What happened
Shares of cloud-based communications specialist RingCentral (RNG 0.72%) rose 69% in the first half of 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company was on a roll before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and the health crisis only accelerated RingCentral's impressive business growth.
So what
RingCentral is winning new contracts from virus-related, work-from-home policies. The company is offering free access to the RingCentral Office communications platform to educators, healthcare providers, news media, government bodies, and non-profit organizations during the coronavirus crisis. Even so, revenues surged 33% higher in the first quarter and crushed analyst targets of roughly $257 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Looking ahead, the company expects to up-sell collaboration tools to customers who are currently trying RingCentral's voice and video calling services for the first time.
"It has never been more clear that customers use RingCentral for a lot more than just lighting up their legacy desktop phones," CEO Vlad Shmunis said in the first-quarter earnings call. "As a matter of fact, we saw our app downloads increase over 180% in April versus February, with strong app usage metrics across all modes of communications."
RingCentral's shares have been skyrocketing for a long time, delivering a 700% return over the last three years and 1,670% in 5 years.
