3. Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 46
Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) is a cloud-based cybersecurity company which specializes in identity access management. Its main platform is the Okta Identity Cloud, which offers businesses, government agencies and other entities a range of identity solutions.
On July 19, Bernstein analyst Peter Weed initiated coverage of Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) with a ‘Market Perform’ rating and a $94 price target. The analyst noted that the company is an “exciting” near 40% organic growth story since before Covid, through the pandemic and in 2022 as well. He noted that this growth does not account for the rapid growth generated by Okta’s acquisition of Auth0.
A detailed review of the 900+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey showed that 46 hedge funds were bullish on Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) at the end of the first quarter, in comparison to 52 hedge funds a quarter earlier. With a stake consisting of 1.78 million shares worth nearly $270 million, SCGE Management was the biggest Q1 shareholder of Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA).
Here is what investment firm Lakehouse Capital had to say about Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) in its Q2 2021 investor letter:
“The Fund held 20 positions as of the end of June and exited four during the year (including) Okta. The companies we exited were sold almost entirely on the basis of their valuations getting stretched well past their norms and to levels where the return profile no longer offered the asymmetric upside that led us to invest in the first place. We dislike selling on valuation as great growth companies are hard to find and letting winners run is an important facet of a winning growth strategy, however, we’re not gluttons for punishment either and in each of those cases we redeployed capital towards other high-quality growth companies with less demanding valuations.”
2. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 80
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a Texas-based company which offers managed security services, IT operations management, threat intelligence and hunting, Zero Trust identity protection, and log management.
With combined positions worth $5.55 billion, 80 hedge funds were long CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) at the end of the first quarter of 2022. This shows a positive trend from the previous quarter where 74 hedge funds held $5.23 billion worth of stakes in the cybersecurity firm. Tiger Global Management LLC was the largest Q1 shareholder of the firm, with a massive $2 billion stake.
On June 6, Morgan Stanley analyst Hamza Fodderwala upgraded CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ with a price target of $215, up from $195. He noted that the recent pullback offers an attractive entry point, and that the stock offers “defensive positioning” in an uncertain macro environment. Fodderwala noted that security demand remains durable as companies increase cybersecurity spending in a rising threat environment. According to the analyst, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a leading beneficiary of growing secular trends within the cybersecurity industry.
“CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD), a security software platform designed to protect information technology assets and cloud workloads, delivered strong earnings results with solid recurring revenue, customer growth, and profitability. We expect strong demand to continue, largely in part due to the elevated cyber security threat environment as Russia may seek to attack governments and enterprises in retaliation for economic sanctions imposed in response to its attack on Ukraine.”
