Okta (), a $13 billion provider of identity security solutions, is back to the upper realms of the Zacks Rank after EPS estimates turned back north this month.What’s odd is that the stock price is still in the cellar after their late August earnings report saw shares drop over 17% on the day of, and then over -25% total to Sep 10.The problem is that Wall Street is still nervous about the company’s business outlook after they had to pay $60 million to settle a data breach from two years ago.Among 34 analysts, the average price target is above $105 and the low PT is $75.And large institutions were big net buyers of OKTA shares in Q2.It’s almost as if everyone is waiting for more bad news as the stock sits here at $76.So I bought some. I’m obviously looking for the “contrarian upside” to good news the stock is not being discounted for. Here’s what I told my TAZR members yesterday… TAZR TradersPortfolio is buying Okta between $74 and $76.I just went over the numbers and outlook. Unless somebody knows that another internal OKTA security breach is going to drop, or they are losing customers because of the way they handled the last one, I think the stock is cheap relative to all cybersecurity peers.It’s back to a Zacks #1 Rank for a reason and I don’t see the worry here at $13 billion, trading under 5X sales.In the last few weeks since the company report, the Zacks consensus EPS estimate for this fiscal 2025 (ends in January) rose 7% from $2.40 to $2.57, representing a 29X P/E in an industry loaded with 90X P/Es.(end of TAZR Buy Alert excerpt) Why I Think OKTA Has a Bright FutureBesides that fact that the company specializes in “identity security,” in essence making sure that the person authorized for an IT function is the one being authenticated and monitored, they are also aggressively pursuing the edges of new AI threat vectors.Yesterday, they rolled out an expansion of an existing service, Auth0, to attract more corporate clients as the threat landscape evolves. Traditional identity threats, bolstered by AI advances, are enabling low-quality, high-intensity attacks to become more dangerous and helping new, personalized attacks to emerge.With bots making up nearly 50% of all internet traffic, developers are challenged with securing their applications in this landscape. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), with possession-based or biometric factors, remains as one of the most effective defenses.Conversely, AI can also power bot detection, with AI helping Okta block 79% of automated login attempts and recently reduce bot traffic by 90% over a 90 day period.Auth0 Takes “Free for Developers” to a New Level with More Users, More Security, Free MFA & PasswordlessSAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 24, 2024– Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA), the leading independent Identity partner, today announced that it’s expanding the capabilities of Auth0 and the Okta Customer Identity Cloud to give developers more of the scalability, security, and customization they need. These enhancements start with the Auth0 Free Plan, including an increase to 25,000 monthly active users (MAUs), passwordless, unlimited* social & Okta connections, and custom domain support.“Developers are grappling with greater demand to rapidly deploy applications while facing increasingly sophisticated AI-powered bot attacks to defend against,” said Shiven Ramji, President, Customer Identity Cloud at Okta. “To help them stay ahead of these threats and grow their businesses, developers require solutions that can take care of identity and security for them. By making more Auth0 capabilities available at no added cost, developers can build secure apps from the start and feel confident in their ability to scale alongside significant user growth.”What I like about the OKTA approach here is the same thing that made me a dedicated NVIDIA ((NVDA Quick Quote – ) ) investor many years ago: they give powerful tools to developers who can then build new solutions for their clients within that ecosystem.The world of cybersecurity took a turn in this decade where the “hackers” are no longer in their pajamas in their parents’ basement. Now they are well-funded and equipped by state enterprises from North Korea, Iran, and Russia.That’s why I wrote a special report last October titled “State of Threat: Cyber Crime 3.0” where I detailed the new levels of sophistication, especially with AI applications.If you want a copy of that report, just email Ultimate@Zacks.com and tell ’em Cooker sent you. Bottom LineRansomware costs are expected to soar at a 30% CAGR from $35B in 2023 to $220B by 2030. You don’t have to buy OKTA, but you better own at least 3 cyber firms since the enterprises needing extensive protection usually employ 5+ of them to cover all bases.More By This Author:Bull Of The Day: Taiwan Semi Bull Of The Day: Datadog – Wednesday, August 7Bear Of The Day: Crowdstrike
Bull Of The Day: Okta
