What a difference a year — and a day — can make. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced so many students and workers to study and work from home that video-chat and collaboration platform companies and stocks have benefited enormously. Perhaps none more than Zoom Video Communications. Zoom’s share price has skyrocketed over the past year and continues to track COVID-19 and pandemic-related news.
On November 19, 2019, Zoom Video Communications (ZM/NasdaqGS)’s share price closed at $69.64. One year later on the same date, Zoom’s share price closed at $423.71, which is actually down from a 52-week high of $588.84.
At one point on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, Zoom’s share price had dropped roughly 3%. Then came the announcement that New York City’s public schools would close effective Thursday, November 19, 2020 in response to a 3% COVID-19 testing positivity rate averaged over a seven-day period. New York City schools would, instead of hosting students on their premises, hold classes remotely. The announcement affected approximately 1,100,000 students in the largest public school system in the United States, comprised of over 1,700 schools.
Remote learning is one of the leading uses of Zoom’s video-chat and collaboration platform. New York City’s Department of Education provided instructions to students and families for accessing remote learning on several platforms, including Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. On that news, Zoom Video Communications’ price regained those losses and gained a further 5.5%. While no one will argue that a spike in COVID-19 cases is good news, the implications for Zoom’s shareholders is certainly not all bad news. Zoom will release its results for the third quarter after the close of the markets on Monday, November 30, 2020.