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SoundHound AI Up 131.6% Year to Date: What Should Investors Do Now?

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SoundHound AI (SOUN - Free Report) shares have appreciated 131.6% year to date (YTD), outperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s return of 25.5%. 

SOUN shares have also outperformed the Zacks Computers – IT Services industry and peers like ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) , Infosys (INFY - Free Report) and CyberArk (CYBR - Free Report) over the same timeframe. NOW, INFY and CYBR shares have gained 32.9%, 24.8% and 34.8%, respectively.

SoundHound AI has been benefiting from a strong portfolio, a solid partner base and an expanding clientele. SOUN offers conversational intelligence through independent Voice AI solutions in 25 languages in both cloud-enabled and hardware-embedded devices. 

Does SOUN’s strong AI-driven portfolio offer further growth opportunities for investors?

SOUN’s YTD Performance

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research


Let’s dig deep to find out.

SOUN’s Prospects Ride on Amelia & Allset Acquisition

SoundHound AI now expects revenues to be more than $80 million and $150 million for 2024 and 2025, respectively, including the contribution from Amelia. 

Amelia’s diverse business increases SOUN’s recurring revenue base. The solution recently received the XCelent Advanced Technology 2024 Award from research and advisory firm Celent.

Celent recognized Amelia as one of the highest-rated solutions among 10 retail banking intelligent virtual assistant platforms in both the Advanced Technology category and the Breadth of Functionality category.

The Allset buyout will help SOUN to build a voice commerce ecosystem. Allset allows consumers to use cutting-edge voice AI to order food from their vehicles, phones and smart devices.

SOUN Stock Benefits From AI-Backed Portfolio

SOUN’s prospects benefit from a massive addressable market worth more than $140 billion that includes diverse industries like automotive, restaurants, customer service, entertainment, Smart TVs, and Internet of Things powered devices.

SoundHound AI’s prospects benefit from its expanding footprint in industries like automotive and restaurants, driven by its innovative portfolio. It currently has more than 270 patents, with over 155 granted and more than 115 pending.

The strong demand for SoundHound Chat AI and AI Customer Service solutions is noteworthy. Generative AI (GenAI) presents a significant growth opportunity for SoundHound AI’s prospects. Enterprise spending on GenAI is projected to grow 15-fold over the next three years to nearly $250 billion.

SOUN Rides on Automotive Strength

Automotive presents a significant growth opportunity for SOUN. TAM for the global light vehicle auto market is currently pegged at roughly 88 million and is expected to hit 95 million units by 2028.

SOUN has strengthened its footprint in the automotive industry by introducing its advanced SoundHound Chat AI voice assistant, integrated with ChatGPT, into Peugeot, Opel, and Vauxhall vehicles across 11 European markets, including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. 

SOUN’s collaborations with NVIDIA, ARM, Perplexity, Olo and Oracle are expanding its portfolio. SoundHound AI launched an advanced in-vehicle voice assistant leveraging NVIDIA DRIVE, enabling real-time and generative AI capabilities for seamless, offline access to vehicle intelligence and personalized assistance.

SoundHound AI partnered with Perplexity to enhance SoundHound Chat AI through the integration of Perplexity’s online Large Language Model capabilities for advanced, real-time voice assistant responses.

SOUN’s Earnings Estimates Remain Steady

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SOUN’s 2024 revenues is pegged at $82.59 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 80.05%. 

The consensus mark for 2024 loss is pegged at 36 cents per share, unchanged over the past 30 days. 
 

 

SounHound AI’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in one of the trailing four quarters, missing in two quarters, while it was in line in the remaining quarter, the average negative surprise being 5%.

Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.

For 2025, the consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $151.87 million, suggesting year-over-year growth of 83.87%. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 loss is pegged at 21 cents per share, unchanged over the past 30 days.

SOUN Shares Overvalued

SOUN stock is not so cheap, as the Value Score of F suggests a stretched valuation at this moment.

In terms of the forward 12-month Price/Sales ratio, SoundHound AI is trading at 12.85X, higher than the Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s 6.14X.

Price/Sales Ratio (F12M)

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research


SOUN is a Risky Bet for Investors

SOUN’s innovative AI-powered portfolio makes it well-positioned to benefit from the strong TAM of global automotive and restaurant markets. Amelia and Allset acquisitions are key catalysts.

However, SoundHound AI currently has a Growth Score of D, which means it is a risky bet for growth-oriented investors. Stretched valuation makes the stock unattractive at this moment.

SOUN currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), suggesting that it may be wise to wait for a more favorable entry point in the stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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