Zoom shares drop 16% as work-from-home darling reports slower sales

By: Elina S.

Zoom shares plummeted by nearly 15 percent Tuesday after the work-from-home darling said its sales were slowing when compared to the go-go days of the pandemic.

The company’s stock dropped to its lowest level in 17 months after the video conferencing platform posted its slowest quarterly revenue growth amid stiff competition from deep-pocketed rivals Cisco, Microsoft and Salesforce.

The company on Tuesday posted a better than expected third-quarter revenue of $1.05 billion, but that came at a 35 percent jump compared with an astronomical 360 percent in the pandemic-hit year earlier period.

“With topline growth still weighed down by weakening trends in the micro segment from pull-forward and temporary pandemic business, we look for a clear line of sight to the growth trough,” said brokerage Needham.

Zoom’s addition of new customers with more than 10 employees also grew at its slowest pace at 18 percent, below pre-pandemic levels when the company was not yet a household name.

The company’s growth at small and medium businesses might be saturating, while it has barely penetrated the large enterprise market, Third Bridge analyst Joe McCormack said.

However, developing it into a contact center product will take longer after its $14.7 billion deal to buy call-center software provider Five9 fell through last month.

Shares of Zoom – helmed by CEO Eric Yuan – were trading down 18 percent to $197.94 in early afternoon trading. The stock has nearly halved in value since hitting a peak of $114 billion last year as the pandemic raged.

“For now, investors will need some patience as we do not see any upcoming catalysts that would change the sentiment on the stock,” Evercore analysts wrote in a note.