Zoom shares climbed after the company beat third-quarter profit and revenue expectations, supported by rising demand for its artificial intelligence features. The results mark another step in Zoom’s strategic shift away from its pandemic-era reliance on videoconferencing toward a broader AI-driven platform.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Catharine Trebnick, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, who said the company’s momentum reflects stronger adoption of newer products, improving channel execution and growing customer interest in its AI capabilities.
Key Takeaways
- Zoom delivered a broad third-quarter beat, with revenue, earnings and margins surpassing expectations.
- Adoption of AI features rose sharply, helping the company win larger customer experience and enterprise deals.
- Newer products such as Zoom Phone, the contact centre platform and Workvivo are contributing to revenue growth.
- Improved channel strategy and faster R&D execution are helping Zoom respond more effectively to competitive bids.
- Analysts say multiple growth engines are emerging as the company pivots toward an AI-first platform with expanding cash flow.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: Shares of Zoom are up after the company reported a beat on profit and revenue, and as analysts look at its development in AI features for sustained revenue and profit now that demand for the communications platform has dipped since COVID. Here to talk more about it is Catharine Trebnick, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities. Catharine, thanks very much for joining us.
CATHARINE: You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me today, and happy Thanksgiving.
ROGER: We’ll take it. We had our Thanksgiving a month ago, but we always want to celebrate with more turkey and with our good friends to the south of the border.
CATHARINE: Okay. Thank you.
ROGER: Some good numbers there for Zoom.
CATHARINE: Yes. They really delivered a clean sweep across revenue. They beat by US$60 million, EPS by eight cents, margins by 130 basis points, and then free cash flow at 50 per cent free cash flow margins. I mean, it’s incredible. I think it’s a quarter that shows the company is seeing real product momentum, real AI adoption, and their maturing channel strategy is really kicking in. Plus, they raised guidance for the year across all the key indexes.
ROGER: What are some of the new products you’re liking and that are helping drive this?
CATHARINE: I estimate roughly 20 per cent of revenue is with the cohort group they’ve been aggressively developing. Zoom Phone is roughly 10 per cent of revenue and growing about 15 per cent year over year. The newer product introduced in 2023 is the contact centre. They discussed that growing in high double digits — I’d say roughly 90 to 100 per cent year over year. The contact centre is one of the areas really helping them drive AI innovation.
They talked a lot about how the newer products built on top of the contact centre are helping them win deals and position themselves. They also have what they call Zoom Companion AI, which quadrupled year over year. They landed two new customers with that and expanded with Oracle and Salesforce.
Then there’s Workvivo, and with that product they’re taking a lot of Meta’s customers and transferring them over. Those are three of the main ones driving growth. When you talk to the channel and ask how they’re positioning, you hear that the R&D piece and their ability to translate technology quickly into a product or feature to help them land larger customers is really helping them.
One example: if there’s a big RFP and someone says Ring or NICE or Cognigy is number one, they’ll say Zoom can’t do A, B, C or D. Zoom will come back and say, “We can do A, B, C and D, and we can deliver that to you in the next two quarters.” Then the company checks with sales, channel and service people, and they all say yes. That’s an untold part of the story — how aggressive they are in R&D, how they’ve matured the channel, and how they’ve remained profitable.
ROGER: With the channel, what makes them so good at it? Is it their leadership? What’s driving it?
CATHARINE: They’ve had fits and starts with the channel over the years. I was rather frustrated with them three years ago. In the last two years, they brought in deep expertise. The company started out online — everything was done online — but now 60 per cent of revenue is from the enterprise.
They retooled the program. They took everyone out of California a year ago and said, “If you’re a channel rep, you need to be in-region.” They put people in-region, redeveloped their sales portal, revamped how they bundle products, and made pricing easier. Those are major changes. They’ve also been aggressive with product breadth, and they’re much easier to work with than they were two years ago. Channel enablement, access to information, and speed through the RFP process are really helping them.
ROGER: It’s been quite the transformation. Everyone learned about Zoom during the pandemic. Their numbers spiked, and some would say they’re down, but the stock is almost back to where it was value-wise before the pandemic.
CATHARINE: Yes. It’s no longer a pandemic stock. It’s shifted to an AI story — an AI-first automation platform now. The fact is they have growing new businesses, expanding margins and strong cash generation. We didn’t talk about the US$8 billion on the balance sheet.
ROGER: We can talk about it now.
CATHARINE: Yes.
ROGER: They’ve raised their guidance for 2026 and announced a US$1-billion buyback.
CATHARINE: My take is that I see multiple growth engines firing — the cohort groups, Zoom Phone, the contact centre, Workvivo and the other products, including AI Companion and chat. I think it’s a strong set-up, and the valuation doesn’t reflect where they’re headed. That’s my view on the stock.
ROGER: All right, Catharine, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it.
CATHARINE: Thank you.
ROGER: That’s Catharine Trebnick, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Nov. 25, 2025 interview with Catharine Trebnick are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
