Snowflake, Okta lead surging data-management stock gains

• Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW), Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) and other companies specializing in cloud-based data-management and security notched solid big gains Thursday as the sector showed signs of strong growth in the year ahead.
• Snowflake (SNOW) shares were up by more than 13% on upbeat reaction to the company's third-quarter results, and an outlook that sees fourth-quarter revenue nearly doubling from a year ago. Stifel analyst Brad Reback said there was "plenty of gas left in the tank," and raised his rating on Snowflake's stock to $350 a share from $300.
• "There is a sizable opportunity for significant revenue growth to continue," Reback said, as more customers are expected to adopt Snowflake's (SNOW) data platform.
• Okta (OKTA) was also doing well, with its shares rising more than 12% as the identity-management technology company reported quarterly sales and also said revenue is set to expand next year.
• Raymond James analyst Adam Tindale noted that one of Okta's (OKTA) particular strengths was its growing base of large customers. The company said that, during its third quarter, it added 215 new customers with an average contract value of at least $100,000, which was an increase of 59% from the year-ago period.
• "This suggests Okta is also building more strategic [and] sticky customers," said Tindale, who left his strong buy rating and $310-a-share price target on the company's stock unchanged.
• Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) shares didn't rise on the level of Snowflake (SNOW) or Okta (OKTA), but still climbed almost 5% after what was the data-management company's first earnings report since the surprise departure of Chief Executive Doug Merritt in November. Keith Bachman, of BMO Capital Markets, held steady with his outperform rating on Splunk's (SPLK) stock, but lowered his price target to $142 a share from $170.
• "Given Splunk's valuation, business model transition, and recent inconsistent reporting track record, we think in-line results should be viewed positively," Bachman said.
• CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) shares also performed well, Thursday, rising more than 4% after raising its fourth-quarter outlook and delivering strong third-quarter results late Wednesday.
• Truist Securities analyst Joel Fishbein maintained his buy rating and $300-a-share price target on CrowdStrike's (CRWD) shares, saying that CrowdStrike is benefiting from "broad-based strength" among small-to-medium sized businesses to large enterprises. Fishbein said CrowdStrike's (CRWD) efforts are also "transforming [the company] from being just an endpoint player into a platform provider for enterprises' security needs."