Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage of SoundHound AI (SOUN) With a Perform Rating
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Sep 13 2025
0mins
Should l Buy SOUN?
Source: Yahoo Finance
Analyst Coverage: Oppenheimer analyst Brian Schwartz initiated coverage of SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) with a Perform rating, highlighting its strong conversational AI technology and potential for durable growth.
Concerns and Comparisons: Despite its strengths, there are concerns about competitive threats and the company's ability to meet sales expectations, leading to a belief that other AI stocks may offer better investment opportunities.
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Analyst Views on SOUN
Wall Street analysts forecast SOUN stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for SOUN is 16.60 USD with a low forecast of 11.00 USD and a high forecast of 26.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
7 Analyst Rating
5 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 8.260
Low
11.00
Averages
16.60
High
26.00
Current: 8.260
Low
11.00
Averages
16.60
High
26.00
About SOUN
SoundHound AI, Inc. is engaged in conversational intelligence, offering voice and conversational artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that let businesses offer experiences to their customers. Through its proprietary technology, its voice AI delivers speed and accuracy in numerous languages to product creators and service providers across retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, smart devices, and restaurants via AI-driven products, such as Smart Answering, Smart Ordering, Dynamic Drive Thru, and Amelia AI Agents. Along with SoundHound Chat AI, a voice assistant with integrated Generative AI, it powers various products and services, and processes billions of interactions each year for businesses. Its developer platform, Houndify, is an open-access platform that allows developers to leverage its Voice AI technology and a library of over 100 content domains, including commonly used domains for points of interest, weather, flight status, sports and more.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
SoundHound AI's Transformation and Revenue Growth
- Rapid Revenue Growth: SoundHound's revenue more than doubled in the first nine months of 2025, indicating significant financial progress during its transformation, which lays a solid foundation for future profitability despite poor stock performance.
- Strategic Transformation: By acquiring virtual agent provider Amelia, the company has successfully pivoted to a voice-first agentic AI platform, enhancing its competitiveness in customer service by leveraging Amelia's customer base alongside its voice technology.
- Market Expansion: SoundHound has made significant inroads in the automotive and restaurant sectors, particularly through its partnership with Five Guys, which solidifies its market position in AI ordering and customer interaction, showcasing the broad applicability of its technology.
- Future Outlook: The company is projected to approach break-even profitability by 2026, trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 12.5 times, indicating a reasonable valuation in the context of its hypergrowth, with potential to emerge as a winner in the AI space.
See More
SoundHound AI Poised for Major Gains in 2025
- Significant Revenue Growth: SoundHound AI's revenue more than doubled in the first nine months of 2025, indicating strong performance in the rapidly growing AI market, with projections nearing break-even profitability by 2026, suggesting a maturing business model.
- Successful Technology Transformation: The company has successfully transformed into a voice AI leader with its 'speech-to-meaning' and 'deep meaning understanding' technologies, which can understand user intent even before they finish speaking, enhancing user experience and competitive positioning.
- Accelerated Industry Expansion: SoundHound expanded its partnership with burger chain Five Guys to provide AI ordering and menu inquiry services, further solidifying its market position in the automotive and restaurant sectors, showcasing the broad applicability of its technology.
- Acquisition-Driven Growth: By acquiring virtual agent provider Amelia, SoundHound has not only offered voice solutions but has also pivoted to a comprehensive agentic AI platform, addressing the needs of clients across various industries, including highly regulated sectors, thereby enhancing its competitive edge.
See More
Palantir Technologies Shows Strong Growth Potential
- Significant Revenue Growth: Palantir's Q3 revenue increased by 63% year-over-year, driving a 51% rise in operating income, indicating strong growth momentum in the AI sector, with expectations for this trend to continue through 2029, further solidifying its market position.
- Diverse Customer Base: With clients including the Department of Defense, CDC, and IRS, over half of Palantir's revenue comes from government customers, highlighting its unique position and strong demand in the decision intelligence industry.
- Broad Market Outlook: According to Precedence Research, the global decision intelligence platform market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of over 15% through 2035, positioning Palantir as the leader best suited to capture market share.
- Enhanced Profitability: By reusing a basic coding framework to lower client development costs, Palantir is expected to achieve higher profit margins, which will further increase as its customer base expands, attracting more investor interest.
See More
Analysis of Palantir Technologies' Growth Potential
- Significant Revenue Growth: Palantir Technologies reported a 63% year-over-year revenue increase and a 51% rise in operating income in Q3, indicating strong business momentum that is expected to continue through 2029, boosting investor confidence in its future profitability.
- Market Leadership: Palantir holds a dominant position in the decision intelligence platform market, which is projected to grow at an annualized rate of over 15%, allowing Palantir to capture a significant share of this growth due to its unique technology and customer base.
- Diverse Clientele: With clients including the Department of Defense and the CDC, over half of Palantir's revenue comes from government customers, highlighting its strong influence and demand in the public service sector.
- Enhanced Profitability: Palantir's basic coding framework allows for moderate customization, reducing development costs per client and thereby increasing profit margins, with expectations of significant overall profitability improvements as the customer base expands.
See More
SoundHound AI: Significant Growth Potential Ahead
- Market Opportunity: With a market cap of $3.6 billion, SoundHound AI, as a pure-play AI application company, could see substantial stock returns if its products gain widespread adoption, particularly with growth expectations for 2026.
- Software Application Success: Its audio recognition software has been successfully deployed in restaurant drive-thrus and vehicle digital assistants, with future performance in customer service, especially in call centers, being crucial for revenue growth.
- Revenue Growth: SoundHound AI reported a 68% revenue increase in Q3 and raised its full-year outlook, indicating strong market demand and a projected 37% revenue growth, which is attracting investor interest.
- Profitability Challenges: Although SoundHound AI's sales multiple stands at 27 times, lower than historical levels, its operating margin remains negative, prompting investors to monitor improvements in profitability to avoid market concerns over ongoing losses.
See More
SoundHound AI Anticipates Strong Growth in 2026
- Significant Market Potential: With a market cap of $3.6 billion, SoundHound AI stands out as one of the few pure-play AI application companies, indicating that if a large customer base adopts its products, the stock could yield substantial returns, highlighting its potential in the AI market.
- Strong Revenue Growth: In Q3 2023, SoundHound AI reported a 68% year-over-year revenue increase and raised its full-year outlook, demonstrating robust performance in the market and confidence in future growth.
- Expanding Customer Base: The company signed a deal with a French insurance firm to integrate AI capabilities into its call center, and three of the top ten global financial institutions have also purchased additional services, indicating an increasing acceptance of its products in the market.
- Profitability Challenges: Despite strong revenue growth, SoundHound AI faces challenges with a consistently negative operating margin, spending about twice its revenue, leading investors to focus on whether it can achieve profitability and improve operational efficiency by 2026.
See More
SoundHound AI's Transformation and Revenue Growth
- Rapid Revenue Growth: SoundHound's revenue more than doubled in the first nine months of 2025, indicating significant financial progress during its transformation, which lays a solid foundation for future profitability despite poor stock performance.
- Strategic Transformation: By acquiring virtual agent provider Amelia, the company has successfully pivoted to a voice-first agentic AI platform, enhancing its competitiveness in customer service by leveraging Amelia's customer base alongside its voice technology.
- Market Expansion: SoundHound has made significant inroads in the automotive and restaurant sectors, particularly through its partnership with Five Guys, which solidifies its market position in AI ordering and customer interaction, showcasing the broad applicability of its technology.
- Future Outlook: The company is projected to approach break-even profitability by 2026, trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 12.5 times, indicating a reasonable valuation in the context of its hypergrowth, with potential to emerge as a winner in the AI space.
See More
SoundHound AI Poised for Major Gains in 2025
- Significant Revenue Growth: SoundHound AI's revenue more than doubled in the first nine months of 2025, indicating strong performance in the rapidly growing AI market, with projections nearing break-even profitability by 2026, suggesting a maturing business model.
- Successful Technology Transformation: The company has successfully transformed into a voice AI leader with its 'speech-to-meaning' and 'deep meaning understanding' technologies, which can understand user intent even before they finish speaking, enhancing user experience and competitive positioning.
- Accelerated Industry Expansion: SoundHound expanded its partnership with burger chain Five Guys to provide AI ordering and menu inquiry services, further solidifying its market position in the automotive and restaurant sectors, showcasing the broad applicability of its technology.
- Acquisition-Driven Growth: By acquiring virtual agent provider Amelia, SoundHound has not only offered voice solutions but has also pivoted to a comprehensive agentic AI platform, addressing the needs of clients across various industries, including highly regulated sectors, thereby enhancing its competitive edge.
See More
Palantir Technologies Shows Strong Growth Potential
- Significant Revenue Growth: Palantir's Q3 revenue increased by 63% year-over-year, driving a 51% rise in operating income, indicating strong growth momentum in the AI sector, with expectations for this trend to continue through 2029, further solidifying its market position.
- Diverse Customer Base: With clients including the Department of Defense, CDC, and IRS, over half of Palantir's revenue comes from government customers, highlighting its unique position and strong demand in the decision intelligence industry.
- Broad Market Outlook: According to Precedence Research, the global decision intelligence platform market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of over 15% through 2035, positioning Palantir as the leader best suited to capture market share.
- Enhanced Profitability: By reusing a basic coding framework to lower client development costs, Palantir is expected to achieve higher profit margins, which will further increase as its customer base expands, attracting more investor interest.
See More
Analysis of Palantir Technologies' Growth Potential
- Significant Revenue Growth: Palantir Technologies reported a 63% year-over-year revenue increase and a 51% rise in operating income in Q3, indicating strong business momentum that is expected to continue through 2029, boosting investor confidence in its future profitability.
- Market Leadership: Palantir holds a dominant position in the decision intelligence platform market, which is projected to grow at an annualized rate of over 15%, allowing Palantir to capture a significant share of this growth due to its unique technology and customer base.
- Diverse Clientele: With clients including the Department of Defense and the CDC, over half of Palantir's revenue comes from government customers, highlighting its strong influence and demand in the public service sector.
- Enhanced Profitability: Palantir's basic coding framework allows for moderate customization, reducing development costs per client and thereby increasing profit margins, with expectations of significant overall profitability improvements as the customer base expands.
See More
SoundHound AI: Significant Growth Potential Ahead
- Market Opportunity: With a market cap of $3.6 billion, SoundHound AI, as a pure-play AI application company, could see substantial stock returns if its products gain widespread adoption, particularly with growth expectations for 2026.
- Software Application Success: Its audio recognition software has been successfully deployed in restaurant drive-thrus and vehicle digital assistants, with future performance in customer service, especially in call centers, being crucial for revenue growth.
- Revenue Growth: SoundHound AI reported a 68% revenue increase in Q3 and raised its full-year outlook, indicating strong market demand and a projected 37% revenue growth, which is attracting investor interest.
- Profitability Challenges: Although SoundHound AI's sales multiple stands at 27 times, lower than historical levels, its operating margin remains negative, prompting investors to monitor improvements in profitability to avoid market concerns over ongoing losses.
See More
SoundHound AI Anticipates Strong Growth in 2026
- Significant Market Potential: With a market cap of $3.6 billion, SoundHound AI stands out as one of the few pure-play AI application companies, indicating that if a large customer base adopts its products, the stock could yield substantial returns, highlighting its potential in the AI market.
- Strong Revenue Growth: In Q3 2023, SoundHound AI reported a 68% year-over-year revenue increase and raised its full-year outlook, demonstrating robust performance in the market and confidence in future growth.
- Expanding Customer Base: The company signed a deal with a French insurance firm to integrate AI capabilities into its call center, and three of the top ten global financial institutions have also purchased additional services, indicating an increasing acceptance of its products in the market.
- Profitability Challenges: Despite strong revenue growth, SoundHound AI faces challenges with a consistently negative operating margin, spending about twice its revenue, leading investors to focus on whether it can achieve profitability and improve operational efficiency by 2026.
See More
