Profitable at Last: Will These 3 Tremendous High-Flyers Keep Soaring?

Paint It Black

Sales are the lifeblood of any business, fueling the engine that drives profitability and, ultimately, stock price appreciation. Without consistent revenue from customers willing to pay for a company’s offerings, even the most innovative ventures risk floundering in a sea of red ink. 

While some point to Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) decades-long journey to profitability as a model for growth-over-profits, the reality is stark: most businesses that fail to convert sales into sustainable profits are shaky investments. Customers must see enough value to open their wallets, enabling companies to cover costs, reinvest in growth, and deliver shareholder value. 

Profitability signals operational discipline and market validation, often propelling stock prices as investor confidence grows. The three companies below have long been burdened by losses, but recently achieved profitability. This raises the question of whether: can they maintain their momentum and continue delivering growth for investors.

Okta (OKTA)

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) is a leader in identity and access management, providing cloud-based solutions like single sign-on and multi-factor authentication to secure employee and customer access across digital platforms.

Its Okta Identity Cloud serves around 20,000 clients, including major brands like Siemens, by ensuring seamless and secure access to applications and devices. After years of heavy R&D spending and acquisitions like Auth0, Okta turned profitable in late 2024, reporting $9 million in net income in Q3 followed by $23 million Q4 — a stark contrast to the $81 million and $44 million in losses, respectively, the year before.

This shift stems from robust 11% Q1 revenue growth to $688 million, driven by large enterprise clients and a burgeoning identity governance segment hitting $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Despite macro headwinds and a 2023 security breach, Okta’s focus on AI-driven security and a massive $80 billion addressable market suggest sustained growth, though slowing federal business and high valuation pose risks.

DoorDash (DASH)

DoorDash (NASDAQ:DASH) is best known as a third-party food delivery service, but today operates a leading commerce platform connecting merchants, consumers, and delivery drivers. It has expanded into grocery and retail to broaden its growth opportunities. 

DashPass is its subscription service and acquisitions like Wolt have bolstered its market dominance. In 2025, DoorDash achieved consistent profitability, with year-to-date net income reaching $478 million and guiding Q3 adjusted EBITDA to a range of $680 million to $780 million, reflecting 25% year-over-year revenue growth. 

This profitability arises from strong marketplace gross order value (GOV) of $24.2 billion, efficient cost management, and a growing advertising business hitting a $1 billion run rate. The company’s low debt and cash-heavy balance sheet support further expansion. With GOV guidance for the third quarter at $24.2 billion to $24.7 billion and untapped potential in advertising (it has 1.2% penetration compared to Uber Technologies‘ (NYSE:UBER) Uber Eats 2%), DoorDash’s diversified growth avenues signal continued momentum, though competition and regulatory pressures loom.

Toast (TOST)

Toast (NYSE:TOST) provides a cloud-based platform tailored for the restaurant industry, offering an all-in-one solution for point-of-sale, payments, payroll, inventory management, and customer loyalty programs. 

Serving over 148,000 restaurant locations, from small cafes to national chains, Toast has capitalized on the hospitality sector’s digital transformation. In the second quarter, Toast reported trailing net income of $224 million, a 41% increase and a sharp reversal from a $136 million trailing loss the prior year, driven by 25% revenue growth to $1.55 billion and improved operating margins. Its subscription-based model, emphasizing high-margin software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue, has been a key profitability driver, with annualized recurring run-rate (ARR) rising 31% to $1.9 billion. 

However, Toast faces challenges from reliance on small-to-mid-sized restaurants, which are sensitive to economic downturns, and intense competition from established players like Square and Clover. Rising transaction fees and potential regulatory scrutiny on payment processing could pressure margins. 

With a disciplined focus on cost control, a growing international footprint, and a sticky platform that embeds deeply into restaurant operations, Toast appears well-positioned to sustain its profitable growth trajectory, provided it navigates competitive and economic headwinds effectively.