SoundHound AI shares surged roughly 17% to $9.31 in Friday afternoon trading, as the voice and conversational AI company gears up to release its first-quarter results on May 7. The rally comes amid heightened investor scrutiny of the firm's aggressive growth strategy, which includes a planned $43 million acquisition of LivePerson and an expanded deployment with Casey's General Stores.
The company, based in Santa Clara, California, is set to report earnings after the market closes on Thursday, May 7, followed by a conference call at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. This will be SoundHound's first quarterly update since announcing the LivePerson deal and the broader Casey's rollout, both of which are central to its narrative of accelerating revenue growth and moving toward profitability.
In its most recent quarter, SoundHound posted revenue of $55.1 million, a 59% increase year-over-year. For the full fiscal year 2025, the company reported $168.9 million in revenue, nearly doubling from the prior year. However, the bottom line remained under pressure, with a GAAP net loss of $14.0 million for the year, and a non-GAAP net loss of $53.9 million, which excludes stock-based compensation and acquisition-related costs.
Wall Street's outlook is cautiously optimistic. According to TipRanks, SoundHound carries a "Strong Buy" consensus rating, with five analysts bullish and one neutral. The average price target stands at $14 over the next 12 months, with a range from $9 to $20. The stock's ownership structure adds to its volatility: public companies and individual investors hold 66.20% of shares, followed by ETFs at 17.38%, mutual funds at 14.01%, and insiders at just 1.94%.
The LivePerson acquisition, valued at roughly $43 million in equity, is a key piece of SoundHound's strategy. LivePerson processes about one billion customer messages per month, and the combined entity is expected to serve enterprise clients in over 30 countries. SoundHound CEO Keyvan Mohajer described the merger as uniting "two complementary conversational AI pioneers," while LivePerson CEO John Sabino highlighted the blurring line between voice and text interactions.
On the operational front, SoundHound's AI ordering agents have been deployed at more than 2,600 Casey's General Stores locations, handling over 21 million customer interactions. Casey's CIO Sanjeev Satturu noted the technology enables the convenience store chain to operate "more efficiently across thousands of locations."
Analysts at Wedbush maintained an Outperform rating and $12 price target on SoundHound, viewing the LivePerson deal as a potential catalyst for a "transformational market shift" and expanded customer reach. However, the competitive landscape remains intense. In its annual report, SoundHound described the voice-AI market as "highly competitive and rapidly changing," warning that larger tech players could leverage deeper resources and data advantages. Competitors like Cerence also offer AI-driven automotive voice solutions.
Execution risk is a key concern. The LivePerson deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. Management has set a $500 million revenue target based on the current client base, but filings caution that integration challenges, share price volatility, and competitive pricing pressures could pose headwinds.
With the May 7 earnings report approaching, investors will focus on organic growth beyond acquisitions, margin improvement, and evidence of widespread adoption across key verticals such as restaurants, automotive, healthcare, and financial services. The stock has already rallied sharply; now SoundHound must deliver the numbers to justify the optimism.
