Zoom projects sales growth in positive sign for new AI tools
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Revenue will be about US$4.83 billion in the fiscal year ending in January, Zoom said on Aug 21 in a statement.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Zoom Communications gave a stronger-than-expected annual outlook for sales growth, and raised its fiscal-year forecast, suggesting customers are buying more of the company’s expanded line of software products.
Revenue will be about US$4.83 billion (S$6.23 billion) in the fiscal year ending in January, Zoom said on Aug 21 in a statement.
Profit, excluding some items, will be US$5.81 a share to US$5.84 a share.
Analysts, on average, projected sales of US$4.81 billion and earnings of US$5.60 a share.
The company’s video-conferencing platform rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the world reopened from Covid-19 restrictions, many consumers and small businesses let their Zoom licenses lapse.
By contrast, corporate customers have largely held onto the company’s services even as more workers returned to offices and Microsoft increased competition with its Teams products.
Fiscal second-quarter enterprise sales increased 7 per cent to US$730.7 million, compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$716.7 million.
Zoom said it had 4,274 customers in the period who contributed more than US$100,000 each over the past year.
The company has been working the past few years to diversify into a platform of business tools, including an artificial intelligence assistant.
That AI companion feature now has “millions” of monthly active users, up four times compared with the prior year, Zoom said in a presentation.
“It was an uncontroversial quarter for Zoom – growth rates are stabilising to improving, and the company continues to manage through ongoing growth headwinds,” wrote Citigroup analyst Tyler Radke.
The shares gained about 5 per cent in extended trading after closing at US$73.17 in New York. The stock has dipped 10 per cent in 2025.
“We delivered an across-the-board strong second quarter marked by achieving our highest year-over-year revenue growth in 11 quarters,” Chief executive Eric Yuan said in the statement.
Total revenue gained 4.7 per cent to US$1.22 billion in the period ended July 31. Profit, excluding some items, was US$1.53 a share.
The results reflect rising momentum and that new paid AI features appear to be providing a lift to revenue, wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analyst John Butler.
Still, revenue growth has been meagre since the end of the pandemic and is expected to remain around 3 per cent annually for at least the next two years. BLOOMBERG
