Zoom is beating the estimates even as revenue growth is poised to slow after the pandemic

November 24, 2021: -Zoom reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Monday while warning investors of a revenue slowdown at the video-chat company as the pandemic come to an end.

Revenue is increasing 35% from a year earlier in the quarter, which ended October 31, which slows from 54% growth in the prior period. Net income surged 71% to $340.3 million, according to a statement.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, Zoom forecast adjusted earnings of $1.06 to $1.07 per share on $1.051 billion to $1.053 billion in revenue, implying 19% growth. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting $1.05 in adjusted earnings per share and $1.02 billion in revenue.

Zoom stock moved swiftly higher in the previous year as the company expanded from a contender in a narrow category of business software to a fabric of culture. Many people are adopting its software to remotely attend classes and meet after the coronavirus pandemic made those types of gatherings difficult if not impossible.

Revenue growth was over 300% as the quarter that ended in January. Now Zoom has reported its slowest growth since almost 2018, before its 2019 initial public offering.

While Zoom is reckoning with decelerating growth as so many businesses made their purchases in the previous year, it is expanding its usage within big organizations. Zoom said that more than 2,500 customers are spending over $100,000 a year, up 94% from the same period a year earlier.

And the company’s Zoom Rooms software is enjoyed growth as organizations equip conference rooms for meetings with participants who are not on site. “The conference room strategy is becoming even more important than it was pre-pandemic,” Kelly Steckelberg, Zoom’s finance chief, said on a Zoom call with analysts.

Zoom said it had called off its planning to acquire cloud contact center software provider Five9 for $14.7 billion during the quarter. In announcing the news, Zoom said its cloud contact center software would launch in early 2022.

It’s hard to know how to re-engage with Five9 around a potential deal at a higher-priced because Zoom and Five9 are public companies, Eric Yuan, Zoom’s founder and CEO, said. But Zoom has $5.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.

Yuan said analysts should reach out if they know “any other cool companies that can help us, you know, to beef up our investment on that front.”

Before the after-hours move, Zoom shares are decreased 28% in 2021, while the S&P 500 index was up 25% over the same period.