Student #1
Christian Martinez
Link: com/articles/zoom-is-getting-back-to-business-11622629800?mod=business_minor_pos12″ title=”https://www.wsj.com/articles/zoom-is-getting-back-…”>https://www.wsj.com/articles/zoom-is-getting-back-… (Links to an external site.)
The article discusses how Zoom Video Communication Inc. boomed during the pandemic. With the slow return to normalcy with the COVID vaccines, the company experienced a decline in its stock value. The sharp decline in Zooms stock value showed that investors believed that Zooms golden run was over, but Zoom decided to share some great news to investors around the world. On June 1, 2021, Zoom announced that their revenues from their first fiscal period of 2021 were $956 million, a 191% increase from a year ago revenue of 328.2 million. The company had exceeded their own and wall street estimate of $905 million in revenue. The high revenue for Zoom seems to be connected with the pandemic period due to social restrictions, which resulted in a supernormal growth stock for Zoom. Though the growth of the company won’t match that of the pandemic times, it seems that Zoom is focusing on providing telecommunication services to the changing business world, where some employers are offering the option to work at home or at the office. The change in the business world and the name recognition will help Zoom against the competition.
One clear connection with Zoom to our class is that Zoom is a supernormal growth stock (Discussed in Chapter 9). If you look at Zooms stock information online, most of the company’s huge growth has been during the pandemic. There hasn’t really been an accurate ‘normal’ period for the company for awhile, but we should be seeing that in the coming months and years as Zoom’s growth rate stabilizes. Another interesting idea that I got from reading the article is the possibility of a telecommunications boom if the hybrid work environment does pick up. If working at home gets accepted, it can help benefit both a company and the employee. As a person of society, it would be great to be able to work from home for it would save me financially from having to spend so much on gas to get to the work office, and maybe the office can save cost when it comes to deciding on what office space to purchase. The hybrid option does have its benefits to both parties.
Student #2
Maddy Schwarz
Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate On Covid-19 Origin – WSJ (Links to an external site.)
Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate on Covid-19 Origin | May 23, 2021
In November of 2019, three young researchers at Wuhan Institute of Virology in China became so sick, that they spend days in the emergency room. While this might not seem unusual to some, this information shocked U.S. Intelligence. Covid-19 was “started” in Wuhan, China, but researchers are still trying to pinpoint the date that it was spread. Therefore, when Intelligence learned this, they became sought interest in if this was the date that Covid-19 escaped from the laboratory. Throughout the last year and a half, very little people have posed interest in this story because the researchers were sick “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness.” However, the timing of the illness and the drastic spread of Covid-19’s dates are too close not to question. This poses the question, did the researchers know what they were sick with? Did they understand just how deadly this virus was when they stayed in the hospital for days? Did they explain their situation to the doctor and nurses that were caring for them? While we don’t currently have answers to any of these questions, understanding the date of the “escape” of Covid-19, it is a huge step in understanding how the virus was made and what it’s purpose was.
I found this Wall Street Journal Article extremely intriguing. After compiling some further research from WSJ, I learned that it is thought that China released Covid-19 on purpose. While I would hate to believe this, I find it interesting that Wuhan Institute of Virology is pushing the blame onto other Laboratories. All opinions aside, I can relate this article to finance because of the crisis that it has put the United States in. Hundreds of thousands of businesses have closed their doors because they could not afford to keep their lights on. Our economy plummeted, causing so many to lose their jobs. We are just starting to see the beginning of supply-chain issues, where a piece of ply-wood went from $22 to $97 in a matter of three days. Yet this is just the beginning. Covid-19 has affected and will continue to affect all aspects of finance within the United States.
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