On April 2, the White House published a detailed press release that outlined a host of new tariff policies under the Trump administration. While the president marked his announcements as “Liberation Day,” many on Wall Street haven’t taken these tariff actions lightly. As the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite levels continue to fall off a cliff, finding opportunities amid this bearish market environment is becoming increasingly arduous for investors.
My guess is that for the time being, the Trump administration is going to be conducting many meetings with foreign officials — hopefully leading to some more balanced trade negotiations. But until that happens, I would not be surprised to see the capital markets continue to exhibit outsized volatility. Even so, some stocks have likely fallen a bit too dramatically following the initial toll the tariff news had on the markets.
Below, I’m going to explore why the once high-flying growth stock Zoom Communications(NASDAQ: ZM) could actually be a good buy right now amid the tariff tornado.
The chart below illustrates Zoom’s quarterly revenue trends and stock price fluctuations over the last five years. Of note, the grey-shaded column to the left represents the COVID-19 recession.
A clear takeaway from the trends above is that Zoom’s sales began to skyrocket during the early phases of the pandemic. This makes sense, as work-from-home protocols became the norm around the world and made video conferencing tools such as Zoom a necessity.
In tandem with its soaring revenue, Zoom stock went parabolic during peak pandemic days — rising as high as $568 per share. But today, Zoom stock trades for just $69, down 88% from its all-time highs. Moreover, the graph above underscores that demand for Zoom’s products has plateaued as employees return to the office and rely less on video conferencing communications post pandemic.
Investing in Zoom doesn’t come without some serious consideration. The company’s revenue is clearly stalling, competition is on the rise (Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Google Meet), and the product itself is relatively commoditized. Right now, artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage in the technology realm. And while video conferencing tools can leverage AI in some ways, it’s not exactly the most high-profile use case.
With all of that said, many of the most popular AI stocks from the last two years are currently cratering during this prolonged period of market turbulence. Even some of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks such as Nvidia and Tesla are likely going to face some unwelcome headwinds as a result of the new tariff policies.
I will admit that Zoom could be indirectly effected by tariffs as they could lead to inflation, which would take a toll on enterprise IT budgets. However, I think the company is relatively insulated from the tariff hoopla overall. As a software provider, Zoom isn’t overly vulnerable to import or export policies as its core products are digital.
Image source: Getty Images.
Over the next several quarters, I suspect many of the fastest-growing businesses in tech are going to show some signs of decelerating sales and margin compression — much of which will be blamed on tariffs. As a result, I think investors are going to be on the lookout for less-obvious opportunities flying under the radar. Zoom fits this criteria.
While I don’t see many reasons for the company’s growth profile to suddenly change, I do think Zoom could begin to stand out as a business that’s at least showing some levels of consistent growth relative to its peers in the tech realm during an otherwise murky macroeconomic picture. For these reasons, investors looking for alternatives to big tech may find some newfound inspiration in Zoom over the next several months.
At a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) of just 13, Zoom stock is trading at a bargain compared to historical levels. I see Zoom as a stock that’s gotten dragged into the ongoing sell-off across the broader market. But given it is a business less susceptible to tariff policies, I think the decline in Zoom’s valuation is misplaced.
Investors who are looking for growth opportunities trading at reasonable valuations and less exposed to Trump’s tariff policies may want to keep an eye on Zoom stock.
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Adam Spatacco has positions in Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, and Zoom Communications. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
