Cloud identity management company Okta Inc. today announced the acquisition of “low code” workflow automation startup Azuqua Inc. in a deal valued at $52.5 million.

The announcement came as the company posted its fourth-quarter earnings results, beating expectations but coming up short on guidance, causing its stock to fall sharply in after-hours trading.

Okta said it will integrate Azuqua’s technology into its Lifecycle Management products, which are used by enterprises to provision applications and services for new employees. Azuqua’s technology helps to integrate data from disparate sources across customer backend systems. Okta said this would help it synchronize employee identities across its workplace apps, such as those used for human resources and payroll systems.

“Identity is the unifying component that can make all of these technologies interact seamlessly and securely,”  Frederic Kerrest, Okta’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said in a statement. “Identity will power the next wave of movement to best-in-breed technology.”

Analyst Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. told SiliconANGLE that the integration between Okta and Azuqua should be useful as “low code” platforms are powerful mechanisms for enterprises that seek to enable employees that lack coding knowledge to build next-generation applications.

“Today Okta is acquiring Azuqua, enabling its customers to build identity operated applications,” Mueller said. “Authentication and user management are one of the challenges for low code as there is no operations personnel. CxOs will take notice of the combined offering, especially if they are already Okta customers.”

The acquisition may well have helped lessen the impact of a disappointing forecast for Okta, which caused investors to run for the hills.

The company said it’s expecting a first-quarter 2019 loss of 21 to 22 cents per share on revenue of $116 million to $117 million, and a full-year loss of 48 to 53 cents on revenue of $530 million to $535 million. Wall Street had forecast a first-quarter loss of just 12 cents per share on $111.7 million and a full-year loss of 22 cents on revenue of $518.3 million.

The lower guidance sent Okta’s shares into a tailspin, as they fell by more than 10 percent in after-hours trading, before recovering somewhat to a 6.5 percent fall after the acquisition was announced. By the market close on Friday, shares were down 3.4 percent.

That came despite a fine fourth-quarter performance which also saw Okta announce important customer deployments, The Brinks Co. and Hitachi Ltd.

Okta posted a fourth-quarter loss before certain costs such as stock compensation of 4 cents per share on revenue of $115 million. Analysts had the company down for a loss of 8 cents per share on revenue of $107.95 million.

Okta also reported year-over-year subscription revenue growth of 53 percent, to $108.5 million. It ended the quarter with more than 6,100 customers in total.

In a conference call shortly after the earnings announcement, Okta officials tried to ease investor’s concerns around its poor guidance, saying they’re extremely optimistic about the company’s longer-term potential.

The company is looking to expand globally, officials said. Currently, just 16 percent of its business comes from international customers, though that’s growing at a rate of 56 percent. The international expansion will be aided by its new customer and partner Hitachi, which is now acting as Okta’s first authorized reseller in Japan, officials added.

“The Okta Identity Cloud is uniquely positioned to both help organizations realize their digital transformation initiatives and adopt a Zero Trust security posture,” Okta Chief Executive Todd McKinnon (pictured) said in a statement.

Photo: Okta