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Buy 2 AI-Led Mid-Cap Laggards of 2026 That Have Solid Upside Potential
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U.S. stock markets have been witnessing an astonishing bull run supported by artificial intelligence (AI) trade. For the past three and a half years, AI trade has single-handedly driven Wall Street.
Despite these positives, several AI-driven mid-cap stocks have provided double-digit negative returns this year. Here, we have identified two such stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank that have significantly lagged in 2026. However, these stocks have room for growth in the near future.
The chart below shows the price performance of our two picks year to date.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
SoundHound AI Inc.
Zacks Rank #2 SoundHound has seen record-high revenue growth in the last reported quarter driven by accelerating enterprise adoption of its OASYS agentic AI platform. SOUN’s expanding enterprise customer base, leadership in voice and agentic AI and debt-free balance sheet support its long-term growth outlook.
SOUN is benefiting from rising enterprise adoption of conversational and agentic AI as businesses increasingly automate customer interactions across voice, chat and digital channels. SOUN has expanded beyond its traditional automotive business into restaurants, retail, healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, energy and other enterprise verticals, creating multiple long-term growth avenues.
SOUN has built one of the industry's most differentiated independent voice AI platforms over nearly two decades of research and development. Its proprietary Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technologies enable faster, more accurate conversational AI than traditional speech-to-text architectures. Its technology is now backed by more than 400 patents, while OASYS combines capabilities from SoundHound and acquired businesses into a unified platform for conversational and agentic AI.
Strong Estimate Revisions
SoundHound AI has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 41% and -23.1%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 11.1% over the last 30 days.
SOUN has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 14.6% and 14.7%, respectively, for the next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year’s earnings has improved 23.5% over the last 30 days.
Huge Price Upside Potential
The short-term average price target of brokerage firms represents an increase of 71.4% from the last closing price of $6.99. The brokerage target price is currently in the range of $7-$16. This indicates a maximum upside of 128.6% and no downside.
Workiva Inc.
Zacks Rank #1 Workiva offers a cloud-based and mobile-enabled platform for enterprises to collect, manage, report and analyze critical business data in real time. WK provides solutions for compliance, risk, sustainability and management reporting as well as enterprise risk management.
WK incorporates purpose-built AI agents and data intelligence layers, into its enterprise reporting. WK serves the manufacturing and materials, energy and utilities, financial services, healthcare, media and entertainment, real estate, retail, consumer goods, services, transportation and technology and telecom industries.
Strong Estimate Revisions
Workiva has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 17.8% and 85.4%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 13.4% over the last 30 days.
WK has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 15.1% and 21.9%, respectively, for the next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year’s earnings has improved 17.2% over the last 30 days.
Solid Price Upside Potential
The short-term average price target of brokerage firms represents an increase of 10% from the last closing price of $70.10. The brokerage target price is currently in the range of $65-$91. This indicates a maximum upside of 29.8% and a downside of 7.3%.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
Buy 2 AI-Led Mid-Cap Laggards of 2026 That Have Solid Upside Potential
U.S. stock markets have been witnessing an astonishing bull run supported by artificial intelligence (AI) trade. For the past three and a half years, AI trade has single-handedly driven Wall Street.
Despite these positives, several AI-driven mid-cap stocks have provided double-digit negative returns this year. Here, we have identified two such stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank that have significantly lagged in 2026. However, these stocks have room for growth in the near future.
These stocks are: SoundHound AI Inc. (SOUN - Free Report) and Workiva Inc. (WK - Free Report) . Each of our picks currently carries either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The chart below shows the price performance of our two picks year to date.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
SoundHound AI Inc.
Zacks Rank #2 SoundHound has seen record-high revenue growth in the last reported quarter driven by accelerating enterprise adoption of its OASYS agentic AI platform. SOUN’s expanding enterprise customer base, leadership in voice and agentic AI and debt-free balance sheet support its long-term growth outlook.
SOUN is benefiting from rising enterprise adoption of conversational and agentic AI as businesses increasingly automate customer interactions across voice, chat and digital channels. SOUN has expanded beyond its traditional automotive business into restaurants, retail, healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, energy and other enterprise verticals, creating multiple long-term growth avenues.
SOUN has built one of the industry's most differentiated independent voice AI platforms over nearly two decades of research and development. Its proprietary Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technologies enable faster, more accurate conversational AI than traditional speech-to-text architectures. Its technology is now backed by more than 400 patents, while OASYS combines capabilities from SoundHound and acquired businesses into a unified platform for conversational and agentic AI.
Strong Estimate Revisions
SoundHound AI has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 41% and -23.1%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 11.1% over the last 30 days.
SOUN has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 14.6% and 14.7%, respectively, for the next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year’s earnings has improved 23.5% over the last 30 days.
Huge Price Upside Potential
The short-term average price target of brokerage firms represents an increase of 71.4% from the last closing price of $6.99. The brokerage target price is currently in the range of $7-$16. This indicates a maximum upside of 128.6% and no downside.
Workiva Inc.
Zacks Rank #1 Workiva offers a cloud-based and mobile-enabled platform for enterprises to collect, manage, report and analyze critical business data in real time. WK provides solutions for compliance, risk, sustainability and management reporting as well as enterprise risk management.
WK incorporates purpose-built AI agents and data intelligence layers, into its enterprise reporting. WK serves the manufacturing and materials, energy and utilities, financial services, healthcare, media and entertainment, real estate, retail, consumer goods, services, transportation and technology and telecom industries.
Strong Estimate Revisions
Workiva has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 17.8% and 85.4%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 13.4% over the last 30 days.
WK has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 15.1% and 21.9%, respectively, for the next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year’s earnings has improved 17.2% over the last 30 days.
Solid Price Upside Potential
The short-term average price target of brokerage firms represents an increase of 10% from the last closing price of $70.10. The brokerage target price is currently in the range of $65-$91. This indicates a maximum upside of 29.8% and a downside of 7.3%.