OKTA · Technology(services-prepackaged software) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-31
Okta, Inc. reported revenue of $2.9 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 38.0% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -46.4% in 2017 to 5.1%. Of the $2.5 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 16.7% went to acquisitions. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 2.69 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20262.9B+38.0% a year over 9 years
Operating margin5.1%gross margin 77.4%
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay331.0M11.3% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score7/8tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B
2017Revenue 160.8MOperating income -74.7M
2018Revenue 256.5MOperating income -111.9M
2019Revenue 399.3MOperating income -119.6M
2020Revenue 586.1MOperating income -185.8M
2021Revenue 835.0MOperating income -204.0M
2022Revenue 1.3BOperating income -768.0M
2023Revenue 1.9BOperating income -812.0M
2024Revenue 2.3BOperating income -516.0M
2025Revenue 2.6BOperating income -74.0M
2026Revenue 2.9BOperating income 149.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+16.3%
+28.4%
+38.0%
Free cash flow per share
+118.4%
+40.1%
—
Shares
+4.3%
+7.1%
—
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
3.4%
Return on assets
2.4%
Asset turnover
0.30×
Research & development
21.9% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
15.3% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-1.0B-500.0M0500.0M1.0B
2017Net income -75.1MFree cash flow -48.4MAfter stock-based pay -65.5M
2018Net income -109.8MFree cash flow -31.8MAfter stock-based pay -81.7M
2019Net income -125.5MFree cash flow -4.6MAfter stock-based pay -81.0M
2020Net income -208.9MFree cash flow 40.2MAfter stock-based pay -86.5M
2021Net income -266.0MFree cash flow 115.0MAfter stock-based pay -80.0M
2022Net income -848.0MFree cash flow 91.0MAfter stock-based pay -475.0M
2023Net income -815.0MFree cash flow 74.0MAfter stock-based pay -603.0M
2024Net income -355.0MFree cash flow 504.0MAfter stock-based pay -180.0M
2025Net income 28.0MFree cash flow 742.0MAfter stock-based pay 177.0M
2026Net income 235.0MFree cash flow 875.0MAfter stock-based pay 331.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026
2.5B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 5%111.1M
Acquisitions 17%412.9M
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 3%73.0M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 76%1.9B
Over the same years it paid 3.5B in stock. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-10.00$-5.00$0.00$5.00
2017
2018
2019
2020Earnings per share $-1.78Free cash flow per share $0.34
2021Earnings per share $-2.09Free cash flow per share $0.90
2022Earnings per share $-5.73Free cash flow per share $0.61
2023Earnings per share $-5.16Free cash flow per share $0.47
2024Earnings per share $-2.17Free cash flow per share $3.08
2025Earnings per share $0.16Free cash flow per share $4.24
2026Earnings per share $1.31Free cash flow per share $4.88
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
100.0M120.0M140.0M160.0M180.0M
2017
2018
2019
2020Diluted shares 117.2M
2021Diluted shares 127.2M
2022Diluted shares 148.0M
2023Diluted shares 158.0M
2024Diluted shares 163.6M
2025Diluted shares 175.1M
2026Diluted shares 179.3M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
37× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.43 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 86d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
7of 8 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
–Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fell — not reportedno data
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✓Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforepassed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
2.69safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.11 × 6.56+0.74
Retained earnings ÷ assets -0.26 × 3.26-0.86
Operating income ÷ assets 0.02 × 6.72+0.10
Equity ÷ liabilities 2.58 × 1.05+2.71
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.70below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 0.99+0.91
Gross margin slipping 0.99+0.52
Soft assets 0.98+0.40
Sales growth 1.12+1.00
Slower depreciation 0.91+0.10
Overheads vs sales 0.89-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.07-0.31
Leverage rising 0.98-0.32
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Capital spending (9M) is well below depreciation (13M).
Benign
Mature assets, or a business that has become less capital-intensive.
Worrying
Under-investing: today's profit is being held up by consuming tomorrow's capacity.
The effective tax rate is 7.8%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.