But it's also necessary - sometimes - to play devil's advocate, if not to acknowledge progress when it's made. This, in an attempt to produce less partisan and more balanced opinions.

We've been writing about Zoom Video Communications for some time now,. Not so long ago, the stock was trading at multiples of its current price, while the radioactivity signals were piling up: headless valuations, prohibitive compensation packages, opaque auditing techniques, and so on.

Yesterday, the San José-based company published its half-yearly results, and it has to be said that efforts are being made. Admittedly, revenues have not risen since the pandemic, partly because Microsoft Teams, after its delayed start-up, has outstripped the company in a market that is now saturated.

Nevertheless, a new management discipline seems to be emerging. This is evidenced by operating expenses which, on a constant sales basis since this time last year, are down by almost $200 million. Unsurprisingly, the biggest cut was in stock options. As a result, operating profit has doubled since the first half of 2023.

All other things being equal, Zoom could generate $1 billion in free cash flow this year. If the trend of the past half-year continues, this profit will be returned in full to shareholders via share buy-backs. In this context, the current enterprise value - $11 billion - no longer seems so unreasonable.

Unless? The CFO announced her surprise resignation on August 16. Similarly, in recent weeks, founder and CEO Eric Yuan and renowned Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing have continued to sell off their shares on a massive scale. The former has liquidated three-quarters of his stake since the pandemic.

The infamous Cathie Woods - who used to declare that she got her investment ideas from Jesus himself - followed suit, divesting her ARK Innovation fund from its Zoom position at one-sixth of its acquisition cost.