Okta soars 5% after first earnings report

Okta reported its first quarterly results since going public in April. The company managed to surpass investors’ expectations and went up 5 percent in initial after-hours trading.

Okta, which provides identity management software for businesses, brought in $53 million in revenue, a 67 percent increase from the same period last year. Investors had been forecasting $48 million.

But losses increased from $22.8 million to $28.9 million in the same time frame. Adjusted losses went from $19.3 million to $20 million, or 50 cents per share. Analysts were expecting negative 62 cents.

“We will be profitable, it’s just a matter of when,” CEO Todd McKinnon said in a call with TechCrunch.

But for now, Okta has “been aggressively investing in growth,” he said. “We’re investing a ton in innovation and R&D to make new products for our customers.”

The company is forecasting between $55 million and $56 million in revenue for the second quarter of this year.

But someday, “we want to do $500 million in revenue in a quarter,” McKinnon said.

Okta is part of a crowded marketplace, but they claim they are uniquely positioned to benefit customers. “All the companies that compete with us, whether it’s Salesforce or Microsoft, they have an agenda, they want a certain app to be used,” said McKinnon.

Shares closed Wednesday at $25.69. The company has a market cap of $2.3 billion.