By Britney Nguyen
The company says revenue would've grown more not counting its recent acquisitions, but analysts say they put SoundHound in a strong position
SoundHound shares were down in after-hours trading on Thursday.
SoundHound AI has been on an acquisition spree in recent years. Now investors are getting a better understanding of the financial tradeoffs.
The company reported revenue of $44.2 million for the March quarter - up 52% from a year ago, and ahead of the FactSet consensus for $42.6 million. But SoundHound's (SOUN) adjusted loss of 6 cents per share came in below expectations for a loss of 4 cents a share.
Shares of the voice-AI company were down more than 10% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Not counting the four acquisitions the company has made in the past two years, SoundHound CEO Keyvan Mohajer told MarketWatch that revenue would've been up 88%, reflecting demand for its solutions across automotive, enterprise and customer service.
Late last month, SoundHound agreed to acquire enterprise conversational-AI company LivePerson for an equity value of $43 million. By combining its voice and agentic AI technology with LivePerson's digital messaging services, SoundHound sees a $500 million revenue opportunity. The deal is slated to close in the second half of this year.
See more: Arm has a ton of chip demand. There's just one problem.
The acquisition will be SoundHound's largest so far, and therefore presents &#34;some integration risk,&#34; D.A. Davidson managing director Gil Luria said in an April note. Still, he viewed the deal &#34;favorably as it adds significant scale to SoundHound's business and is accretive on a valuation basis.&#34;
LivePerson counts many Fortune 500 companies as customers, Luria noted, giving SoundHound more reach. He added that the acquisition allows SoundHound to expand its footprint in the customer-service space as it tries to diversify its revenue.
&#34;The acquisition follows SoundHound's recent playbook to acquire key customer relationships that SoundHound can cross-sell and upsell driven by interest in its best-of-breed voice-AI platform,&#34; Luria said.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives shared a similar view on the agreement that he called &#34;strategic.&#34; SoundHound is now in a better position to meet the market for voice AI, he said, as it builds &#34;its data moat for voice AI.&#34;
Mohajer told MarketWatch that it's not easy to buy and integrate companies, but that SoundHound has been able to derive value from its acquisitions, serving both shareholders and the acquirees themselves.
Additionally, SoundHound introduced its Oasys platform earlier this week, which it called &#34;the world's first self-learning orchestrated agentic AI platform,&#34; referring to software that can handle tasks autonomously. The platform improves itself over time through real-world feedback from usage, and a human developer has to approve its actions.
Agentic AI applications have been on the rise in recent months, and Mohajer said SoundHound aims to stand apart from competitors by being a partner rather than a vendor. &#34;The AI transformation is a mandate,&#34; and customers need a partner to help solve challenges, Mohajer said.
Don't miss: Google is now a glorified venture-capital fund thanks to its SpaceX and Anthropic stakes
-Britney Nguyen
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones &amp; Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-07-26 1742ET

SOUN

ROBT

BOTZ

AIBU

SoundHound's stock fell over 10% in after-hours trading following its earnings report, which showed a revenue increase of 52% to $44.2 million but an adjusted loss of 6 cents per share, worse than expected. The company attributed the revenue growth to acquisitions, stating it would have been 88% without them. SoundHound's recent acquisition of LivePerson for $43 million aims to enhance its voice AI capabilities and expand its customer service reach, despite integration risks. Analysts view the acquisition as strategic for growth in the voice AI market.

SoundHound's stock falls as acquisitions weigh on earnings results