needham analyst alex henderson maintained a hold on okta inc okta oktas shares rallied after the close on a solid 3q print and 4q guide however the company also called out a material weakening of conditions particularly in smbs and new customers in the pipeline okta noted a material erosion in conditions over the last quarter and called its guide careful okta is also sharply slowing hiring to provide operating leverage in fy24 okta hopes to drive sales productivity gains in cy23 but the slow staffing growth suggests slower growth in fy25 bmo analyst keith bachman reiterated outperform and raised the price target to 69 from 58 while it has been a long and challenging journey he thinks oktas stock can begin to move in a positive direction while microsoft corp msft will continue to serve as an overhang for the multiple the numerous are too low the guidance is very conservative hence even with his estimates moving lower he rerated the stock bachman wrote rbc analyst matthew hedberg maintained outperform and raised the price target to 80 from 70 okta delivered solid results ahead of expectations while fy23 guidance moved slightly higher while macros continued to worsen results benefited from better sales execution and success with more significant deals preliminary fy24 guidance was provided and lower than expectations though conservative as he thinks it creates an attractive setup for upside in fy24 and likely a reacceleration in fy25 mizuho analyst gregg moskowitz reiterated a buy with a 90 price target following a very weak 2q okta executed much better while okta requires investor patience and it has become a showme story moskowitz wouldnt lose sight of the fact that okta remains a leader in the critically important identity management market moreover the valuation is very compelling moskowitz said raymond james analyst adam tindle maintained market perform he rerated after 3q results that featured slightly less upside to the midpoint of growth metrics still a more significant upside to profitability metrics as okta transitioned to a new era tindle previously suggested that a sales leadership change may make sense at this point which has now come to fruition with the departure of susan st ledger forward guidance carries this trend price action okta shares traded higher by 245 at 6636 on the last check thursday