SoundHound AI shares rose 4.9% on Friday, trading as high as $8.18 before last changing hands at $8.08, up from Thursday’s close of $7.70. About 30.39 million shares traded by mid-day, a 16% jump from the stock’s average daily volume of 26.17 million.
The move gave soun stock another sharp session in a name that has already drawn strong attention from Wall Street. SoundHound AI now carries a market value of $3.42 billion, and its trading on Friday came against a backdrop of a 2.71 beta, a negative earnings profile and a price still well below its 200-day moving average of $11.20.
The latest analyst call came Thursday, when LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised the stock to a strong-buy rating. That followed a string of mixed views: Zacks Research lifted it from strong sell to hold on Feb. 9, HC Wainwright cut its target to $20.00 from $26.00 on March 2 while keeping a buy rating, Piper Sandler reiterated neutral with a $9.00 target on Feb. 27, and DA Davidson assigned a $14.00 target on Jan. 8. Across the broader coverage set, one analyst rates it Strong Buy, five say Buy, three say Hold and one says Sell, for an average Moderate Buy rating and an average target price of $14.93.
The company’s latest quarterly report, released Feb. 26, showed earnings per share of -$0.02, matching expectations, on revenue of $55.06 million, above the $53.88 million estimate and up 59.4% from a year earlier. SoundHound AI reported a negative net margin of 8.71% and a negative return on equity of 3.63%, while sell-side analysts expect it to post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The rally also comes after two executives sold stock on March 20. Chief Executive Keyvan Mohajer sold 124,510 shares at an average price of $6.79, a transaction valued at $845,422.90, and still directly owned 2,073,777 shares afterward. Chief Financial Officer Nitesh Sharan sold 44,027 shares at the same average price, in a transaction worth $298,943.33, and continued to hold 1,661,121 shares. Mohajer’s sale reduced his position by 5.66%, but Friday’s trading left both insiders’ remaining holdings above the sale price.
For now, the question is not whether SoundHound AI can attract attention; it already has. The question is whether the stock can hold above the levels it reclaimed Friday after months of mixed analyst calls, a recent insider sale and a chart that still sits below its longer-term average.
