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3 Reasons ZM is Risky and 1 Stock to Buy Instead

By: StockStory

October 07, 2025 at 00:05 AM EDT

ZM Cover Image

While the S&P 500 is up 33.2% since April 2025, Zoom (currently trading at $81.02 per share) has lagged behind, posting a return of 19.1%. This may have investors wondering how to approach the situation.

Is now the time to buy Zoom, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Get the full stock story straight from our expert analysts, it’s free for active Edge members.

Why Do We Think Zoom Will Underperform?

We're sitting this one out for now. Here are three reasons why ZM doesn't excite us and a stock we'd rather own.

1. Weak Billings Point to Soft Demand

Billings is a non-GAAP metric that is often called “cash revenue” because it shows how much money the company has collected from customers in a certain period. This is different from revenue, which must be recognized in pieces over the length of a contract.

Zoom’s billings came in at $1.27 billion in Q2, and over the last four quarters, its year-on-year growth averaged 4.4%. This performance was underwhelming and suggests that increasing competition is causing challenges in acquiring/retaining customers. Zoom Billings

2. Customer Churn Hurts Long-Term Outlook

One of the best parts about the software-as-a-service business model (and a reason why they trade at high valuation multiples) is that customers typically spend more on a company’s products and services over time.

Zoom’s net revenue retention rate, a key performance metric measuring how much money existing customers from a year ago are spending today, was 98% in Q2. This means Zoom’s revenue would’ve decreased by 2% over the last 12 months if it didn’t win any new customers.

Zoom has a weak net retention rate, signaling that some customers aren’t satisfied with its products, leading to lost contracts and revenue streams.

3. Projected Revenue Growth Is Slim

Forecasted revenues by Wall Street analysts signal a company’s potential. Predictions may not always be accurate, but accelerating growth typically boosts valuation multiples and stock prices while slowing growth does the opposite.

Over the next 12 months, sell-side analysts expect Zoom’s revenue to rise by 3.2%, close to its 28.7% annualized growth for the past five years. This projection doesn't excite us and indicates its newer products and services will not accelerate its top-line performance yet.

Final Judgment

Zoom falls short of our quality standards. With its shares lagging the market recently, the stock trades at 5.1× forward price-to-sales (or $81.02 per share). This valuation tells us a lot of optimism is priced in - you can find more timely opportunities elsewhere. We’d suggest looking at the Amazon and PayPal of Latin America.

Stocks We Would Buy Instead of Zoom

When Trump unveiled his aggressive tariff plan in April 2025, markets tanked as investors feared a full-blown trade war. But those who panicked and sold missed the subsequent rebound that’s already erased most losses.

Don’t let fear keep you from great opportunities and take a look at Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).

Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.

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