Cloud stocks continue to be a bright spot on the Nasdaq as two more surged on earnings beats.
Okta shares spiked 10.4 percent on Thursday after the cloud software company reported a narrower loss than analysts' expected and raised its revenue guidance for the year. Cloudera, a machine learning and analytics platform for the cloud, finished the day up 12.3 percent after reporting a 25 percent revenue increase compared to last year, at $118.2 million.
Okta's stock ended the day at $66.95, bringing its gains for the year to 161 percent. Since going public in April 2017, Okta has been one of the best performers among a growing number of cloud-based software providers that are almost all outperforming the broader market. Cloudera, on the other hand, is still down more than 21 percent for the year.
Okta's earnings report follows better-than-expected results last week from cloud companies Salesforce and Workday. Okta, which sells identity management software, also said it was cash flow positive for the first time.
Okta lost 4 cents per share in the quarter, excluding some items, compared to the 11-cent average analyst estimate, according to Refinitiv. Revenue climbed 58 percent to $105.6 million, also topping estimates and the company's own guidance.
For the full year of fiscal 2019, Okta said it now expects revenue of $391 million to $392 million, an increase over its prior expectation for sales for $372 million to $375 million.
