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Time to Buy into the Growth of These Tech Stocks as Earnings Approach?

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Two tech stocks that are standing out as their first-quarter earnings reports approach on Wednesday, May 31 are CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report) ) and Okta Inc (OKTA - Free Report) ).

These software and internet security-focused leaders have seen their stocks top the strong performance of the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 so far this year.

With CrowdStrike stock up +46% YTD and Okta shares up +29%, let’s see what’s in store for their Q1 results and why now might be a good time to buy.  

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CrowdStrike (CRWD - Free Report)

Sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) CrowdStrike is a leader in next-generation endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services.

CrowdStrike’s Internet-Software Industry is also in the top 43% of over 250 Zacks industries. Benefiting from its strong business environment, CrowdStrike is expected to have posted expansive quarterly growth during the first quarter.

Q1 Preview & Outlook: CrowdStrike’s first-quarter earnings are projected at $0.50 per share, climbing 61% from EPS of $0.31 in the prior-year quarter. On the top line, Q1 sales are expected to be $674.33 million, up 38% from a year ago. 

CrowdStrike has beaten EPS estimates in nine straight quarters. Notably, CrowdStrike has topped sales expectations in every quarterly report since the company went public in 2019 for an impressive 15 consecutive quarters.

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Even better, CrowdStrike’s annual earnings are forecasted to climb 49% in its current fiscal 2024 at $2.30 a share compared to EPS of $1.54 in FY23. Fiscal 2025 earnings are projected to jump another 27% at $2.92 per share. Total sales are expected to leap 34% in FY24 and climb another 28% in FY25 to $3.84 billion.

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Okta (OKTA - Free Report)

Also sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Okta Inc is benefitting from a strong business industry as well. As a provider of identity for the enterprise, Okta’s Internet-Software and Services Industry is in Zacks top 13%.

Okta’s IT products include single sign-on, mobility management, adaptive multi-factor authentication, lifecycle management, and universal directory. Okta for developers consists of complete authentication, user management, application programming interface access management, and developer tools.

Q1 Preview & Outlook: The Zacks Consensus for Okta’s Q1 earnings is $0.12 per share, climb swinging from an adjusted EPS loss of -$0.27 in the prior-year quarter. Sales for the quarter are expected to be up 23% YoY at $510.58 million.

Okta has beaten EPS estimates in 22 straight quarters. More impressive, Okta has topped sales expectations in every quarterly report since the company went public in 2017 for an astonishing 24 consecutive quarters.

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Annual earnings are now forecasted to soar to $0.76 a share in Octa’s current FY24 compared to EPS of -$0.04 in FY23. Plus, Fiscal 2025 earnings are projected to leap another 53% at $1.16 per share. Sales are expected to rise 16% in FY24 and jump another 17% in FY25 to $2.54 billion.

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Takeaway

Now appears to be a good time to buy CrowdStrike and Okta stock as these companies are soaring past the profitability line after launching their IPOs in recent years. To that point, Cyber security and enterprise identity solutions have become critical to more and more organizations amid advanced cyber threats from hackers.  

Furthermore, earnings estimate revisions have trended higher for CrowdStrike and Okta stock. It would be no surprise if they continued their streaks of beating top and bottom-line expectations and can offer positive guidance during their first-quarter reports. This could lead to even more upside in shares of CRWD and OKTA this year.


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