ZoomInfo (ZI 2.53%) is a head-scratcher right now. The commercial contacts database expert has more than doubled its trailing earnings over the last two years and revenues rose 80% over the same period. At the same time, ZoomInfo's stock lost 70% of its value.
The price drop only grows more confusing when you consider how closely ZoomInfo's business model relates to the ongoing market frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. The stock set an all-time low of $17.34 on August 18 and still trades less than 6% above that low water mark.
I think that's a huge mistake, and ZoomInfo looks like a great AI investment at these bargain-bin prices. Here's why I'm so excited about this undervalued growth stock today.
ZoomInfo is an AI innovator
This company's core competence lies in building very large databases of customer data and then helping clients put that valuable information to good use. This go-to-market platform is trusted by industry giants such as IBM (IBM 0.10%), MongoDB (MDB 0.06%), and near-namesake Zoom Video Communications (ZM -0.24%).
I'm impressed by the quality of these customer wins. IBM, for example, also sells data management solutions to other businesses, but still chose to employ ZoomInfo's sales and marketing tools. Likewise, MongoDB literally makes a living from data management, but relies on ZoomInfo to keep track of each client's use case and business ambitions.
And the company relies on AI tools to make the customer-friendly magic happen. ZoomInfo's services use machine learning to analyze the client's customer data and find actionable patterns. CFO Peter Hyzer is especially proud of ZoomInfo's AI-driven ability to keep a client's database up-to-date and free from errors. Impeccable data quality is an essential requirement if you want to automate your customer relationship management with other AI tools, after all.
"Okay, you want to automate the last mile of reaching out to customers with AI? And you're going to base that on a crumbling foundation of atrophy and data?" Hyzer said in a recent conference presentation. "That's an area where we continue to see real demand from our customers to drive a better foundation of data, better insights, better quality; the contact information and insights that are completely proprietary to ZoomInfo."
On top of that AI-pruned customer database, ZoomInfo is adding large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT to its data management tools. Natural language processing makes it easier to find the exact information you're looking for, and an LLM under human supervision can semi-automate business steps such as writing marketing emails or summarizing conversation transcripts.
It just doesn't work without a squeaky-clean set of customer information. It's no wonder industry giants like IBM and MongoDB rely on ZoomInfo's pristine customer data to power their own operations.
Down but not out: It's time to buy ZoomInfo
With that AI-powered backdrop, I really don't get why market makers have cut ZoomInfo's stock price to all-time lows. The company has an impressive customer list, a unique and valuable data management model, soaring sales, and robust profits. Yet, the stock is changing hands at the modest valuation of 18 times forward earnings or 6.2 times trailing sales.
ZoomInfo's top-line growth has indeed slowed down in recent quarters, but that's a marketwide speed bump affecting nearly every company out there. It's hard to sell your services to an IT department with a limited budget, and belts have been tightened because of the inflation crisis and painful anti-inflation moves.
This, too, shall pass. ZoomInfo stands ready to benefit when the global economy gets back on its feet.
So what's not to love?
I can't buy the stock right away because of the restriction of The Fool's ironclad disclosure policy, but ZoomInfo should find a home in my stock portfolio when I can touch it again. This undervalued and AI-driven growth stock should deliver wealth-building returns in the long run.