What happened

Shares of Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC) slipped last month as a strong third-quarter earnings report wasn't enough to counteract headwinds around the closing of its merger with Livongo Health and a broader sell-off in tech stocks at the end of the month.

According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, the stock finished the month down 10%, and as you can see from the chart, it was mostly a quiet month for the telehealth leader until it slipped in the last week of October.

TDOC data by YCharts

So what

Teladoc's third-quarter results, which came out after hours on Oct. 28, show the company continued to enjoy strong growth from the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, revenue growth actually accelerated from the second quarter to the third as it posted top-line growth of 109% to $288.8 million, beating the analyst consensus at $282 million, and the company's own guidance at $285 million. Meanwhile, total visits more than tripled, climbing 206% to 2.8 million, showing adoption of its platform is rapidly increasing.

Image source: Teladoc Health.

Its adjusted loss per share narrowed from $0.28 in the quarter a year ago to $0.13, easily beating expectations at $0.30.

CEO Jason Gorevic said, "Our strong third-quarter results exceeded expectations, driven by broad-based strength across the business and building on the momentum we saw in the first half of the year."

Despite those results and solid guidance for the fourth quarter, the stock fell 4% the following day and tumbled on Oct. 30 when Teladoc announced the closing of its merger with Livongo Health. Investors had given a thumbs-down to the deal when it was first announced in August, so a modest sell-off wouldn't have been surprising, and a broader crash in tech stocks after several FAANG names reported earnings also seemed to contribute to the slide.

Now what

The stock market came under pressure last week as rising coronavirus cases in the U.S. and Europe prompted some lockdown measures in Europe and fears that the pandemic would spin out of control at home. However, as a "stay-at-home" stock, Teladoc is well-positioned to thrive in such an environment, so it's strange that the stock retreated last week. If the pandemic continues to worsen over the winter, this healthcare stock should see strong growth as more patients and doctors embrace its telehealth platform.

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Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Teladoc Health. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Teladoc Health. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.