Skip to main content

Why Is Zoom (ZM) Stock Rocketing Higher Today

StockStory - Thu Aug 22, 10:19AM CDT

ZM Cover Image

What Happened:

Shares of video conferencing platform Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) jumped 8.7% in the morning session after the company reported a "beat and raise" quarter. Zoom narrowly topped analysts' revenue estimates, while EPS and adjusted operating income beat more convincingly. That the company raised full year revenue guidance as well means the demand environment is healthy. This is especially comforting given some uneven macro commentary from other software companies reporting earnings. Overall, this was a solid quarter.

Is now the time to buy Zoom? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What is the market telling us:

Zoom’s shares are quite volatile. The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 6 months ago, when the stock gained 13.5% on the news that the company reported fourth-quarter results, with its revenue narrowly outperforming Wall Street's estimates, though EPS beat by a more convincing margin. There was also an acceleration in its new large contract wins. 

On the other hand, its full-year revenue guidance was below expectations and suggests a slowdown in demand. 

Lastly, Zoom demonstrated its focus on driving shareholder returns as its Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $1.5 billion of its common stock. 

Overall, this was a mixed quarter for Zoom. However, the market reacted very positively to the news of the share buyback.

Zoom is down 2.2% since the beginning of the year, but at $67.61 per share it is still trading close to its 52-week high of $74.21 from December 2023. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Zoom’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $720.20.

Today’s young investors won’t have read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.