LivePerson Inc

SoundHound AI shares jumped more than 10% after its second-quarter results on Aug. 5, when the company raised full-year guidance on strong adoption of Oasys, its self-learning agentic AI platform. Revenue rose 45% year over year to $62 million, and management signed an eight-figure commitment for Oasys within 90 days of its launch. The company expects $245 million in revenue in 2026 at the midpoint, and its pending acquisition of LivePerson is set to close by the end of 2026. If revenue grows 45% annually through 2030 and the stock trades at 8 times sales, its market cap could reach $8.8 billion, implying a share price of $20.

SoundHound AI has scheduled a shareholder vote on an amended and restated merger agreement with LivePerson. The vote on 20 August 2026 will also cover executive compensation arrangements connected to the proposed merger and the option to adjourn the meeting if more proxy votes are needed. The outcome could reshape SoundHound AI's ownership structure and future direction. LivePerson would add a large base of enterprise conversational AI deployments to SoundHound AI's existing footprint in voice agents for autos, devices, and customer service.

AppLovin reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.9 billion, missing Wall Street expectations and sending shares to a 52-week low of $303.17 on August 12. SoundHound AI posted $61.9 million in revenue for the same quarter, up 45% year over year, and raised its full-year 2026 guidance to between $230 million and $260 million. SoundHound also estimates 2027 sales of $350 million to $400 million, including its pending acquisition of LivePerson. AppLovin's net income margin was 66% for the quarter, while SoundHound's was negative 69%.

SoundHound AI increased its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $245 million, up from $242.5 million, following a strong second quarter. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $61.9 million, a 45% increase year-over-year, and launched a new platform called OASYS that lets businesses build custom voice AI agents. SoundHound also expects its acquisition of LivePerson to close by year-end, targeting $350 million to $400 million in revenue for 2027. Despite a 67% stock decline from its all-time high, the stock trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 16.7, and the company posted a GAAP net loss of $42.8 million in the quarter.

SoundHound AI is being viewed as a compelling acquisition candidate, trading 38% below its $13.14 analyst price target despite posting 52% revenue growth in Q1 FY2026. The voice-AI specialist holds a market cap near $2.67 billion, $215.64 million in cash, and is essentially debt-free, with 88% organic growth in its core automotive and IoT vertical. General Motors, carrying $24.7 billion in cash, is considered the cleanest strategic fit to vertically integrate in-vehicle voice AI across its brands, while Alphabet faces antitrust hurdles and Microsoft has only modest overlap. Key catalysts include the pending LivePerson merger, a FY27 revenue floor of $350 million to $400 million, and BlackRock's 8.3% passive stake.

SoundHound AI shares have fallen nearly 40% in 2026, but Wall Street sees a sharp rebound ahead. The conversational AI company reported a 52% revenue jump to $44.2 million in the first quarter and is acquiring LivePerson, a deal expected to add at least $100 million in revenue in 2027 and push total revenue to between $350 million and $400 million. Analysts have a 12-month median price target of $12 on the stock, implying an 87% gain from current levels, with seven of nine rating it a buy. A $1,000 investment could therefore be worth almost $1,900 in a year, supported by accelerating growth and a discounted valuation of 14.4 times sales.

Five9 offers a more compelling growth opportunity than SoundHound AI in the customer AI market, according to a Zacks Investment Research analysis. SoundHound's first-quarter 2026 revenue rose 52% year over year, with its core Automotive and IoT AI business up 88% excluding acquisitions, and its pending LivePerson acquisition is expected to create a long-term revenue opportunity of roughly $500 million. Five9's first-quarter 2026 revenue increased 9% to $305 million, while adjusted EBITDA rose 41% and free cash flow climbed 42%, supported by a new $200 million share repurchase authorization. SoundHound trades at 10.49 times forward sales, well above the sector average of 6.18 times, while Five9 trades at just 1.33 times forward sales despite generating positive earnings and cash flows. Five9 shares have gained 15.3% year to date, outperforming SoundHound's 38.2% decline, and analysts expect Five9's 2026 earnings of $3.26 per share to grow 10.1%, while SoundHound is projected to post a loss of 15 cents per share.

SoundHound AI stock has fallen 37% in 2026 and recently traded 68% below its 2024 record high, as investors reassess the conversational AI company's valuation. The company reported record first-quarter revenue of $44.2 million, up 52% year over year, though growth slowed from 151% in the same quarter of 2025. SoundHound expects annual revenue between $225 million and $260 million in 2026, potentially rising to $400 million in 2027 following its planned acquisition of LivePerson, which processes over 1 billion messages per month. The company posted a GAAP net loss of $25 million and an adjusted net loss of $26.5 million in the first quarter, with $216 million in cash on hand as of March 31. Its price-to-sales ratio has dropped from around 100 at its peak to about 15, and could fall to 7.2 on a forward basis based on management's 2027 revenue target.

SoundHound AI is shifting toward agentic voice commerce, enabling its technology to complete transactions like ordering food, booking reservations, and paying for services hands-free, which could open a new revenue stream beyond software licensing. The company has also diversified across automotive, restaurant, retail, and customer-service industries, reducing reliance on any single market. Existing customer Casey's General Stores expanded its partnership to over 2,600 locations after the ordering agents handled tens of millions of guest interactions, signaling product traction. SoundHound is acquiring enterprise conversational-AI firm LivePerson to gain access to a large base of corporate customers. However, the company remains unprofitable with a rich valuation and faces competition from Amazon and Apple.

The Motley Fool highlights IonQ, SoundHound AI, and UiPath as three speculative growth stocks that may be better moonshot investments than SpaceX. IonQ leads in quantum computing accuracy with trapped-ion qubits achieving 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, though it remains far from fault-tolerant operation, and it is acquiring SkyWater for a dedicated foundry. SoundHound AI, whose shares have fallen about 30% this year, is pursuing the customer service market through its pending acquisition of LivePerson, which would add a large customer base to its voice AI platform following its earlier Amelia deal. UiPath trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 3.5 and a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15, and it aims to become an agentic AI orchestration leader by leveraging its robotic process automation foundation and Maestro platform, with revenue up 17% last quarter.

SoundHound AI may offer higher long-term upside than BigBear.ai, according to an analysis by The Motley Fool. SoundHound AI reported 2025 revenue of approximately $168.9 million, up nearly 99.4% year over year, with a net loss of $14 million, while BigBear.ai saw revenue decline 19.3% to $127.7 million and a net loss of nearly $293.9 million. SoundHound AI is expanding its enterprise footprint through a planned $100 million acquisition of LivePerson and scaling voice-ordering agents across more than 2,600 Casey's locations, whereas BigBear.ai remains heavily reliant on U.S. government contracts that accounted for 51% of revenue from customers contributing over 10% each. Both companies face risks, including material weaknesses in financial reporting and integration challenges, but SoundHound AI's strong liquidity with a current ratio of nearly 4.6x and $215 million in cash with no debt as of March 31, 2026, supports its growth trajectory.