2 Stocks to Watch on a Quiet Market Day

Investors still seem largely confident that lawmakers will resolve the debt-ceiling problem without a cataclysmic default, but the lack of a clear solution as the days tick down still weighed a bit on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.40%) lost ground on the day, but gains in the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 2.02%) left the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.02%) little changed by day's end.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

After the closing bell, Zoom Video Communications (ZM 1.57%) and PetMed Express (PETS -0.74%) reported their latest financial results. Zoom's numbers were better than many had expected, while PetMed faced some challenges that kept its stock price down. Nevertheless, both reports had things to say about the current state of the corporate and consumer economies. Read on to learn more about the details.

Zoom keeps growing -- slowly

Shares of Zoom Video Communications were up about 1% in after-hours trading Monday afternoon. The video-conferencing specialist reported fiscal first-quarter results from the period ended April 30, showing that it continued to make steady progress toward accelerating its expansion.

Zoom's quarterly numbers were reasonably encouraging. Revenue of $1.11 billion was up 3% year over year, as a 13% rise in enterprise revenue offset an 8% drop in sales from online customers. Adjusted operating income inched higher as well, and adjusted net income of $353 million rose 12% from year-ago levels. That worked out to earnings of $1.16 per share on an adjusted basis.

Other business metrics showed some promising trends. Zoom's enterprise customer count climbed 9% to 215,900, and net dollar expansion rates weighed in at 112% on the enterprise side of the business. Zoom had 23% more customers spend at least $100,000 on its platform, and churn rates were down significantly from year-ago levels.

Zoom boosted its full-year guidance, now projecting between $4.465 billion and $4.485 billion in revenue for fiscal 2024. Adjusted earnings should be between $4.25 and $4.31 per share. That might not be the pace of growth that investors in past years had hoped Zoom would be able to produce by now, but it nevertheless shows the long-term viability of the communication stock's  business even as pandemic-related restrictions disappear.

PetMed deals with a downturn

Meanwhile, shares of PetMed Express were down almost 5% in after-hours trading. The pet products and health company reported fiscal fourth-quarter financial results from the period ended March 31, and investors seemed concerned with what they saw.

PetMed's financials weren't entirely positive. Sales for the quarter came in at $62.4 million, down more than 5% year over year. Although new customer counts rose 12% from year-ago levels, PetMed reversed a year-ago profit with a loss of $5.1 million, or $0.25 per share. Even after making some accounting-related allowances, adjusted pre-tax operating earnings plunged more than 60% to just $3.6 million for the quarter.

CEO Matt Hulett remained upbeat about PetMed's prospects. He called the just-ended fiscal year a "critical investment timeframe" for the company, with investment both in its internal operations and through strategic acquisitions to grow the business. PetMed also reached a new high in recurring revenue from its Autoship and Save purchasing option, and the CEO believes that partnerships will bear fruit in the coming year.

Yet even a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, which works out to an annualized dividend yield above 8%, wasn't enough to give shareholders much comfort. With strong competition, PetMed needs to work hard to distinguish itself and give itself its best chance at long-term success.