Shares of Zoom Video Communications (ZM -0.82%) have slid sharply since the video collaboration platform specialist reported its fiscal second-quarter results. Shares are down about 15% since the Aug. 30 earnings report.
For investors to assess whether the growth stock's sell-off is justified or not, they should take a look at the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings call to see what management is saying. While investors should take management's commentary with a grain of salt, they are the most knowledgeable stakeholders on the business -- so it's worth hearing them out.
Image source: Zoom Video Communications.
1. Sharp growth in enterprise customers
Zoom continues to do a good job attracting large customers. Its customers contributing more than $100,000 in trailing-12-month revenue for the company increased 131% year over year during the period.
But what's equally impressive and perhaps often overlooked is the company's momentum with even larger customers, or what it calls enterprise customers. "We were able to grow the number of enterprise customers spending more than $1 million in [annual recurring revenue] by 77% year over year," said Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg during the earnings call.
2. Here's why revenue growth is slowing
Zoom's fiscal second-quarter revenue growth rate of 54% marked a significant deceleration from the 191% growth the company posted in the prior quarter. The deceleration, of course, was expected. This was the first period in which Zoom was lapping a full period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue skyrocketed 355% in the year-ago period, making for an incredibly tough comparison.
Giving more specific reasons for the deceleration, Steckelberg said, "even though the pandemic seems to be far from over, we are happy that people are feeling more comfortably out, traveling, and that's really where we're seeing the slowdown."
Makes sense.
3. Zoom isn't seeing deceleration everywhere
Interestingly, Zoom still saw some areas of its business accelerate during the quarter: Zoom Phone, Zoom Rooms, and its Asia-Pacific region.
Zoom Phone's momentum is worth calling out here. The company said the number of customers spending more than $100,000 in annual recurring revenue on Zoom Phone increased a whopping 241% year over year. In addition, the company said that right before its call in fiscal Q3 it reached 2 million Zoom Phone seats -- just eight months after it reached its first million.
This is particularly good news ahead of the company's Five9 (FIVN -0.57%) acquisition, which is currently pending and is expected to close sometime during the first half of calendar 2022. The company plans to integrate Five9's cloud contact center platform with Zoom Phone.
Overall, management commentary suggests that Zoom's slowdown isn't representative of any underlying issues. Instead, it's the reality of tough comparisons and a reopening economy that has more people interacting face to face than during a global pandemic. Zooming out, it's clear that the overarching driver of organizations increasingly adopting video-based communication tools is alive and well. If anything, Zoom's business momentum is startling in light of its wildly tough comparisons.
So was the stock's sell-off justified? Probably not. This company is firing on all cylinders.
