ZM

As an online provider of video communication platforms, Zoom felt nearly irreplaceable in the pandemic times. The company became a symbol of life transformations in how co-workers and business partners may interact via secured meetings and chats using content sharing and many more useful features for remote management access and solving problems. Its IPO starting price in 2019 was at $65 per share, yet later it soared to $588 at some point of the corona-related boom in autumn of 2020. Yet, it was difficult to properly monetize this very popular service's advantages in a short time, as most Zoom users were not used to pay much for a software. Therefore, a fortunate trend faded even before lifting corona restrictions globally.

Yet, the company tried to adapt to the changing world slowly and steadily, reducing costs and raising revenues. Its management resorted to cutting more than 15% of its workforce and improving multifunctionality and comfortability of all services. “We worked tirelessly and made Zoom better for our customers and users. But we also made mistakes. We didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyse our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities,” Zoom CEO Eric Yuan wrote in February 2023.

Zoom shares’ prices were stagnating near their lows during the year, but may have finally reached a bottom by early November. Zoom stock bounced by 12.5% this month, including more than 6% of a price rebound when the upside move accelerated to follow the company's upbeat Q3 report on November 20. Zoom Video Communications revealed a noticeable increase in its earnings, with net income exceeded $400 million, or $1.29 per share vs consensus estimates of $1.08. The company presented its earnings above market estimates in each quarter of 2022 and 2023, which may produce a cumulative effect at some moment. At least, this may allow extending a range market oscillations of Zoom share price with a possible test of a $75.90 peaking price of September compared to nearly $68 per share as November 29. This may also correspond with broader Wall Street cycling, which is probably on its rallying stage right now. The stock had three consecutive days of gains this week already.

The company's sales is approaching $1.15 billion, up by 3.5% of currency-adjusted growth. The enterprise segment of Zoom's business grew by 7.5%, based on a 5% expansion of its customer base, while high-revenue customers added 13.5%. Its customer retention rate is 105%. Operating cash flow surged by 67%, the balance sheet shows $6.5 billion in assets against less than $2 billion in liabilities. Zoom AI Companion may also enhance the platform's value in the near future. Therefore, Zoom raised its full-year guidance to 13% for free cash flow, annual revenue between $4.506 billion and $4.511 billion, and EPS (earnings per share) outlook between $4.93 and $4.95.