OKTA · Forward model · McKinnon case
The McKinnon case, 20 quarters out
Model as of
Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.
Reported lines only. Okta operates as ONE reportable segment and disaggregates revenue into exactly two lines in its statements of operations - Subscription and Professional services and other - and this model carries exactly those two. All fourteen historical quarters, 2023 Q2 through 2026 Q3, are disclosed figures read from the 8-K Exhibit 99.1 of each quarter; nothing is apportioned and nothing is estimated. Every quarter's two lines sum to reported total revenue exactly, $793m + $12m = $805m at the basis quarter. There is no Workforce-versus-Customer-Identity split and no quarterly geographic split to be had; either would be manufactured. QUARTER LABELS ARE FISCAL. The r40 label is the calendar quarter each fiscal period ENDS in, so '2026 Q3' here is the three months ended 31 July 2026, Okta's fiscal 2027 second quarter. Seasonality index 0 is therefore the quarter ending 31 JANUARY, not January-March. FREE CASH FLOW IS NOT OKTA'S FREE CASH FLOW. The engine computes it as EBITDA less capex less tax. Okta's reported figure is operating cash flow less property, equipment and capitalised software, so it also includes interest income - about $19m in the basis quarter - and the working-capital inflow from deferred revenue and deferred commissions. The $2,299m generating that interest is added back separately as net cash, so counting it inside free cash flow as well would double-count it. The model's first projected year runs a 25.9% free-cash-flow margin against Okta's guided 28-29% for fiscal 2027 and a 31.3% trailing-twelve-month reported margin, and the model's Rule of 40 therefore runs below the site's own R40 card for the same quarter. Okta's reported free cash flow is also heavily seasonal on collections, 12% to 42% of revenue across the stored quarters, while the engine produces a smooth margin: compare annual totals, never one projected quarter. Margins are on Okta's NON-GAAP basis - 84.0% subscription and -50.0% services gross margin in the basis quarter - while our stored series holds the GAAP figure, about two points lower. Corporate overhead is zero because the vertical margins are already struck at a consolidated level; adding an overhead line would double-count operating expense. Tax is a constant 15%, between the disclosed 7.7% effective rate under a full US valuation allowance and the 21% non-GAAP planning rate management adopted on 1 February 2026; fair value moves about 1.2% per point. Shares are 178,808,000 GAAP diluted, matching the filed statements and our stored company profile; management's own guidance assumes the 184,448,000 non-GAAP count, which would lower fair value by about 3.2%. The $555m remaining on the $1bn buyback pushes the other way and is NOT modelled - a buyback is a financing use of cash, not an operating outlay, and charging it as capex would understate free cash flow. There is no capital programme: Okta has no fab, plant or joint venture, and the $13m of half-year capital spending is already inside the vertical capex intensities. The reference price is the $172.91 close of 27 August 2026, the session after the print, not the $134.42 that our stored profile still carries. No consensus figure is used anywhere: the available feed mixes three different EPS bases for the same quarter, so every beat quoted here is measured against Okta's own prior guidance instead.
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Latest: $1.27B (2031Q3E)
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2023Q2 | $518M |
| 2023Q3 | $556M |
| 2023Q4 | $584M |
| 2024Q1 | $605M |
| 2024Q2 | $617M |
| 2024Q3 | $646M |
| 2024Q4 | $665M |
| 2025Q1 | $682M |
| 2025Q2 | $688M |
| 2025Q3 | $728M |
| 2025Q4 | $742M |
| 2026Q1 | $761M |
| 2026Q2 | $765M |
| 2026Q3 | $805M |
| 2026Q4E | $825M |
| 2027Q1E | $848M |
| 2027Q2E | $853M |
| 2027Q3E | $894M |
| 2027Q4E | $914M |
| 2028Q1E | $937M |
| 2028Q2E | $941M |
| 2028Q3E | $984M |
| 2028Q4E | $1.00B |
| 2029Q1E | $1.03B |
| 2029Q2E | $1.03B |
| 2029Q3E | $1.08B |
| 2029Q4E | $1.10B |
| 2030Q1E | $1.12B |
| 2030Q2E | $1.12B |
| 2030Q3E | $1.17B |
| 2030Q4E | $1.19B |
| 2031Q1E | $1.22B |
| 2031Q2E | $1.22B |
| 2031Q3E | $1.27B |
Where each case comes from
Bear case — primary sources
The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Bear column is what happens if they are taken at face value.
Management guides its own leading indicator back down
- Aug 26, 2026 Current RPO of $2.590 billion to $2.600 billion , representing a growth rate of 11% to 12% year-over-year
- Aug 26, 2026 Total revenue of $813 million to $817 million, representing a growth rate of 10% year-over-year
- Aug 27, 2026 Dollar-based net retention rate for the trailing 12 months ended 107 % 106 %
Bull case — primary sources
The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Bull column is what happens if they are taken at face value.
The backlog turned before the revenue line did
- Aug 26, 2026 cRPO, which represents subscription backlog expected to be recognized over the next 12 months, was $2.585 billion, up 14% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2026.
- Aug 26, 2026 RPO, or subscription backlog, was $4.858 billion, an increase of 17% year-over-year.
- Aug 26, 2026 Free cash flow was $227 million, or 28% of total revenue, compared to $162 million, or 22% of total revenue
McKinnon case — primary sources
The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the McKinnon column is what happens if they are taken at face value.
The CEO's agent-identity case, in the filed release
From cash flow to fair value
The published model, discounted at 10.0% a year with an exit multiple of 7.0x on revenue. The sliders above do not change this walk.
| Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters | $4.44B |
| Terminal-year revenue | $4.91B |
| Terminal-year EBITDA | $1.73B |
| Exit multiple, on revenue | 7.0x |
| Terminal value | $34.37B |
| Discounted at 10.0% a year, terminal value becomes | $21.34B |
| Share of enterprise value from the terminal | 83% |
| Enterprise value | $25.77B |
| Net cash | $2.30B |
| Equity value | $28.07B |
| Shares | 0.18B |
| Fair value per share | $157.00 |
| Against the deployed price of $171.11, as of | −8% |
Terminal value is 79.7% of enterprise value in the base case, so the exit multiple is the single largest input in this model and any statement about Okta being cheap or expensive is a statement about that multiple. The base takes 6.0x terminal revenue: the terminal year grows 6.1% at a 29.1% free-cash-flow margin, which is about 20.7x terminal cash flow. Okta itself trades at 8.88x guided fiscal 2027 revenue - $30,916m of equity at $172.91 on 178.8m diluted shares, less $2,299m of net cash, over the $3,221m guidance midpoint. Repo peers at the same exit line: Salesforce 4.5x on roughly 10% growth, ServiceNow 7.5x, Datadog 8.0x, Palo Alto 9.0x, CrowdStrike 12.0x at a 35% free-cash-flow margin. A 6% grower does not belong at the top of that range. The discount rate is 10%, peer-consistent for a profitable software business with $2.3bn of net cash and no financing need.
Read the other way round: at $171.11 the market is paying 7.8x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.
The projected path
| Quarter | Subscription | Professional services and other | Revenue | YoY | EBITDA | Capex | FCF | R40 | PV of FCF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q4E | $814M | $11M | $825M | +11% | $254M | $7M | $209M | +37 | $204M |
| 2027 Q1E | $838M | $10M | $848M | +11% | $264M | $8M | $218M | +37 | $208M |
| 2027 Q2E | $844M | $10M | $853M | +12% | $269M | $8M | $222M | +38 | $207M |
| 2027 Q3E | $885M | $9M | $894M | +11% | $285M | $8M | $236M | +37 | $214M |
| 2027 Q4E | $906M | $8M | $914M | +11% | $295M | $9M | $244M | +37 | $216M |
| 2028 Q1E | $929M | $8M | $937M | +11% | $305M | $9M | $252M | +37 | $218M |
| 2028 Q2E | $933M | $8M | $941M | +10% | $309M | $9M | $255M | +37 | $216M |
| 2028 Q3E | $976M | $7M | $984M | +10% | $326M | $9M | $269M | +37 | $223M |
| 2028 Q4E | $998M | $7M | $1.00B | +10% | $336M | $10M | $277M | +37 | $224M |
| 2029 Q1E | $1.02B | $7M | $1.03B | +10% | $346M | $10M | $286M | +38 | $225M |
| 2029 Q2E | $1.02B | $7M | $1.03B | +10% | $349M | $10M | $288M | +38 | $222M |
| 2029 Q3E | $1.07B | $6M | $1.08B | +9% | $367M | $10M | $303M | +38 | $228M |
| 2029 Q4E | $1.09B | $6M | $1.10B | +9% | $376M | $11M | $311M | +38 | $228M |
| 2030 Q1E | $1.12B | $6M | $1.12B | +9% | $387M | $11M | $319M | +38 | $229M |
| 2030 Q2E | $1.12B | $6M | $1.12B | +9% | $389M | $11M | $322M | +38 | $225M |
| 2030 Q3E | $1.17B | $6M | $1.17B | +9% | $408M | $11M | $337M | +38 | $230M |
| 2030 Q4E | $1.19B | $6M | $1.19B | +9% | $418M | $12M | $345M | +38 | $230M |
| 2031 Q1E | $1.21B | $5M | $1.22B | +9% | $429M | $12M | $354M | +38 | $231M |
| 2031 Q2E | $1.22B | $5M | $1.22B | +9% | $431M | $12M | $356M | +38 | $226M |
| 2031 Q3E | $1.27B | $5M | $1.27B | +9% | $451M | $13M | $373M | +38 | $231M |
Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.
Model revisions
Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.
| Date | Fair value then | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-29 | $127.74 | First published model, built on the 2026 Q3 (fiscal 2027 second quarter) 8-K Exhibit 99.1 and the matching 10-Q: fourteen disclosed quarters of the subscription and professional-services split, the disclosed $100k+ ACV customer count as the subscription driver, and day-count seasonality on the subscription line only. |