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Editorial Advisory Board

  • Professor Andrea M. Armani, University of Southern California
  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
  • James Butler, Ph.D., Hamamatsu
  • Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Justin Sigley, Ph.D., AmeriCOM
  • Professor Birgit Stiller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz University of Hannover
  • Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow
  • Mohan Wang, Ph.D., University of Oxford
  • Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University
  • Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology

Video Conferencing Stocks Q1 Recap: Benchmarking 8x8 (NASDAQ:EGHT)

EGHT Cover Image

The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who not so much). Let’s take a look at how video conferencing stocks fared in Q1, starting with 8x8 (NASDAQ: EGHT).

Work is becoming more distributed, both across geographies and devices. In order for businesses to keep functioning efficiently, they need to be able to communicate as well as they did when the teams were co-located, which drives the demand for integrated communication platforms.

The 4 video conferencing stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 0.8% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.

In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 2.5% on average since the latest earnings results.

Weakest Q1: 8x8 (NASDAQ: EGHT)

Founded in 1987, 8x8 (NYSE: EGHT) provides software for organizations to efficiently communicate and collaborate with their customers, employees, and partners.

8x8 reported revenues of $177 million, down 1.3% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a slower quarter for the company with a slight miss of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and billings in line with analysts’ estimates.

"Our results in the fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 reflect multiple transitions as we build a foundation for durable growth and profitability. Reported service revenue declined 1% in the fourth quarter due to a decline in revenue from former Fuze customers. Excluding revenue from former Fuze customers, 8x8 service revenue growth accelerated to nearly 5% year-over-year. We are making progress upgrading the remaining customers on the Fuze service platform, and expect to complete all upgrades by the end of calendar year 2025," said Samuel Wilson, Chief Executive Officer at 8x8, Inc.

8x8 Total Revenue

8x8 delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates, slowest revenue growth, and weakest full-year guidance update of the whole group. Interestingly, the stock is up 5.6% since reporting and currently trades at $1.89.

Read our full report on 8x8 here, it’s free.

Best Q1: Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN)

Started in 2001, Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN) offers software-as-a-service that makes it easier for companies to set up and efficiently run call centers to offer more tailored customer support.

Five9 reported revenues of $279.7 million, up 13.2% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.6%. The business had a very strong quarter with EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations and a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Five9 Total Revenue

Five9 achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat and fastest revenue growth among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 9.6% since reporting. It currently trades at $27.50.

Is now the time to buy Five9? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

RingCentral (NYSE: RNG)

Founded in 1999 during the dot-com era, RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) provides software as a service that unifies phone, text, fax, video calls and chat in one platform.

RingCentral reported revenues of $612.1 million, up 4.8% year on year, in line with analysts’ expectations. It was a mixed quarter as it posted a decent beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but a miss of analysts’ billings estimates.

Interestingly, the stock is up 1.1% since the results and currently trades at $26.99.

Read our full analysis of RingCentral’s results here.

Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM)

Started by Eric Yuan who once ran engineering for Cisco’s video conferencing business, Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) offers an easy to use, cloud-based platform for video conferencing, audio conferencing and screen sharing.

Zoom reported revenues of $1.17 billion, up 2.9% year on year. This result surpassed analysts’ expectations by 0.8%. Overall, it was a strong quarter as it also recorded full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Zoom scored the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The company added 104 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to reach a total of 4,192. The stock is down 6.2% since reporting and currently trades at $77.

Read our full, actionable report on Zoom here, it’s free.

Market Update

As a result of the Fed’s rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has come down from frothy levels post-pandemic. The general rise in the price of goods and services is trending towards the Fed’s 2% goal as of late, which is good news. The higher rates that fought inflation also didn't slow economic activity enough to catalyze a recession. So far, soft landing. This, combined with recent rate cuts (half a percent in September 2024 and a quarter percent in November 2024) have led to strong stock market performance in 2024. The icing on the cake for 2024 returns was Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential Election in early November, sending major indices to all-time highs in the week following the election. Still, debates around the health of the economy and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts remain, leaving much uncertainty around 2025.

Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our 9 Best Market-Beating Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

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