Courtesy of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, SoundHound AI, Inc. SOUN stock has soared over 380% in the past year. However, its upward journey abruptly stopped, leaving investors concerned about SoundHound AI’s prospects. Are investors panicking needlessly, or is the stock a risky but potentially rewarding investment? Let’s explore –
SoundHound AI stock slumped 28.1% on Friday after NVIDIA Corporation’s NVDA latest 13-F form revealed no stake in SOUN stock for the December quarter. According to the Dow Jones Market Data, this marks one of the worst performances for the SOUN stock, second only to the 48.4% one-day decline on June 6, 2022.
As of the September 13-F form, NVIDIA held 1.7 million shares of SoundHound AI, valued at $8 million. However, NVIDIA’s sale of its entire stake raised doubts about SoundHound AI’s future growth trajectory, leading to strong market selling.
NVIDIA is looking to diversify its AI portfolio, possibly shifting its stake from voice recognition technology to cloud computing and AI infrastructure. The semiconductor giant made new investments in Chinese self-driving tech firm WeRide and Nebius Group N.V. NBIS, an AI cloud computing company.
Meanwhile, SoundHound AI’s lofty valuations, resource constraints, losses from heavy investments, and reliance only on equity financing may hamper future growth. Alphabet Inc. GOOGL entering SoundHound AI’s space might also lead to stiff competition. After all, several cars, including Mercedes-Benz CLA vehicles, use Alphabet’s conversational AI platform.
Despite setbacks like NVIDIA’s exit, the SoundHound AI stock has the wherewithal to be a long-term winner in the AI race. The loss of NVIDIA, undoubtedly, has injected short-term volatility in SOUN stock, but the company still has strong revenue growth prospects.
SoundHound AI’s management estimated revenues to be $85 million for 2024 and $175 million for the current year, up from an earlier forecast of $80 million for 2024 and $150 million for 2025. The revenue growth projections remain impressive because of the widespread adoption of SoundHound AI’s products. Its voice-enabled AI systems are in demand among electric vehicle manufacturers and quick-service restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG.
For the time being, the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates unchanged in its latest policy meeting; this won’t affect SoundHound AI’s cash flows. Moreover, NVIDIA’s stake in SoundHound AI was minuscule, and won’t have a material impact on the voice AI platform provider’s business.
Thus, risk-tolerant investors who believe in SoundHound AI’s long-term potential should treat Friday’s selloff as a buying opportunity. Some cautious investors may wait to see how SoundHound AI’s outlook unfolds. (read more: Is Under $20 SoundHound AI Stock the Next NVIDIA, and a Buy?).
SoundHound AI has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.
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