Okta Raises Outlook After $805M Quarter as It Widens AI-Agent Security
Okta’s agent tools focus on discovering agents, securing their connections and governing permissions. Permiso is meant to add threat detection after authentication, but the company says the market is still taking shape.
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3 key pointsOkta’s stronger-than-expected fiscal second quarter gives it room to expand an identity-security business aimed at autonomous software. Revenue reached $805 million, RPO rose 17% to $4.86 billion, and fiscal 2027 guidance moved up to $3.216 billion-$3.226 billion. The company also completed its approximately $200 million Permiso acquisition, adding runtime detection and identity-posture management across...
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Adjusted earnings reached $1.05 per share versus analysts’ $0.97 estimate; GAAP net income rose to $116 million from $67 million.
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New products generated 30% of bookings, with dozens of AI-related deals reported, including a multimillion-dollar healthcare contract.
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Permiso adds detection of suspicious post-authentication behavior across human, non-human and agentic identities in multicloud environments.
Okta is putting AI agents at the center of its identity-security pitch. The company reported $805 million in fiscal second-quarter revenue, beat analyst expectations, raised its full-year forecast and made Okta for AI Agents widely available.
Identity controls for software that can act
AI agents can independently connect to enterprise systems, access sensitive information and act for users, according to Okta. That gives each agent a distinct identity-security problem: what it is allowed to reach and what it is allowed to do.
Okta says its Okta for AI Agents and Auth0 for AI Agents products are designed to discover agents, secure their connections, govern permissions and respond to suspicious activity. The approach treats agents as non-human identities that need their own access controls, rather than as an extension of an employee login.
A stronger quarter supports the rollout
Revenue exceeded the $795 million analyst estimate, while adjusted earnings of $1.05 a share beat the $0.97 expected. GAAP net income was $116 million, compared with $67 million a year earlier.
Okta raised its fiscal 2027 revenue forecast to $3.216 billion to $3.226 billion, from roughly $3.19 billion to $3.21 billion previously. It also said it closed dozens of AI-related deals, including a multimillion-dollar healthcare deal.
Permiso extends the focus beyond access
Okta closed its roughly $200 million acquisition of Permiso Security, whose cloud-native platform detects and mitigates threats involving human, non-human and agentic identities across multicloud environments. Okta plans to combine Permiso’s runtime detection and identity-posture-management capabilities with its own platform, targeting suspicious behavior after authentication.
Chief Executive Todd McKinnon says the opportunity to secure agentic AI remains early. Okta has disclosed initial sales momentum, but the category’s long-term scale and durability remain unclear.
Sources
- securityweek.comOkta Shares Surge on Strong Earnings, Growing Demand for AI Identity Security
- cnbc.comOkta pops 15% after topping estimates as AI threat spikes demand for identity security