The new month is already off to a strong start for some stocks. Shares of Zoom Video (ZM 0.05%), CrowdStrike (CRWD -0.68%), and Axon Enterprise (AXON 0.28%) are kicking off the first week of June with big gains following improving fundamentals and, in some cases, better-than-expected earnings reports.
Zoom Video, CrowdStrike, and Axon Enterprises are hot. Let's dive into the reasons why they could get even hotter as June plays out.
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Zoom Video
Everyone figured Zoom would hit one over the fence for Tuesday afternoon's quarterly earnings swing. Indeed, the video conferencing darling went on to hit it out of the entire stadium.
Revenue soared 169% to $328.2 million for the fiscal first quarter ending in April. Keep in mind that three months ago Zoom was expecting 63% to 65% in top-line growth for the period, decelerating from the 78% pace it had just posted for the current quarter. Revenue wound up more than doubling the clip from the previous report. Its adjusted profit of $0.20 doubled earlier guidance.
We've seen the explosion at Zoom: It went from hooking up as many as 10 million a day with virtual meetings in December to 300 million five months later. That's a 30-fold burst as companies, classrooms, and organizations go online -- a revolution that may very well have swept you up in the process.
There was so much to like in Zoom's report. The $1.775 billion to $1.8 billion it's now targeting for the entire fiscal year is nearly double where that guidance was back in March. Most of the people on Zoom are on free accounts, but apparently a lot more are paying than even Zoom expected.
CrowdStrike
Another company to come through with blowout financial results this week is CrowdStrike. Its top line rose 85% in its fiscal first quarter with its annual recurring revenue rate growing even faster. The provider of cloud-native endpoint protection using big data and AI to ward off security threats also came through with a a small profit on an adjusted basis. Analysts were bracing for a deficit on that basis.
With revenue soaring 93% in fiscal 2020 -- including an 89% year-over-year surge in its previous report -- it's not a surprise to see growth decelerate. However, Tuesday's 85% increase was better than even what the most bullish of the 19 analysts expected. All 19 of the Wall Street pros were also strapped in for a loss. With more folks working from home, endpoint protection is critical to keeping sensitive corporate communications secure. CrowdStrike's blowout wasn't at the same level as Zoom's stunning performance, but both companies are juicing up their near-term outlooks.
Axon Enterprise
We're just on the third trading day of June, but Axon Enterprise, with its 29% surge through Tuesday's close, has been one of this month's biggest winners. It isn't earnings sending it higher, though, as it posted its latest financials four weeks ago.
Axon makes Taser stun guns, and while the electroshock devices are a growing form of less-than-lethal weaponry, it's Axon's namesake wearable body cameras and its cloud-based evidence storage platform driving this stock higher. We live in trying times, and with more police confrontations with civilians and potential suspects coming into question, Axon's officer-worn cameras and Evidence.com video storage are there to tell the story.
Zoom, CrowdStrike, and Axon are winning growth stocks. They're coming through with double-digit -- and in Zoom's case surprising triple-digit -- growth, and momentum is strong for all three investments. They're already hot, but we know that June has a way of making things even hotter.
