Sifting through countless of stocks in the IT Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Okta, Inc. or International Business Machines Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation

Okta, Inc. operates as an identity partner in the United States and internationally. It offers Single Sign-on to secure access to cloud and on-premises applications from any device; Adaptive MFA for a risk-based layer of security for an organization’s cloud, mobile, and web applications; API Access Management, which enables organizations to secure APIs as systems; Access Gateway, which extends the Okta platform to hybrid IT environments; Okta Device Access, which extends Okta platform’s secure access management to the device login experience; Universal Directory for a cloud-based system of record. The company also provides Identity Threat Protection; Identity Security Posture Management for security measures and safeguards digital assets; Okta for AI Agents to discover, register, authenticate, govern, and manage AI Agents; Identity Governance and Administration products, including Lifecycle Management, Okta Workflows, Okta Identity Governance, and Cross App Access; Advanced Server Access for continuous and contextual access management to secure cloud infrastructure; and Okta Privileged Access to reduce risk with unified access and governance management. In addition, it provides Universal Login, a standards-based login infrastructure; Attack Protection Suite to minimize risks associated with identity-targeted attacks; Adaptive MFA; Passwordless, which enables users to login without a password; Machine-to-Machine Tokens for authentication and authorization with NHIs; Private Cloud, a deployment option; Organizations, which support a large number of partners or customers; Extensibility, which enables customers to build customized identity flows; Fine Grained Authorization, which manages complex authorization scenarios; and Auth0 for AI Agents to secure and scale agentic applications. The company was formerly known as Saasure, Inc. Okta, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allow clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate. The Consulting segment delivers strategy and technology services and intelligent operations, providing business transformation, technology implementation, managed services, application modernization, and AI-powered solutions. The Infrastructure segment provides on-premises and cloud-based server, and storage solutions, as well as life-cycle services for hybrid cloud infrastructure deployment. The Financing segment offers client and commercial financing, and facilitates IBM clients’ acquisition of hardware, software, and services. It operates a data streaming platform. The company has strategic partnerships with various companies, including hyperscalers, service providers, global system integrators, and software and hardware vendors that include Adobe, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Samsung Electronics and SAP, and others. It also has a strategic collaboration with Arm Holdings plc for the development of new dual-architecture hardware that helps enterprises run future AI and data intensive workloads; strategic partnership with three.ws to advance ai-powered 3d agent technology; and collaboration with Lightwell to help strengthen open source software supply chain. Additionally, it offers operational resilience, logistics, and future-ready technology to the UK Ministry of Defence through Team ORION. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. International Business Machines Corporation was incorporated in 1911 and is headquartered in Armonk, New York.

Latest IT Services and Okta, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation Stock News

As of September 4, 2026, Okta, Inc. had a $29.8 billion market capitalization, compared to the IT Services median of $832.9 million. Okta, Inc.’s stock is up 97.3% in 2026, up 2.6% in the previous five trading days and up 90.11% in the past year.

Currently, Okta, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 103.8. Okta, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $3.1 billion with a 9.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.929 per share for the current fiscal year. Okta, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of September 4, 2026, International Business Machines Corporation had a $221.3 billion market cap, putting it in the 99th percentile of all stocks. International Business Machines Corporation’s stock is down 20.7% in 2026, down 0.3% in the previous five trading days and down 4.97% in the past year.

Currently, International Business Machines Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 20.9. International Business Machines Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $69.1 billion with a 15.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 1.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $12.321 per share for the current fiscal year. International Business Machines Corporation currently has a 2.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Okta, Inc.	OKTA	F
International Business Machines Corporation	IBM	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Okta, Inc. has a Value Score of 11, which is Ultra Expensive. International Business Machines Corporation has a Value Score of 27, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Okta, Inc. or International Business Machines Corporation has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Okta, Inc. or International Business Machines Corporation is the better investment when it comes to value.

Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Okta, Inc.	OKTA	A
International Business Machines Corporation	IBM	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Okta, Inc. has a Quality Score of 94, which is Very Strong. International Business Machines Corporation has a Quality Score of 91, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Okta, Inc.	OKTA	A
International Business Machines Corporation	IBM	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Okta, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 92, which is Very Strong. International Business Machines Corporation has a Momentum Score of 28, which is Weak.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Okta, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Okta, Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to International Business Machines Corporation. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Okta, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation Grades

In addition to Quality, Momentum and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Okta, Inc. or International Business Machines Corporation Stock?

Overall, Okta, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 11, Momentum Score of 92 and Quality Score of 94.

International Business Machines Corporation stock has a Value Score of 27, Momentum Score of 28 and Quality Score of 91.

Comparing Okta, Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.