Okta reported fiscal second-quarter results above Wall Street expectations, raised its full-year revenue and adjusted-profit outlook, and closed its acquisition of threat-detection startup Permiso Security. Shares rose 20% in extended trading after the results, according to CNBC’s report on the release.
The update gives investors a stronger financial reading on an identity-security company that is trying to turn the spread of AI agents into a new product market. Okta said it made Okta for AI Agents generally available during the quarter, while new products represented 30% of total bookings. Those disclosures indicate that newer offerings are contributing to sales activity, though they do not isolate how much of the quarter’s revenue or guidance increase came from AI-agent products.
Results beat estimates as backlog expands
Okta posted adjusted earnings of $1.05 a share on revenue of $805 million. The consensus figures compiled by LSEG and cited by CNBC were 97 cents a share and $795 million, respectively. The revenue beat was about $10 million, or 1.3% above the estimate, while adjusted earnings exceeded the forecast by 8 cents, or roughly 8%.
Revenue increased 11% from $728 million a year earlier. Net income rose to $116 million, or 65 cents a share, from $67 million, or 37 cents a share, in the comparable period. The $49 million increase in net income represents growth of roughly 73%, although the results cited do not break out which operating or non-operating factors drove the change.
Management lifted its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $3.22 billion to $3.23 billion and projected adjusted earnings per share of $3.90 to $3.94. The revenue range has a midpoint of about $3.225 billion. Without the company’s prior range in the available reporting, the size of the guidance increase cannot be calculated from the disclosed figures.
Contracted business also grew faster than reported revenue. Remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue yet to be recognized, increased 17% year over year to $4.86 billion. Current remaining performance obligations rose 14% to $2.59 billion. The current portion equals a little more than half of total remaining performance obligations, suggesting a substantial share of contracted business is expected to convert on a nearer timetable, while the remainder extends further out.
RPO is not the same measure as quarterly bookings, and it should not be treated as a direct revenue forecast. Still, the 17% increase provides a useful counterpoint to the 11% reported revenue gain: demand already under contract was growing faster than sales recognized in the period.
AI-agent security becomes a product and sales focus
Okta’s emphasis on AI agents rests on a practical identity-management problem. Human employees can be provisioned, authenticated and assigned access privileges through established systems. Software agents that act across applications require similarly controlled identities, permissions and monitoring if companies are to limit what those agents can reach and record their activity.
During the quarter, Okta made Okta for AI Agents available to all customers. CNBC reported that the company closed dozens of AI-related deals, including a multimillion-dollar agreement with a healthcare company. Chief Executive Todd McKinnon told CNBC that recent AI-related security incidents were increasing customer interest in agentic-AI security.
The disclosed product and deal activity supports the conclusion that Okta is actively selling into this emerging category. It does not establish that concern about AI security caused the earnings beat, the higher outlook or the 20% after-hours stock move. The financial results combine the performance of Okta’s broader identity and access-management business with any contribution from its newer products.
Okta has also promoted broader economic arguments for identity security. In an August company blog post, it described a Forrester Consulting study that modeled a 216% three-year return on investment and $15.5 million in benefits for a composite organization. The study was commissioned by Okta and modeled rather than measured a representative set of all customers, so its figures are context for the company’s sales proposition, not independent confirmation of quarterly demand or customer-wide returns.
Permiso acquisition fits tuck-in approach
Okta also closed its acquisition of Permiso Security on the day of the earnings report, with the transaction valued at roughly $200 million, CNBC reported. Permiso is a threat-detection startup, adding a capability adjacent to Okta’s core work of managing identity, authentication and access.
The purchase is modest relative to the large-scale acquisitions that have periodically reshaped cybersecurity and enterprise-software markets. McKinnon told CNBC that Okta intends to keep pursuing smaller tuck-in transactions rather than acquire a large legacy company primarily for revenue. The Permiso deal is consistent with that stated approach, although Okta did not provide in the available reporting a financial contribution forecast or integration timetable for the acquired business.
For investors, the near-term evidence remains the earnings release: revenue growth held at 11%, contractual obligations rose 17%, and management increased its full-year targets. The AI-agent product rollout and Permiso acquisition show where Okta is placing additional strategic emphasis, but their financial impact will depend on whether product bookings translate into durable revenue and renewal growth in subsequent periods.
