What happened
Zoom Video Communications (ZM 1.57%) stock gained 37.6% in February, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. By contrast, the S&P 500 index dropped 8.2% last month because of fears that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 is slowing down global economic growth.
Shares of the videoconferencing specialist, which held its initial public offering (IPO) last April, have zoomed up 66.1% in 2020 through March 2. The broader market has returned negative 4% over this period.
Image source: Zoom Video Commuications.
So what
We can attribute Zoom Video stock's powerful performance last month to the rapidly spreading COVID-19. Investors have been scooping up shares as a bet that the virus will increase demand for the company's videoconferencing offerings and other services that enable online communications.
Businesses around the globe have been pulling out of industry conferences and other large gatherings to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Zoom's offerings provide a Plan B for in-person meetings.
Now what
Investors don't have long to wait for material news. Zoom is slated to report its fourth-quarter and full-year results for fiscal 2020 after the market closed on Wednesday, March 4. (You can read my Q4 earnings preview here.)
Wall Street is looking for quarterly earnings per share of $0.07 on revenue of $176.5 million. For some context, last quarter the company turned in EPS of $0.09 on revenue of $166.6 million. (The year-ago results aren't provided here because Zoom wasn't publicly traded a year ago, so those results weren't publicly released.)
