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Zoom Video (ZM) has been getting a lot of attention as a pandemic play, as its video conferencing platform has grown in popularity during the days of staying/working at home policies. However, we think AudioCodes' (AUDC +21%) impressive Q1 results should put it in the conversation as well. AUDC helps companies build all-IP voice networks for unified communications (UC), contact centers, etc. AUDC has become a Microsoft recognized partner for its Skype for Business platform.

Today, in addition to reporting earnings, AudioCodes announced that it's collaborating with Google (GOOG) to integrate telephony voice services with virtual agents developed with the Google Dialogflow bot framework. The use of chat bots and virtual agents is increasing as contact centers seek ways to improve live agent productivity. AUDC says the idea of utilizing these is to offload simple, repetitive tasks to bots while using natural language interactions powered by AI.

Let's see how the quarter went and talk about the impact that the pandemic has had on the company's business, both positive and negative:

• AUDC reported EPS and revenue that were both above analyst expectations. Non-GAAP EPS jumped 39% yr/yr to $0.25. Top-line growth was not tremendous, as revenue increased by 11.7% yr/yr to $52.0 mln, but it was decent.
• While not providing specific guidance, AUDC said the strong business activity seen in Q1 and in April leads it to believe that it should be able to meet its plan for the full year and for Q2.
• The company says it saw good business momentum on both the enterprise and the service provider sides during the quarter. It also saw growth in all of the major market segments in which it serves.
• In terms of pandemic impact, on the negative side, AUDC experienced some mid-Q1 difficulties in the manufacturing of its hardware products in China. However, AUDC was able to quickly recover and was able to ship all products as planned during the quarter.
• More positively, AUDC has seen increased market activity and demand in two of its leading business activities: the Microsoft Teams application for UCaaS and the rapidly growing trend of work-from-home.
  • AUDC says demand in both areas was driven by the stay-at-home and remote work/social distancing policies.
  • Specifically, revenue related to MS Teams ecosystem grew above 80% yr/yr, and newly created opportunities more than doubled yr/yr.

The big jump in the stock today seems to be equal parts due to a strong Q1 result with a pandemic tailwind and the new collaboration with Google, which, in addition to Microsoft (MSFT), shows that AUDC's platform is attractive to major tech names. AUDC is not as high profile as Zoom, but it's certainly seeing a benefit in the shift to at-home work.