurity incidents that allowed unauthorized access to its systems or data or its customers' data, harming its reputation and adversely impacting financial results, and it expects these incidents to continue to adversely affect future financial performance. The company's business depends on its ability to retain existing customers, and if customers do not renew their subscriptions or purchase additional subscriptions, revenue may decline or grow less slowly than anticipated. The company's international revenue was 20% ²⁵ of total revenue in fiscal 2026, and international operations subject the company to risks including general political, economic and social uncertainties, unexpected changes in foreign legal and regulatory requirements such as data privacy and cybersecurity regimes, and restrictive governmental actions focusing on cross-border trade. The company's outstanding 2026 convertible senior notes have a principal balance of $350 million ²⁶ due June 15, 2026, and servicing this debt may require a significant amount of cash, and the company may not have sufficient cash flow from its business to pay its indebtedness.