By Intense Life Desires 
SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN), a provider of voice AI solutions for the automotive, TV, IoT, and customer service industries, closed at $7.85, down 5.65%. Shares declined after news of an all-stock LivePerson acquisition. Investors will be watching the shareholder dilution from the deal and for execution on omnichannel AI growth targets. Trading volume reached 54.2 million shares, about 107% above its three-month average of 26.2 million shares. SoundHound AI IPO’d in 2022 and has grown 5% since going public.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.65% to 7,063, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.59% to finish at 24,260. Among software (application) peers, C3.ai closed at $9.20 (-1.97%) and BigBear.ai ended at $3.79 (-1.30%), reflecting cautious sentiment around AI software names.
SoundHound AI made a big move today, acquiring conversational AI peer LivePerson and its Conversational Cloud for roughly $250 million, including LivePerson’s debt balance. The complementary deal forms a powerhouse in the conversational AI niche, serving 25 of the Fortune 100 and 12 of the top 15 global banks.
Management believes the combined company will generate between $350 million and $400 million in revenue in 2027, and that cross-selling could push this figure to $500 million as the two firms integrate. While the all-equity deal will be dilutive to shareholders, SOUN’s balance sheet is projected to remain debt-free. Projected to more than double its sales in 2027, SOUND remains an intriguing stock, especially if it keeps advancing toward profitability.
Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $511,411!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,238,736!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 986% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 199% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.