WEBVTT - Retail Sales Optimism & Central Bank Stimulus

0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:05.320
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Bloomberg Penl podcast. I'm Paul swing you

0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:07.680
<v Speaker 1>along with my co host Lisa Brahma Wis. Each day

0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.240
<v Speaker 1>we bring you the most noteworthy and useful interviews for

0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:12.520
<v Speaker 1>you and your money. Whether at the grocery store or

0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.480
<v Speaker 1>the trading floor. Find a Bloomberg Penl podcast on Apple

0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:17.959
<v Speaker 1>podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as

0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:26.680
<v Speaker 1>at Bloomberg dot com. Well, global economics tend to be

0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.120
<v Speaker 1>a cross I guess there's cross currents, as best you

0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.520
<v Speaker 1>could say. We're getting certainly some very weak numbers coming

0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.000
<v Speaker 1>out of your even Germany, which tends to leave the

0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:36.880
<v Speaker 1>European Union. We have the Chinese economy still growing but

0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.400
<v Speaker 1>at a slower rate. And here in the US kind

0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.280
<v Speaker 1>of some cross currents, the manufacturing sector showing some signs

0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:44.920
<v Speaker 1>of weakness, yet the consumer remains quite strong. So to

0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:46.599
<v Speaker 1>get a sense of kind of where we are on

0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.479
<v Speaker 1>the economic outlook, we welcome Constance Hunter. She is a

0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.800
<v Speaker 1>chief economist for KPMG. Joins us on the phone. Constance,

0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.080
<v Speaker 1>thanks so much for joining us. Guess let's start with

0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.040
<v Speaker 1>the consumer. We got the retail sales this morning came

0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.640
<v Speaker 1>out a little bit better than expected, suggesting that you know,

0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:02.480
<v Speaker 1>despite a lot of the uncertainty in the market, the

0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.160
<v Speaker 1>consumer remains generally pretty strong. Yeah, it was. It was

0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.959
<v Speaker 1>a pretty good report, But we're also getting to the

0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.360
<v Speaker 1>point where we need to parse the signal from the noise.

0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.160
<v Speaker 1>So as we proceed through the remainder of the year,

0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.360
<v Speaker 1>because retail sales is a nominal data series and not

0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.120
<v Speaker 1>adjusted for inflation, uh, we may start to see some

0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.720
<v Speaker 1>strength in areas where tariffs are being applied, So we

0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.800
<v Speaker 1>may begin to see price increases or what seems like

0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.920
<v Speaker 1>more consumption, and it's important to consider what have prices

0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.600
<v Speaker 1>done in those areas. Are those really um real increases

0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.680
<v Speaker 1>or are they just nominal increases due to some some

0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:46.000
<v Speaker 1>pockets of inflation due to tariffs. So that's the first thing, um,

0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.040
<v Speaker 1>And the second thing is just to sort of consider

0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.920
<v Speaker 1>where we are in relationship to last year. So when

0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.080
<v Speaker 1>we when we look at the control group, which is

0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.240
<v Speaker 1>obviously excluding auto's, gasoline and building materials, it's up you

0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:05.240
<v Speaker 1>over year, and um it is doing better than en

0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.160
<v Speaker 1>was up four point seven. We did a we did

0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.120
<v Speaker 1>a three month moving average just to kind of smooth

0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.799
<v Speaker 1>out some of the noise and even with that, this

0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.040
<v Speaker 1>most recent report showed a year every year increase of

0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.600
<v Speaker 1>four point nine percent, so that gives us some hope

0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:23.240
<v Speaker 1>that the consumer is remaining strong. With that said, it's

0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.560
<v Speaker 1>um one of these what I would call war starts

0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.480
<v Speaker 1>war sharts, uh, you know, pieces of data. There's something

0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.120
<v Speaker 1>in there for everybody, depending upon what you want to see.

0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.440
<v Speaker 1>So um one area of concern was the decline in

0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.160
<v Speaker 1>food services and drinking establishments UM so that was up

0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.480
<v Speaker 1>at about six and a half percent pace in eighteen

0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.200
<v Speaker 1>and this most recent report takes it down below three percent.

0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.680
<v Speaker 1>So so that does give us a little bit of pause.

0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.520
<v Speaker 1>It tends to be one of the more leading indicators

0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.880
<v Speaker 1>of how consumers are feeling. UM. So we'll be watching

0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.040
<v Speaker 1>that closely to see if it rebounds in the next

0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.160
<v Speaker 1>couple of months. Consence, how concerned were you about that?

0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.160
<v Speaker 1>I sm data that came out recently, I think last

0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.799
<v Speaker 1>week that came into forty nine point one reading suggesting

0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.240
<v Speaker 1>that the manufacturing economy in the US is contracting. How

0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.080
<v Speaker 1>concerned are you about that? Overall? So at first I

0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.720
<v Speaker 1>would say we within any given business cycle often go

0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.480
<v Speaker 1>through sort of what I would call mini manufacturing recessions. UM.

0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.080
<v Speaker 1>So uh, it's not always a cause for concern, but

0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.280
<v Speaker 1>to me, UM, what we're what we're seeing is we're

0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:31.119
<v Speaker 1>seeing it with a confluence of other things that are concerning. Right.

0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.040
<v Speaker 1>So we see this UM, it's it's first of all

0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.280
<v Speaker 1>global and nature. Uh. Second of all, it is coming

0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.680
<v Speaker 1>at a time where we've had six consecutive quotas of

0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.600
<v Speaker 1>negative real estate investment. It's coming at a time where

0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:49.119
<v Speaker 1>we see broad business investment slowing rather substantially. UM. And

0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.160
<v Speaker 1>so it is, Uh, it is something we're watching very closely,

0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.119
<v Speaker 1>and where in the past we may not have been

0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.440
<v Speaker 1>as concerned, uh, that it would spill over into the consumer.

0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.480
<v Speaker 1>That's that's why we're watching something like this UM eating

0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:07.200
<v Speaker 1>and drinking establishments to determine. Hey, you know what we're

0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.520
<v Speaker 1>seeing this a little decline here in this somewhat leading

0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.680
<v Speaker 1>indicator of how consumers are feeling. Let's keep our finger

0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.000
<v Speaker 1>on the pulse of that to see if that is

0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.960
<v Speaker 1>a sign that this manufacturing recession is spilling over to

0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.120
<v Speaker 1>the services economy. Right. So, you know, we hear Bloomberg Radio,

0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.760
<v Speaker 1>We thought that ECB news we got yesterday about the

0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.360
<v Speaker 1>you know, the rate cut and then really the q

0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.400
<v Speaker 1>E infinity, if you will, was really big news. What

0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.840
<v Speaker 1>was your takeaway? Well, one, I think it was pretty expected.

0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.040
<v Speaker 1>Uh so Uh. Nevertheless, I think markets if you look

0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.760
<v Speaker 1>at the FX markets, you know, while it may have

0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.599
<v Speaker 1>been expected, it certainly wasn't fully priced in UM. And

0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.479
<v Speaker 1>I think it raises a lot of questions. Um, it

0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.919
<v Speaker 1>raises a lot of questions if this is a fact,

0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.360
<v Speaker 1>is if it's going to result in the turnaround uh

0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.960
<v Speaker 1>in the European economies that uh that central bankers are hoping.

0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.560
<v Speaker 1>And I think Jogging made it pretty clear that monetary

0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.880
<v Speaker 1>policy cannot be the only one doing the heavy lifting

0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.720
<v Speaker 1>that in uh certain economies, in certain cases, we need

0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.200
<v Speaker 1>to see fiscal policy step in and and and give

0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:16.919
<v Speaker 1>an assist to monetary policy. Because if we leave it

0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:21.880
<v Speaker 1>all up to monetary policy, especially when we're negative rates, um,

0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.359
<v Speaker 1>you know, it's it's not going to necessarily yield the

0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.560
<v Speaker 1>results that they're hoping for. So content next week we

0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.560
<v Speaker 1>have the FED decision, So obviously the markets pricing in

0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.160
<v Speaker 1>a FED rate cut. Kind of what is your view

0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.120
<v Speaker 1>of how they will play it over the next call

0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:42.160
<v Speaker 1>it six or twelve months? Yeah, So I hate to

0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.279
<v Speaker 1>use this phrase because I don't mean it to be

0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.160
<v Speaker 1>a cop out, but it is I think, going to

0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.159
<v Speaker 1>be data dependent. UM. They have they went from a

0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.360
<v Speaker 1>stance of hiking three times this year to job owning

0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:57.040
<v Speaker 1>and saying, listen, we're going to be patient, to now

0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.880
<v Speaker 1>they're in what uh what powelled her a mid cycle

0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.960
<v Speaker 1>adjustment UH and hoping that it's it's like the nineties

0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.599
<v Speaker 1>when when there were two sort of mid cycle adjustments UH.

0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:13.120
<v Speaker 1>And certainly the sectors that are interest rate sensitive, like manufacturing,

0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.320
<v Speaker 1>that is an interest rate sensitive sector, so lower rates

0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.599
<v Speaker 1>should help that sector. Also, we saw, as I mentioned

0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:24.760
<v Speaker 1>earlier that UM decline in residential investment. We've seen mortgage

0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:27.120
<v Speaker 1>rates come down almost a hundred basis points. That should

0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.480
<v Speaker 1>certainly help real estate. UM. One of the things people

0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.160
<v Speaker 1>are pointing to in this increase in in auto sales

0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:37.120
<v Speaker 1>today is is that car loans have come down. And

0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.800
<v Speaker 1>so they're going to watch and be and and look

0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.680
<v Speaker 1>at the data and see has has what we've done

0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.719
<v Speaker 1>UM caused interest rate sensitive sectors to see a rebound UH,

0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:50.760
<v Speaker 1>in which case we may not need to. We may

0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.480
<v Speaker 1>not be in a full blown rate cutting cycle. I

0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.440
<v Speaker 1>think UM. One of the things that that is well

0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.480
<v Speaker 1>aware of, and I think the market is pretty aware

0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.800
<v Speaker 1>of its. Yeah, it's kind of over to overdoing it perhaps,

0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:04.520
<v Speaker 1>Uh concant, We're gonna have to leave it there. Thank

0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.040
<v Speaker 1>you so much for joining us. Constance Hunter, chief economist

0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.800
<v Speaker 1>for KPMG, giving us her thoughts on you know, kind

0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.160
<v Speaker 1>of strong retail sales numbers we had out today and

0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:14.720
<v Speaker 1>what does that mean for the FED going forward? Is

0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.120
<v Speaker 1>are we in an easy moment or just a mid

0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:36.840
<v Speaker 1>cycle adjustment? Well, our recent I p O s just

0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.360
<v Speaker 1>over the last several months, I had some rocky waves. Um,

0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.280
<v Speaker 1>you know, we've had a very successful one very successful

0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.679
<v Speaker 1>I p O in recent times. Back from late twenty nineteen.

0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:51.280
<v Speaker 1>Was Zoom Video Communications that stock us up about from

0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.680
<v Speaker 1>its I p O. To get the latest on what

0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:58.200
<v Speaker 1>is moving Zoom Video Communications, we welcome Kelly Steckelberg. Kelly

0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.960
<v Speaker 1>is a chief financial officer for Zoom Video Communications and

0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:04.240
<v Speaker 1>that companies based in San Jose, California. Kelly, thanks so

0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.560
<v Speaker 1>much for joining us. Give us a sense of I

0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.480
<v Speaker 1>know you guys reported earnings a couple of weeks ago.

0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.520
<v Speaker 1>What's what did you really talk about? What are you

0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.520
<v Speaker 1>seeing in your business right now and your earnings in

0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:17.080
<v Speaker 1>your current outlook. Sure, thanks for having me. We had

0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.960
<v Speaker 1>a really great strong second quarter. We announced Q two

0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.880
<v Speaker 1>revenue of a hundred and forties six million, growing year

0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.239
<v Speaker 1>over year, and we also were profitable from a gap

0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.720
<v Speaker 1>in a non gap basis, which I think our investors

0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.360
<v Speaker 1>are super excited about. Deuilvering a non gap operating margin

0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.840
<v Speaker 1>of four along with a little our thirty million in

0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.360
<v Speaker 1>operating cash flow. One thing that's interesting is that this

0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.120
<v Speaker 1>growth has come despite the fact that we talk a

0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.360
<v Speaker 1>lot about companies withdrawing some of the spending that they

0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:52.679
<v Speaker 1>have been making on just our businesses, expanding new technologies, etcetera,

0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.040
<v Speaker 1>in light of some of the trade disputes and sort

0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.320
<v Speaker 1>of the uncertainty. What have you been seeing there in

0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.000
<v Speaker 1>terms of how much business is are willing to spend

0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:05.240
<v Speaker 1>on their sort of internal infrastructure. Yeah, so Zoom is

0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.880
<v Speaker 1>great right there. We're a video first communication platform that

0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:12.679
<v Speaker 1>is really changing the way that people work and customers.

0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.319
<v Speaker 1>You know, people serve their customers. An example of this

0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.280
<v Speaker 1>is we actually are super excited than us. He became

0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.040
<v Speaker 1>a customer into two. It was the largest initial deal

0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.440
<v Speaker 1>to date. They are standardizing on zoom across you know,

0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:32.720
<v Speaker 1>sixty seven countries offices and they bought two hosts licenses.

0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.360
<v Speaker 1>So that's a company that's really embracing this video first

0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:38.920
<v Speaker 1>platform and I think we expect to see that even

0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.480
<v Speaker 1>if people are consolidating or conserving and other areas to spend,

0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:47.600
<v Speaker 1>they see that this can really make their employees more efficient. So, uh, Kelly.

0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.520
<v Speaker 1>Another I p O that is about to hit the market,

0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.480
<v Speaker 1>hopefully potentially is we work. Give us a sense of

0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:58.160
<v Speaker 1>how you know your companies impacted by the distributed workforce

0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.040
<v Speaker 1>we're seeing the gig economy. Um, is that a net

0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:05.640
<v Speaker 1>positive for you? It is because what Doom allows is

0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.600
<v Speaker 1>even in the big economy, is for people to take

0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.080
<v Speaker 1>their communication virtual office with them anywhere that they go.

0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.640
<v Speaker 1>You can access to from any platform, any device, anywhere.

0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.520
<v Speaker 1>So with some of our cool features like virtual background,

0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:21.920
<v Speaker 1>you can join a meeting from your PC or from

0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.120
<v Speaker 1>your phone and put up a virtual background so it

0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:29.440
<v Speaker 1>looks as if you're in an office or speech. So

0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.760
<v Speaker 1>that makes it really easy for people to be very

0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.560
<v Speaker 1>productive even sitting in for example or we work office

0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.040
<v Speaker 1>may be surrounded by you know, other people, but they

0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:38.679
<v Speaker 1>want to give the impression that they're sitting in a

0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.040
<v Speaker 1>different location. When we talk about the pace of growth,

0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.360
<v Speaker 1>this company obviously is growing exponentially, is reflected by its

0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.400
<v Speaker 1>share prices, reflected by the enthusiasm of many investors going forward.

0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:53.640
<v Speaker 1>Where do you see the biggest case for expansion here

0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.520
<v Speaker 1>for your business? So they we have some more key

0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.600
<v Speaker 1>growth pillars that we're working on into it's continue expansion

0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.800
<v Speaker 1>into the market and enterprise. HSBC is a perfect example

0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:09.040
<v Speaker 1>of that international expansion. Today, international is about of our revenue,

0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.480
<v Speaker 1>so we see premendous opportunities there as well. We have

0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.760
<v Speaker 1>about eight sales offices around the globe and see no

0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.320
<v Speaker 1>reason in the future why international can't contribute to fifty

0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.480
<v Speaker 1>of our revenue. We also have a new product, Zoom Phone.

0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.679
<v Speaker 1>So this is a product that was launched in Q

0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.920
<v Speaker 1>one and it is our cloud TV ex polution and

0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.360
<v Speaker 1>super super early days for this product, and yet we're

0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.720
<v Speaker 1>excited about the traction that we're making. We announced that

0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.720
<v Speaker 1>there is a global luxury brand that brought new phone

0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.480
<v Speaker 1>in Q two and they're using the product not only

0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.840
<v Speaker 1>for their corporate offices, but also rolling it up to

0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.000
<v Speaker 1>all of their real tail locations. So really excited to

0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.640
<v Speaker 1>see a brand like that using Zoom Phone that's early

0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.880
<v Speaker 1>in the game. And then also Zoom Rooms, which is

0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.880
<v Speaker 1>our conference room solution, and this seamlessly brings video communications

0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.880
<v Speaker 1>into the conference rooms in a way that it hasn't

0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.440
<v Speaker 1>been done before, a very cost effective way. Kelly, give

0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.720
<v Speaker 1>us a sense of kind of the competitive landscape for

0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:06.160
<v Speaker 1>you guys. I think it's when I think of kind

0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.880
<v Speaker 1>of this business, I think about maybe some big telecommunications

0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.719
<v Speaker 1>companies are big you know, services companies. Who do you

0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.839
<v Speaker 1>compete against and how do you position yourself? Yeah, you're

0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.680
<v Speaker 1>exactly right. When we go into the enterprise, an enterprise organization,

0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:23.760
<v Speaker 1>for example, there's typically an incumbent and it's typically you know,

0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.080
<v Speaker 1>just go WebEx solutions are in there. That's who we're

0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.200
<v Speaker 1>seeing compete with. And then in the mass market, we

0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:35.000
<v Speaker 1>often are competing either with free solutions or other online

0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:39.040
<v Speaker 1>providers like logged me in. Kelly Stuckelberg, thank you so

0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.720
<v Speaker 1>much for being with us. Kelly Steckelberg is chief financial

0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:47.199
<v Speaker 1>Officer of Zoom Video Communications UH, joining us from San Jose, California.

0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.840
<v Speaker 1>Zoom has been one I p O that is absolutely

0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.720
<v Speaker 1>skyrocketed since since when it came out earlier this YEurope

0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.640
<v Speaker 1>more than a hundred and twenty two percent. And interestingly enough,

0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.560
<v Speaker 1>I remember when this first landed and how well it performed,

0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.200
<v Speaker 1>and people said, see it actually matters that they make money,

0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.880
<v Speaker 1>they're not burning cash. Investors like that, and Zoom is

0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.320
<v Speaker 1>delivered again, which sort of shows, you know, perhaps it's

0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.440
<v Speaker 1>less you know, the sort of sexy dream of some

0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.120
<v Speaker 1>of these companies, of of of you know, community adjusted

0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:30.640
<v Speaker 1>to Avida, but rather the reality of cash talking about

0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.160
<v Speaker 1>stocks that have been doing very well. Let's talk smart sheet.

0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.439
<v Speaker 1>The CEO currently in our studios here are when we're

0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.840
<v Speaker 1>getting active brokers studios, Mark Mader, chief executive officer of

0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.319
<v Speaker 1>this company. UM he joins us. And before we get

0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.280
<v Speaker 1>into the nitty gritty of your business, what do you do?

0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.120
<v Speaker 1>We help companies unlock the potential of their people. And

0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:55.240
<v Speaker 1>for too long, come on, what does that mean? I mean,

0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.920
<v Speaker 1>so we for too long have have relegated our team

0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.240
<v Speaker 1>members to doing I would say that the core fundamentals

0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.439
<v Speaker 1>of productivity send a message, create a document, have a

0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.120
<v Speaker 1>do a video conversation. These are all fundamentally important to

0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.840
<v Speaker 1>how we work. I actually believe and we believe that

0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:12.920
<v Speaker 1>workers need to do more, they can participate in more.

0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.280
<v Speaker 1>How do you automate something, how do you actually provide

0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.400
<v Speaker 1>structure to something? How do you put something on the

0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.640
<v Speaker 1>rail so your business can achieve more? And we believe

0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.440
<v Speaker 1>that it's not just the six or seven percent of

0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.880
<v Speaker 1>the I T population. You should be enabling businesses. We

0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.520
<v Speaker 1>think that median employees should participate in those ways. So

0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.280
<v Speaker 1>how do you elevate them from tracking in spreadsheets year

0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.440
<v Speaker 1>over year over year to improving how the process actually

0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.720
<v Speaker 1>works that they can achieve more? Okay, so this is different.

0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:40.800
<v Speaker 1>We just had the CFO of Zoom on just before

0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.320
<v Speaker 1>you came on talking about their company. You guys are

0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.520
<v Speaker 1>different from Zoom and Slack, right, we are. I mean

0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.080
<v Speaker 1>we're happy customers of both of those companies and they're

0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:51.480
<v Speaker 1>they're great communication platforms. I think the differences when you

0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.200
<v Speaker 1>communicate on something and you agree to do something, where

0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.720
<v Speaker 1>does that thing live the things that we just agreed to,

0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:01.200
<v Speaker 1>those accountabilities, whether it's a project or process or program,

0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:02.920
<v Speaker 1>what do we do with it? We don't just talk

0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.560
<v Speaker 1>about it. We actually need a reference point. And for

0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.040
<v Speaker 1>years people have used spreadsheets as the reference point and

0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.280
<v Speaker 1>we're now looking to provide them a better vehicle for

0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.560
<v Speaker 1>those types of things. So you have I think you

0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:18.200
<v Speaker 1>said eight customers paid customers, Uh, and they spit. They

0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:23.120
<v Speaker 1>span a whole host of different industries. How customized does

0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:27.360
<v Speaker 1>this software have to be for each business? Highly configured?

0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.480
<v Speaker 1>And the reason I say that we're sort of customer

0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:33.080
<v Speaker 1>When I hear customization, I think of development and cost

0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.520
<v Speaker 1>and complexitiess configuration is the human being wants to make

0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.640
<v Speaker 1>a change. Let them make a change, Taylor, that column definition,

0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.480
<v Speaker 1>the name of the column, what's in the pick list?

0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.560
<v Speaker 1>So what's in the check box? Let them define it.

0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.600
<v Speaker 1>Don't go out and create a spec and have someone

0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.000
<v Speaker 1>else do it for you. When you connect the person

0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.000
<v Speaker 1>to actually defining what that tracking mechanism is, they care

0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.560
<v Speaker 1>about it more because they were involved in its definition.

0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.320
<v Speaker 1>That's how you create advocacy and engagement simply receiving something

0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.720
<v Speaker 1>from someone else who built it. I think let's just

0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.240
<v Speaker 1>abandon things a little more easily. So is this I'm

0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.200
<v Speaker 1>trying to think your competitive environment? Would this be like

0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:11.080
<v Speaker 1>a Microsoft because Microsoft Office and things like that is so,

0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.040
<v Speaker 1>who do you really compete against in this? It's really

0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:16.080
<v Speaker 1>a new category where you have um you're you're bringing

0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.200
<v Speaker 1>together a number of concepts. You're bringing together intake collection

0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.520
<v Speaker 1>through forms. You're bringing together tracking mechanism which has almost

0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.360
<v Speaker 1>some database to have constructs to it. You have reportability. Now,

0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.600
<v Speaker 1>you could easily say all of those technologies were done

0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.560
<v Speaker 1>twenty years ago. Mark, They've been around forever. But I

0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.360
<v Speaker 1>would challenge and say, have they been accessible to people?

0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.640
<v Speaker 1>It's not the definition of a new concept, it's can

0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.400
<v Speaker 1>you make it consumable and accessible by the majority of

0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.880
<v Speaker 1>people in a business? And that is where you get

0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.160
<v Speaker 1>that enrollment. That's where you get the value creation. So

0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.040
<v Speaker 1>I'm trying to understand the advantage to this versus just

0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.520
<v Speaker 1>throwing your files up into the cloud and being like you, guys,

0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.360
<v Speaker 1>it's your job, check it out. If you don't do it,

0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:57.600
<v Speaker 1>you're fired. That's that's a fairly draconian way of running

0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:03.640
<v Speaker 1>a bass. That's how they look at it and get

0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.480
<v Speaker 1>paid or I don't get We found that, we found

0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.440
<v Speaker 1>that the modern employee does not respond to such such

0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:16.240
<v Speaker 1>a post Seattle, New York. Let's talk. So, I think

0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.880
<v Speaker 1>people have choice today and and I think when when

0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:21.840
<v Speaker 1>you thrust them into an area of of sort of

0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.520
<v Speaker 1>aggressive take it or leave it. People will leave it.

0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:26.880
<v Speaker 1>People will absolutely leave it. And I think when when

0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.119
<v Speaker 1>more people understand that there is that there is a

0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.840
<v Speaker 1>better way, they will embrace it. What's frustrating, though, is

0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.639
<v Speaker 1>that when we talk about all this goodness of technology,

0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.280
<v Speaker 1>one of the reason things like Zoom have done well,

0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.600
<v Speaker 1>it's because it's accessible. So when you help let person

0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.040
<v Speaker 1>achieve something, that loyalty goes out. But the it is

0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.280
<v Speaker 1>when you change behavior, it's difficult, right, So it has

0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.720
<v Speaker 1>to be easy enough. It's not just do you see

0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.200
<v Speaker 1>value in the idea? Can I have a win with it?

0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.680
<v Speaker 1>What I'm hearing is the website is pretty and it's

0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.840
<v Speaker 1>it's pretty self explanatory. I mean that's that's basically because

0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.440
<v Speaker 1>ultimately it's a it's a sort of more complicated idea

0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.000
<v Speaker 1>to track everything. But it sounds like, you know, if

0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.600
<v Speaker 1>you make the interface easy enough, people actually use it,

0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.040
<v Speaker 1>engage with, and all of a sudden it's becomes useful. Correct.

0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.920
<v Speaker 1>So I'm looking um mark at my Bloomberg terminal, looking

0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:15.720
<v Speaker 1>at the s M A R is a symbol for

0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.680
<v Speaker 1>your company, and looking at over a couple of years

0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.879
<v Speaker 1>the streets got you growing, you know, top line UM

0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.400
<v Speaker 1>but I don't see profitability. I don't see cash flow

0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.040
<v Speaker 1>positive and that's historically if you look at the Lift

0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:28.720
<v Speaker 1>or an Uber or some of these other recent tech

0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.200
<v Speaker 1>companies that have come public, the market's kind of push

0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.920
<v Speaker 1>back on that lack of profitability. How come your stock

0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.679
<v Speaker 1>is kind of weather that. Have you indicated that your

0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.880
<v Speaker 1>investors that you do, in fact have a path to profitability. Yeah.

0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:42.480
<v Speaker 1>I think one of the reasons why they're they're they're

0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.360
<v Speaker 1>so supportive of the company is we've we've exercised really

0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:49.000
<v Speaker 1>a sound from physical discipline. So we're growing organically over

0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.000
<v Speaker 1>fifty we're investing because our markets less than two percent penetrated.

0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.479
<v Speaker 1>So when you're retaining on a percentage basis at four

0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.160
<v Speaker 1>percent as a subscription provider, they encourage you to, oh,

0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:02.639
<v Speaker 1>now you need to do that with discipline. But that

0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.120
<v Speaker 1>balance between our free cash from our growth rate, it's

0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:09.280
<v Speaker 1>decidedly healthy, and they're strongly encouraging us to pursue that opportunity.

0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.480
<v Speaker 1>Where are you seeing the biggest potential for growth regionally

0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:15.040
<v Speaker 1>well when when you're in a two percent penetrated market,

0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.760
<v Speaker 1>even though we're still going extraordinarily well in the US,

0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.400
<v Speaker 1>US represents a little over our revenue. So we see

0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.480
<v Speaker 1>both massive growth in our home country. We see it

0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.560
<v Speaker 1>internationally where we have presence a team in the UK.

0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:29.560
<v Speaker 1>We're expanding, as we said on an Orange call into

0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.520
<v Speaker 1>Asia pack as the next stop with our direct team,

0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.720
<v Speaker 1>but we also see new markets. We were one of

0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.920
<v Speaker 1>the few SAS companies that was recently approved at the

0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.479
<v Speaker 1>federal level for the fed RAM program. So now we're

0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.040
<v Speaker 1>looking to bring all the benefits that the commercial sector

0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.200
<v Speaker 1>has had to the agencies, and we see such a

0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.520
<v Speaker 1>shortage of valuable solutions for this for this population. So

0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.840
<v Speaker 1>what are the key I mean? I know you mentioned international,

0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:56.240
<v Speaker 1>but are there's some industry verticals that represent growth areas

0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:58.360
<v Speaker 1>for you guys, because I get them when I see

0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.040
<v Speaker 1>top line growth kind of wonder where's it coming from

0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.960
<v Speaker 1>and how sustainable is it. Yeah, there's some obvious categories

0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:09.119
<v Speaker 1>like media, um and and technology which are are highly

0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.680
<v Speaker 1>cross company in their collaborative needs. So a tool like

0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.000
<v Speaker 1>ours beautifully fits into that. But what I would also

0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:17.359
<v Speaker 1>say is I can't think of an industry today that

0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.680
<v Speaker 1>is internally focused only. The pressure for companies to reach

0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.280
<v Speaker 1>outside of their walls is greater than ever, so it's

0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.760
<v Speaker 1>really it's about why we serve such a diverse group

0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.960
<v Speaker 1>of customers. Real quick acquisitions, anything in the offing. Yeah,

0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:32.720
<v Speaker 1>we we've just done two in the last six months,

0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:34.920
<v Speaker 1>so we're we're bringing those to market right now. But

0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:36.920
<v Speaker 1>we're absolutely looking at both. One of the reasons we

0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.520
<v Speaker 1>did our follow on in June, what happens if some

0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.040
<v Speaker 1>big tech company wants to come along and buy you. Well,

0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.080
<v Speaker 1>I think it's something where you know you. You focus

0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.439
<v Speaker 1>on controlling your destiny to the best of your ability,

0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.920
<v Speaker 1>create a valuable product, have raving fan customers, do it

0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:53.320
<v Speaker 1>globally and maintain that optionality, but don't put yourself into

0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.040
<v Speaker 1>a box where you're forced to make that decision. Marketer,

0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:58.480
<v Speaker 1>thanks made her. Thanks so much for joining us, Mark

0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.159
<v Speaker 1>as the CEO of smart sheet Again trades on the

0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.520
<v Speaker 1>New York Stock is Strange under the symbol s m A.

0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.520
<v Speaker 1>Are joining us live here on our Bloomberg Interactive Brooker Studio.

0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:08.399
<v Speaker 1>We appreciate you coming to Mark. Thanks for listening to

0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.840
<v Speaker 1>the Bloomberg P and L podcast. You can subscribe and

0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:14.040
<v Speaker 1>listen to interviews at Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast platform

0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:17.119
<v Speaker 1>you prefer. I'm Paul Sweeney I'm on Twitter at pt Sweeney.

0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.120
<v Speaker 1>I'm Lisa Abram Woyds. I'm on Twitter at Lisa abramloits

0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.000
<v Speaker 1>one before the podcast, you can always catch us worldwide.

0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:23.960
<v Speaker 1>I'm Bloomberg Radio