Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Bear Of The Day: OKTA

Read MoreHide Full Article

Okta Inc (OKTA - Free Report) beat earnings back at the start of March and the stock has moved all over the place.  The question becomes if this stock has bottomed out here in the low $240 range or is it primed for a rebound? Let’s take a deeper look in this Bear of the Day article.

Description

Okta, Inc. provides identity management platform for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, universities, non-profits, and government agencies in the United States and internationally.  Okta, Inc. sells its products directly to customers through sales force, as well as through channel partners. The company was formerly known as Saasure, Inc. Okta, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Earnings History

The first thing I do when I look at stock is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has been able to communicate to the market.  A stock that consistently beats is one that has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

In the case of OKTA, I see four straight beats of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  So you might wonder, why is this stock the Bear of the Day?

Well the Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower.  For OKTA, I see estimates moving lower across the board.

This quarter has moved from a loss of 8 cents to a loss of 20 cents.

Next quarter has seen a similar decrease from -10 cents to -13 cents.

The Zacks Rank is more heavily influenced by the move in the annual numbers, and the movement is also negative for those numbers.

I see 2021 moving from a loss of $0.45 to -$0.50 over the last 60 days.

The 2022 number has moved from a loss of $0.05 to -$0.10 over the same time horizon.

Negative movement in earnings estimates like that are the reason that this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Valuation

I am partial to growth, so when I see this stock posting 40% topline growth in the more recent quarter I want think that most of the bad news is baked into the stock. The analysts that cover OKTA are suggesting there will be 31% topline growth this year and 29% next year, so fairly consistent growth on top.  The forward earnings multiple is NA as the company is going to be running at a loss for the next year and a half or so.  The price to book at 44x is absurdly high… but this is an asset slim business.  Price to sales is also very high at 37x.

Chart

 

Okta, Inc. Price and Consensus

Okta, Inc. Price and Consensus

Okta, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Okta, Inc. Quote

 

+1,500% Growth: One of 2021’s Most Exciting Investment Opportunities

In addition to the stocks you read about above, would you like to see Zacks’ top picks to capitalize on the Internet of Things (IoT)? It is one of the fastest-growing technologies in history, with an estimated 77 billion devices to be connected by 2025. That works out to 127 new devices per second.

Zacks has released a special report to help you capitalize on the Internet of Things’s exponential growth. It reveals 4 under-the-radar stocks that could be some of the most profitable holdings in your portfolio in 2021 and beyond.

Click here to download this report FREE >>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Okta, Inc. (OKTA) - free report >>

Published in