SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) Trading 5.4% Higher Following Strong Earnings

Shares of SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) traded up 5.4% during trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $9.10 and last traded at $8.98. 41,625,899 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 55% from the average session volume of 26,823,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.52.

The company reported $999.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $999.02. SoundHound AI had a negative net margin of 211.16% and a negative return on equity of 93.64%.

Key Headlines Impacting SoundHound AI

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

• Positive Sentiment: Launch of “Sales Assist” — SoundHound unveiled a real‑time, voice‑powered Sales Assist agent for retail at MWC, showing a clear path to new enterprise revenue outside automotive and contact centers; the product demo and early market interest are being treated as a near‑term growth catalyst. Why SoundHound AI (SOUN) Is Up 14.2% After Launching Its Sales Assist In-Store Voice Agent
• Positive Sentiment: Bengaluru innovation hub — SoundHound opened a new engineering/innovation hub in Bengaluru to accelerate global rollout of its agentic AI platform, boosting R&D capacity and access to AI talent which supports faster product commercialization. SoundHound AI Establishes New Innovation Hub in Bengaluru
• Positive Sentiment: Recent top‑line momentum and cash runway — Q3 showed strong revenue growth (~68% y/y) and management has guided higher; SoundHound carries meaningful cash and no debt, enabling continued product builds and acquisitions without immediate financing pressure. SoundHound’s New Sales Assist Agent Put Voice AI Back in the Spotlight
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and options positioning — Wall Street coverage is generally constructive (moderate buy consensus, multi‑analyst price targets above current levels) and option activity shows concentrated short‑dated speculation around the $9 strike, implying market expects volatility around earnings. SoundHound’s New Sales Assist Agent Put Voice AI Back in the Spotlight
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings risk — Street previews and coverage note expectations for a wider Q4 loss, which is pressuring sentiment ahead of the after‑hours report; a miss on revenue or disappointing margin commentary could reverse recent gains. SoundHound AI under pressure as earnings loom with wider loss expected
• Negative Sentiment: Structural selling and skepticism — High short interest and notable insider sales have been highlighted in recent coverage, adding downside pressure and increasing the stock’s volatility if fundamentals disappoint. SoundHound AI Opens New Innovation Hub in Bengaluru

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on SOUN shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of SoundHound AI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on SoundHound AI from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of SoundHound AI in a report on Friday, January 9th. DA Davidson set a $14.00 price objective on shares of SoundHound AI in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded SoundHound AI from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SoundHound AI news, COO Michael Zagorsek sold 73,406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.28, for a total transaction of $828,019.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,787,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,162,537.52. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Keyvan Mohajer sold 144,326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.28, for a total transaction of $1,627,997.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,198,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,796,677.36. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 460,922 shares of company stock worth $5,199,073 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SoundHound AI

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SOUN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in SoundHound AI by 16.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,457,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,798,000 after acquiring an additional 6,132,648 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of SoundHound AI by 48.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of SoundHound AI by 77.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,124,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676,707 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of SoundHound AI by 2,259.7% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,199,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of SoundHound AI during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $21,679,000. 19.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SoundHound AI Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of -10.69 and a beta of 2.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.01.

About SoundHound AI

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.