If you've recently tried to interact with artificial intelligence (AI) voice platforms, you may know how frustrating it can be. I recently experienced this while dealing with rental car company Hertz Global. While trying to resolve an issue, the AI voice system couldn't even get my name right after I spelled it. It left me quite frustrated as a customer. As such, I think there's a huge opportunity here for whichever company can get this technology right.
This opportunity is also why I think SoundHound AI (SOUN 3.16%) could be a strong bounce-back candidate for 2026. The growth stock has had an up-and-down year, and its stock has lost about a third of its value since the beginning of 2025. And in case you were wondering, my research indicates a private company called Replicant provides the AI voice service for Hertz.
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Hypergrowth and a huge opportunity
For those unfamiliar with SoundHound, the company actually started as a music recognition platform before transitioning to an AI voice platform. Its solution uses "speech-to-meaning" and "deep meaning understanding" technology that can understand someone's intent before they are finished speaking, similar to humans.
The company's technology was initially embraced by the automobile industry, as carmakers began using the technology to give their customers better in-car voice assistant experiences. The restaurant industry became its next big vertical, as restaurant operators began to embrace its technology for voice-powered orders (both on the phone and drive-thrus), in addition to employee training.
NASDAQ: SOUN
Key Data Points
Last year, SoundHound acquired a company called Amelia, which was a leader in virtual agents and brought with it conversational intelligence technology. The company's technology was used in several industries, including regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services, that have compliance requirements and their own industry-specific jargon.
However, the Amelia acquisition was more than just getting a foothold in these new industry verticals. The company used Amelia's agent technology as the foundation to create a voice-first agentic AI platform. The first iteration of this is its new Amelia 7 platform, which goes beyond voice interactions and can act more like digital employees who can independently complete tasks, such as offer refunds, within set guardrails.
While its stock is down on the year, it's not because of any growth issues. SoundHound has been in hypergrowth mode this year. It delivered triple-digit revenue growth in the first half of the year (151% year-over-year growth in Q1 and 217% growth in Q2), and 68% growth in Q3. The company has also consistently boosted its revenue guidance throughout the year, and also seen improvement in its gross margins. On top of that, it is looking to be adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) positive as early as next quarter.
However, much of this growth has come just from its voice solutions, and not its push into agentic AI. It has already started to move its largest customers to the Amelia 7 platform, and expects to have three-quarters of its customers on the platform by the middle of next year. While it seems as if everyone is going after agentic AI, SoundHound's voice-first approach can be a huge differentiator, and this is an absolutely huge market.
Meanwhile, the company also has some other potential drivers in the works. It has been looking to move some lower-margin legacy Amelia customers in some verticals, like healthcare and hospitality, toward an outcome-based model, which would both drive revenue and help improve margins. It also continues to look to expand its use cases, and it is in discussion with smart TV makers to incorporate its technology into their devices to allow for voice ordering.
Another overlooked potential growth driver is that SoundHound recently struck a partnership with Telarus, which is the world's biggest technology services distributor. By working with Telarus, SoundHound's solutions will be able to get in front of a lot more potential customers.
Given all the potential growth drivers ahead for the company, it looks as if the stock could be a good rebound candidate for next year.
