Coronavirus: Zoom Video leads local stock gains on reopening hopes

Bay Area stocks largely rose Wednesday amidst more hopes for the economy opening up, with Zoom Video Communications shares posting sizable gains after the company reported a huge rise in demand for its videoconferencing services during the coronavirus  pandemic.

Zoom’s shares surged by almost 6%, to $220.22, after the San Jose-based company said late Tuesday that its first-quarter revenue rose by 169% from a year ago, to $328.2 million, and that it now has 265,400 customers with more than 10 employees, an increase of 354% from the first quarter of 2019.

Zoom’s popularity has also grown due to many schools have used its technology for video conferences between staff members, teachers and students. Chief Executive Eric Yuan said that more than 100,000 elementary and secondary schools worldwide used Zoom’s free video service during the quarter.

Along with Zoom, Tesla shares rose 1%, to $889.74, HP was up by 5.3%, at $16.62 a share, Apple shares edged up by 0.2%, to $323.82, Twitter rose 3.5%, to $33.38 a share and Cisco Systems shares were up by 0.5%, at $47.10.

Facebook, however, slipped by 1%, to $230.39 a share, a day after some employees staged virtual walkouts to protest the company’s refusal to take down some controversial posts from President Donald Trump about the protests occurring in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last week.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 433.75 points, or 1.7%, to 26,176.40, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.2%, to 3,117.87. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up by 0.6% at 9,670.13.