KEY POINTS:
- Even though Roku is having trouble making money, the number of people who use it keeps growing.
- Okta is starting to make more money and is growing into new markets.
These tech stocks have been hit hard and are ready to make a comeback.
Investors had a hard time in 2022, especially in the tech industry, where the Nasdaq ended the year down 33%.
But the good news is that several stocks’ sharp sell-offs and low prices have put investors in a good position for a strong rebound when market sentiment changes. Incredibly growth stocks are priced well when you look at their long-term potential. Even though it doesn’t happen often, two stocks could double in 2023.
Roku
Last year, shares of Roku (ROKU 3.40%), the biggest streaming platform, fell by 82% because ad growth slowed, and the company lost a lot of money after making more investments.
But Roku is a company that has been fixed, and the business’s core parts keep improving. For example, the company just hit 70 million active accounts after adding nearly 10 million in the past year, which is more than it said in 2021. The number of hours streamed on Roku’s platform went up by 19% to 87.4 billion in 2022, which is a big jump.
Even though the sector is facing problems, these numbers show that demand for streaming on Roku is still going up. Last week, the company also put out its first Roku-branded TV, which gave it a new way to make money and made things easier for customers.
Demand for digital ads dropped sharply in the second half of 2022, which was terrible news for the industry. Roku predicted its sales would go down in the fourth quarter, but those negative factors are already priced into the stock.
Also, there are good reasons to think things could improve in 2023. The recent release of ad tiers on Disney+ and Netflix’s streaming services and the move of live sports to streaming will give Roku more ad space that can be used to make money, and the ad market will recover once the economy stops being so bad. A full-fledged recovery in the stock market may require a recovery in the economy, but now that the Fed has finished raising interest rates, that could happen sooner than expected.
Roku has low hopes for 2023. But the stock could go through the roof this year if the streaming platform can easily reach these small goals.
Okta
Like Roku, Okta (OKTA 5.94%) had a forgettable 2022. Last year, the cloud identity company’s stock dropped by 69% after it said it was having trouble integrating Auth0, a customer identity software company it bought in 2021. It gave up on long-term growth goals and said sales would slow down in 2023. (fiscal 2024). Okta has also lost several high-level executives, which adds to the idea that the company is in a mess.
But Okta, which gives companies tools that let customers and employees securely log in and stay connected to the apps they need, has a lot going for it as we start the new year, and it looks like a prime candidate for a comeback.
First, the company is the leader in cloud identity on its own. Since this fast-growing market is seen as an extension of cybersecurity, it tends to be less affected by recessions than other areas of software. The company is also growing into new markets that are close by. This will bring the total market size it can serve to $80 billion, compared to nearly $2 billion a year. Okta released its Identity Governance Access (IGA) product last year, and later this year, it plans to release Privileged Access Management (PAM). Some customers wait for PAM to come out before buying the new Okta suite.
In response to market needs, the company has made big improvements to its profit in the last quarter and its predictions for the future. After the numbers were rounded, the adjusted loss for the third quarter was $1 million, which means that each share was pretty much even. This was much better than what most people expected, which was a loss of $0.24 per share. The company’s forecast for the fourth quarter was also much better than analysts thought it would be. This shows that the company has more control over its profits than analysts thought.
Investors seemed disappointed by the company’s guidance for fiscal 2024, which called for only 16%-17% growth in revenue. However, the company has always been conservative with its guidance, so it’s likely doing the same with its forecast for next year.
If Okta can beat that number, roll out PAM well, and keep making more money, the stock has a lot of room to improve this year.
