SoundHound's losses exceed revenue, but stock gains as voice-AI demand picks up

By Emily Bary

Company raises the lower bound of its full-year forecast

This story has been updated to correct the time period for SoundHound's forecast. It is for the full year.

SoundHound AI Inc. continued to lose more money than it hauled in as revenue during the latest quarter, but the artificial-intelligence company beat estimates on the top line Thursday.

The company, which makes technology for conversational artificial intelligence, reported a first-quarter net loss of $19.9 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with $17.1 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-before quarter.

On an adjusted basis, SoundHound (SOUN) earned 7 cents a share in earnings.

FactSet doesn't list estimates for adjusted EPS, but analysts were expecting a 9 cent loss per share on a GAAP basis.

The stock rose about 15% in Thursday's extended session.

Revenue at SoundHound rose to $11.6 million, up from $6.7 million a year before, while analysts had been looking for $10.1 million.

"Our first quarter sets the tone for 2024 as another year of strong growth for SoundHound," Chief Executive Keyvan Mohajer said in a release. "Voice AI is fast becoming a must-have tool for customer service, and that's reflected in the demand we're seeing for subscriptions."

While SoundHound has been public for about two years, investors have taken more interest in it in recent months thanks to a February 13-F filing from Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) that disclosed the chip giant had a stake in SoundHound.

Shares of SoundHound have gained 124% so far this year. The company sought to capitalize on its share-price momentum earlier in April when it announced a stock offering.

For the full year, SoundHound projects $65 million to $77 million in revenue. When it last posted results, the company was modeling $63 million to $77 million in fiscal 2024 revenue. The FactSet consensus calls for $69.5 million.

-Emily Bary

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05-09-24 2012ET

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