SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) Upgraded at LADENBURG THALM/SH SH

LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

SOUN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of SoundHound AI from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. HC Wainwright decreased their price target on shares of SoundHound AI from $26.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price target (down from $11.00) on shares of SoundHound AI in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of SoundHound AI in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of SoundHound AI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SoundHound AI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.93.

SoundHound AI Stock Performance

Shares of SOUN stock opened at $8.88 on Wednesday. SoundHound AI has a fifty-two week low of $5.83 and a fifty-two week high of $22.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.89 and a beta of 2.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.18.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $44.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.56 million. SoundHound AI had a negative return on equity of 41.46% and a negative net margin of 91.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SoundHound AI will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at SoundHound AI

In related news, insider James Ming Hom sold 31,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.79, for a total transaction of $210,619.01. Following the sale, the insider owned 772,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,244,351.56. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Zagorsek sold 52,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.79, for a total transaction of $359,652.72. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,734,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,193.89. This represents a 2.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 307,973 shares of company stock valued at $2,091,110 in the last quarter. 8.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of SoundHound AI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of SoundHound AI by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,367,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,868 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of SoundHound AI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,180,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,543,000 after purchasing an additional 273,097 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of SoundHound AI by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,987,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,917,280 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of SoundHound AI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,691,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,652,000 after purchasing an additional 80,908 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of SoundHound AI by 77.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,124,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting SoundHound AI

Here are the key news stories impacting SoundHound AI this week:

• Positive Sentiment: SoundHound posted record Q1 revenue of $44.2 million, up about 52% year over year, and exceeded revenue expectations, showing continued momentum in its voice AI business. SoundHound AI Reports Record Q1 Revenue of $44.2 Million, Up 52%
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched OASYS, a self-learning AI agent platform, which could expand SoundHound’s product offering and support longer-term growth. SoundHound AI (SOUN) Launches OASYS Self-Learning AI Agent Platform
• Positive Sentiment: SoundHound outlined 2027 revenue expectations of at least $350 million to $400 million after the planned LivePerson acquisition, suggesting management sees meaningful future scale. SoundHound outlines 2027 revenue of at minimum $350M-$400M following planned LivePerson acquisition
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with at least one recent upgrade to strong-buy and commentary that the stock could have meaningful upside if execution improves. Wall Street Bulls Look Optimistic About SoundHound AI (SOUN): Should You Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the revenue beat, SoundHound missed earnings estimates and cited higher acquisition-related costs and vendor true-ups, which pressured margins and weighed on investor sentiment. SOUN Q1 Earnings Miss on Higher Costs, Revenue Beat, Stock Down
• Negative Sentiment: Investors also appear concerned that the planned LivePerson deal and broader acquisition strategy could continue to pressure earnings even as revenue grows. SoundHound’s stock falls as acquisitions weigh on earnings results

SoundHound AI Company Profile

SoundHound AI, Inc is a voice AI and conversational intelligence company specializing in speech recognition, natural language understanding and sound identification technologies. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company initially gained recognition with its music discovery app before pivoting to enterprise-grade voice AI solutions. Over the years, SoundHound AI has built a comprehensive platform that enables developers and businesses to embed conversational intelligence into a wide range of products and services.

The company’s core offering is the Houndify voice AI platform, which provides customizable speech-to-meaning technology, domain-specific natural language understanding and text-to-speech capabilities.