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Okta (OKTA) is modestly higher today, bouncing back from early losses, after reporting its Q3 (Oct) results last night. The company beat expectations on the top and bottom line, with revenue increasing 11.6% yr/yr to $742 mln. It also raised its FY26 EPS and revenue guidance to $3.43-3.44 and $2.906-2.908 bln, respectively, both ahead of expectations and larger increases than the Q3 upside. Despite the beat and upbeat outlook, shares are relatively muted, which can reflect some disappointment as management declined to offer its preliminary view for next year, something it has typically provided in the past, leaving investors with less visibility heading into FY27.

• RPO increased 17% yr/yr to $4.292 bln, while cRPO increased 13% yr/yr to $2.328 bln, both holding relatively steady compared to Q2. It expects Q4 cRPO to grow about 9% yr/yr to $2.445-2.45 bln.
• Strength continued across its large customers, particularly with new products including governance, privileged access, device access, and identity posture management.
• It also saw steady momentum in the public sector, and importantly, the government shutdown did not meaningfully impact its Q3 results.
• AI is acting as a meaningful catalyzer, with management noting that many enterprises cannot safely scale their AI initiatives without a control plane to govern and secure AI agents. This need is driving strong interest in Okta's early offerings, likeAuth0 for AI agents.
• Management views this as a major long-term opportunity, but with contributions still early, the impact on near-term growth remains limited.
• The refrained FY27 outlook reflects the seasonality of Q4, its largest quarter, where offering an early view would require too much conservatism to be meaningful. Management said it simply needs to see how Q4 plays out first.
• Management instead underscored its momentum heading into Q4, driven by improving sales productivity and recent capacity additions.

Briefing.com Analyst Insight

On paper, this was a solid report from Okta. It beat expectations, raised full-year guidance, and showed sustained traction across large customers and new products, along with a growing pipeline around AI agent security. Even so, the stock's reaction is fairly muted, as the strong quarter is bumping up against the lack of an early FY27 outlook and limited near-term visibility into what AI-driven offerings will contribute. The long-term story still looks compelling, but Q4 cRPO guidance suggests growth remains steady rather than accelerating, keeping the focus on Q4 and whether newer initiatives can set up a clearer inflection heading into next year.