SoundHound AI (SOUN 2.29%) has become one of the hottest stocks on Wall Street, rising around 170% since the start of November 2024. However, it's well off the peaks of its huge run, as it was up nearly 400% at the end of December.
With SoundHound shares down more than 40% from their all-time high, many investors may wonder whether this stock could be primed for another huge run. Some may even consider this stock a ticket to becoming a millionaire.
So, does this stock have the capability to do it? After all, one other artificial intelligence (AI) stock has already made many investors millionaires.
Its software could find use in many industries
Becoming a millionaire from one stock pick may seem like a far-fetched dream to some people, but it is entirely possible. If you invested $10,000 in Nvidia (NVDA +0.86%) stock a decade ago, you would now have $2.55 million, as long as you held on and never sold.Is it possible that SoundHound could have that kind of upside? Let's take a look.
SoundHound AI's software is all about audio recognition and using that input for an AI model. Most of the generative AI models we've interacted with so far use text inputs. However, users must have access to a keyboard for this to work. That's not always a practical application.
Some customers may prefer talking to a voice (think of a drive-thru at a restaurant) or need to probe an AI assistant while driving (even if the car is fully self-driving, do you really want a keyboard in the vehicle?). This is where SoundHound's technology comes in, and it has already landed some big clients.
NASDAQ: SOUN
Key Data Points
SoundHound's software has already been integrated into Stellantis vehicles in Europe and Japan. This is a massive auto brand, and if this technology becomes a hit, it's very likely that other automakers will partner with SoundHound as well. Many restaurants have also partnered with SoundHound to deploy its technology to integrate AI in drive-thrus and online order-taking.
All this has allowed SoundHound to develop a diversified revenue stream, where none of the sectors in its business (automotive, restaurants, financial services, healthcare, and insurance) makes up more than 25% of the total. That's a key improvement, as 72% of revenue came from one client in the automotive sector during last year's third quarter (presumably Stellantis).
SoundHound also has huge growth aspirations. It expects revenue to double in 2024, and to double again in 2025, with preliminary guidance coming in at $165 million in sales (compared to $83 million in 2024). That's massive growth, and it also sees fantastic revenue growth beyond that point.
A company's booking backlog describes the value remaining on current contracts it has signed. While this is not guaranteed revenue, it gives investors an idea of how much growth they can expect moving forward. SoundHound's backlog now exceeds $1 billion and is spread out over a six-year timeframe. That's strong projected revenue, and as the use cases for its technology increase, this backlog figure will likely rise.
The stock would need to reach unprecedented levels
But is that enough to make you a millionaire?
First, we need to set a base investment amount. We'll use $10,000 because that's what I used in the Nvidia example above. To turn $10,000 into $1 million, a stock needs to rise 100 times in value. Currently, SoundHound is a $5.4 billion company, which means it would be valued at around $540 billion if it achieved that feat.
So, what companies are valued at that threshold right now? That would put SoundHound in the same valuation range as Mastercard ($515 billion) and Oracle ($496 billion). Those are incredibly dominant companies that serve the whole globe, so this may be an unrealistic expectation.
For further comparison, some of the largest software companies in the market right now are Salesforce ($310 billion) and Adobe ($199 billion). SoundHound's current revenue looks like a rounding error for these companies, even if its strong 2025 growth is incorporated.
SOUN Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts. TTM = trailing 12 months.
So, is SoundHound likely to make you a millionaire from a $10,000 investment? Probably not. But that doesn't mean it can't be a good investment. It has a strong product offering and is tackling an important niche in AI integration throughout society. It has strong growth ahead, but there are still a lot of risks involved in the stock, as other companies could easily offer an audio recognition platform that rivals SoundHound's.
If you decide to invest in SoundHound, understand there's a high risk, but if it works out, there's also a high reward.
