Latest news with #SoundHoundAI
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Worth Buying on the Next Dip
I'm waiting for SoundHound AI to boost its financials or for its stock price to come down. I prefer to buy Micron Technology during one of its predictable market downturns to maximize returns. Being patient and waiting for the right price can pay off, even in a hot market. 10 stocks we like better than SoundHound AI › The stock market has recovered from April's sudden dip. From the S&P 500 to the Nasdaq Composite, the market-defining indexes are reaching fresh all-time highs almost every day. As of June 27, those portfolios had gained 12.6% and 13.6%, respectively, over the last year. As a result, some of the best artificial intelligence (AI) stocks are running a bit hot again. I'm keeping a close eye on SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) at the moment. Their stocks look a bit pricey today, but I'm ready to pounce on them in the next market dip. I've been a SoundHound AI fan for years, and I expect big things from this company in the long haul. Voice-control systems are gaining momentum in many different markets, from in-car controls and phone-based menu systems to drive-through windows and data center operations. SoundHound AI has been fine-tuning its AI-based voice interpretation tools since smartphones were new and hot. These days, the company offers agentic AI, process automation, and real-time conversations. The client list includes many of your favorite consumer electronics and carmaker brands. Their long-term contracts are starting to kick in, converting SoundHound AI's billion-dollar order backlog into actual revenues. Yet, I can't quite recommend this stock right now. SoundHound AI's shares posted artificial gains in a meme-stock moment in late 2024, and the peak prices are now long gone, but some lingering market effects remain. The stock is up 155% over the last 52 weeks, and it looked expensive at the start of that surge. So, one of two things must happen before I smash SoundHound AI's buy button again. The company could earn its lofty valuation by publishing dramatically stronger financials. Again, the beefy order backlog should generate lots of business over the next several years, but the revenue conversion process has been slow so far. The stock could take another haircut. This could happen over time as the meme stock mania fades out or very quickly alongside a downturn in the broader stock market. I don't mind waiting for SoundHound AI's business plan to gain traction. At the same time, this stock will be at the top of my list of buying ideas the next time every high-priced growth stock takes a big hit. Micron enters this discussion from a different angle. The memory chip giant's stock often trades at rock-bottom valuations, but it has been skyrocketing since April's tariff-based market dip. Mind you, the stock isn't exactly expensive even now. Micron's share price is up 95% from April's temporary market bottom, changing hands at a perfectly reasonable valuation of 22.8 times trailing earnings or 4.2 times sales. So, why am I waiting for another market correction? Why not grab a few shares at today's stock price, which looks pretty fair in the first place? Because I'm used to Micron trading at much lower valuation multiples. The company operates in a cyclical industry, tied to a mix of surprising and predictable shifts in the smartphone, data center, and PC markets. Micron investors have made a lot of money over the years by saving their buy-in cash for one of the seemingly inevitable downturns. That's the opposite of what's going on right now. Yes, Micron benefits from the general AI boom, partly thanks to a close partnership with AI accelerator leader Nvidia. Every number-crunching Nvidia Blackwell card comes with several dozen gigabytes of Micron's most advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM). This close connection to the explosive AI opportunity could lift Micron's stock even higher. Call me a creature of habit; I'm just more comfortable waiting for the next price drop. Whether it springs from inflation fears or memory-chip price wars, you will almost certainly see one of those Micron buying windows open up in the next year or two. It's OK if I'm wrong, since my personal portfolio already holds a large helping of Micron stock. If I didn't have that advantage, I might consider buying a few shares at today's unusually high prices as well. Your mileage may vary, of course. I'd still save most of my cash for a rainy day around Micron's Idaho headquarters. Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 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 $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 177% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Anders Bylund has positions in Micron Technology, Nvidia, and SoundHound AI. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Worth Buying on the Next Dip was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Should You Forget SoundHound AI and Buy 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Right Now?
SoundHound AI is still growing, but it's still unprofitable and richly valued. Arista's sales are surging as its data center customers upgrade their AI infrastructure. Micron's sales of SSDs and HBMs will rise as the AI market expands. 10 stocks we like better than SoundHound AI › SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN), a developer of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered speech and audio recognition tools, has been a polarizing investment ever since its public debut three years ago. The bulls were initially impressed by its rapid growth, expanding customer base, and the disruptive potential of its tools, which could be customized for restaurants, vehicles, consumer electronics, and other markets. Nvidia's minor investment in the company raised even more green flags. However, a lot of SoundHound's growth was driven by its acquisitions rather than its organic improvements -- and it remained deeply unprofitable. It also faces stiff competition from similar voice recognition platforms, and many investors fled after Nvidia sold its entire stake earlier this year. From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect SoundHound's revenue to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48%. They also expect its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to turn positive by the final year. That's a promising growth trajectory, but it's still richly valued at 20 times this year's sales, so any bad news could easily sink its stock. Instead of investing in SoundHound AI, it might be smarter to invest in two other AI-oriented stocks that are on firmer ground: Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) and Micron (NASDAQ: MU). Arista Networks is a top networking hardware and software company. But unlike its larger competitor, Cisco, which locks in its customers with proprietary hardware and software, Arista uses off-the-shelf chips and open-source software that are compatible with a broad range of hardware. It also sells low-latency switches, optimized for hyperscale data center and cloud networks, and its CloudVision platform enables those clients to easily monitor their own cloud deployments. Arista's flexible, modular, and scalable strategy made it a top choice for cloud giants like Meta Platforms and Microsoft. So, while Cisco might be a better one-stop shop for enterprise and campus customers, Arista is a more focused play on the booming cloud and AI infrastructure markets. From 2019 to 2024, Arista's revenue rose at a CAGR of 24%, while its adjusted net income increased at a CAGR of 30%. From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect its revenue and earnings per share (EPS) to grow at a CAGR of 19% and 15%, respectively. That growth should be driven by the soaring need for cloud and AI infrastructure upgrades, its gradual expansion into the enterprise and campus markets to challenge Cisco, and the rising adoption of its integrated security services. Arista's stock isn't cheap at 39 times this year's earnings, but it could still have plenty of room to grow. Micron is one of the world's largest producers of DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) and NAND memory chips. It controls smaller slices of both markets than South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix, but Micron manufactures slightly denser DRAM chips with its 1-beta process. That technological edge makes it a top choice for performance-oriented cloud and AI companies. Micron is a cyclical company that follows the memory market's boom and bust cycles. Its last bust occurred in 2023, when the PC market lapped its pandemic-driven acceleration, the 5G smartphone upgrade cycle cooled, and more data centers prioritized their purchases of Nvidia's AI-oriented graphics processing units (GPUs) over new memory chips. But from fiscal 2024 (which ended last August) to fiscal 2027, analysts expect Micron's revenue and EPS to grow at a CAGR of 23% and 148%, respectively. The company's growth is accelerating again as the PC and smartphone markets stabilize and more data center customers install solid-state drives (SSDs) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to support the latest cloud and AI applications. That's an impressive growth trajectory for a stock that trades at just 13 times next year's earnings. Micron is likely trading at that lower valuation because it's a cyclical stock. However, it still has plenty of upside potential in this boom cycle as the cloud and AI markets generate fresh tailwinds for its business. Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 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 $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Arista Networks, Cisco Systems, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Should You Forget SoundHound AI and Buy 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Right Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What Are 5 AI Stocks Growing Revenue by 30% or More to Buy Right Now?
Nvidia, AMD, and TSMC are all seeing tremendous growth thanks to the boom in AI infrastructure spending. Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform should be a growth driver for many years to come. SoundHound AI is experiencing hypergrowth, and its move into agentic AI could be a game changer. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Make no mistake, investors love revenue growth, and investing in companies that are growing their top lines quickly can be quite rewarding. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM), Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), and SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) have all been achieving revenue growth of 30% or more recently, and they're all among the best stocks to buy right now. Let's take a closer look. Nvidia has delivered explosive revenue growth over the past few years and there are no signs of that letting up. In its fiscal 2026 first quarter, the company grew revenue by 69% year over year to $44.1 billion as data center revenue soared by 73% to $39.1 billion. Even more impressively, the company's data center sales were up by more than 800% compared to its fiscal 2024 first quarter, when they were just $4.3 billion. The chipmaker's growth is being powered by the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure build-out. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the most widely used chips for providing the parallel processing muscle that AI model training and inference require. However, the company's CUDA software platform -- which allows developers to program its GPUs for specific tasks and increase processing speeds -- has provided another wide moat around its business. Nvidia's previous efforts led to many developers integrating CUDA into early high-performance computing work, and the company later built a collection of tools and libraries to help enhance the performance of its chips for these tasks. But the platform and its tools can only be used with Nvidia chips, which has helped the company preserve its dominant market share in the GPU space and continues to set it up for strong growth ahead. While AMD is a distant second to Nvidia in the GPU market, it nonetheless has been seeing strong sales growth. Last quarter, AMD's revenue jumped 36% year over year to $7.4 billion, while its data center revenue climbed 57% to $3.7 billion. The company has established itself as a leading maker of central processing units (CPUs) for data centers, and it has been taking market share in that niche. Meanwhile, it has been carving out a niche for its GPUs in the AI inference market. In its most recent quarterly report, AMD noted that one of the largest AI model companies was handling a significant portion of its daily inference traffic using AMD's chips. This is important for AMD, as the AI inference market is predicted to grow to a much larger size than the AI model training segment. Inference is not as technically demanding as training, and chip costs come much more into play, which helps negate some of Nvidia's CUDA advantage. This opens the door for AMD to take some GPU market share in the future. While Nvidia and AMD design the chips that are helping power the AI revolution, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is the company that physically produces most of them. This has led to tremendous growth for TSMC: Its revenue jumped by 35% year over year in Q1 to $25.5 billion. The AI infrastructure build-out has been the biggest driver of TSMC's growth recently as it continues to increase manufacturing capacity to meet surging demand. Last quarter, high-performance computing accounted for 59% of its revenue. Because its operations are integral to the high-end chip space -- the company has the greatest technical expertise and scale of any foundry -- it has also been able to raise prices. This has resulted in solid gross margin improvements, including a 190 basis point increase last quarter to 58.8%. TSMC's position as an invaluable part of the semiconductor supply chain sets it up for continued strong growth in the years ahead. Best of all, it won't matter which chip designers come out on top -- it'll be a winner regardless. Palantir's revenue growth has been accelerating in recent quarters, culminating in a 39% jump in Q1 to $883.9 million. A large share of that growth is coming from its U.S. commercial segment as businesses adopt the Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) as a tool to solve real-world problems. Meanwhile, the company is also seeing strong sales growth with its largest customer, the U.S. government. In Q1, its U.S. commercial segment revenue surged 71% to $244 million, while its U.S. government revenue climbed 45% to $373 million. The exciting thing about Palantir is that it's quickly adding commercial customers. This has the potential to be a big growth driver as these customers expand their use of the company's solutions over time. In addition, AIP is being used to solve a wide array of problems across industries, from helping monitor sepsis in hospitals to underwriting insurance. The huge number of use cases to which AIP can be applied represents a huge opportunity for Palantir, which should lead to years of strong revenue growth ahead. SoundHound AI is currently in hypergrowth mode: Its revenue has climbed by 50% or more year over year in each of the past seven quarters. Last quarter, its revenue surged by a whopping 151% to $29.1 million. The company has made strong inroads with customers in the automotive industry and is beginning to benefit as carmakers shift away from partnering with big tech companies for their in-vehicle voice-recognition technology. SoundHound AI also continues to make progress in the restaurant space, while its recent acquisition of Amelia has given it strong positions in other verticals such as healthcare, financial services, and retail. While its revenue growth has already been surging, the company's biggest opportunity ahead lies in agentic AI. It recently launched its Amelia 7.0 platform, which includes AI agents that can perform tasks without the need for human intervention. If SoundHound AI can use this as a launchpad toward becoming more widely used as the voice layer of agentic AI, then it should continue to see strong revenue growth for many years. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia 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 $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 What Are 5 AI Stocks Growing Revenue by 30% or More to Buy Right Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
SoundHound AI vs. Cerence: Which Voice AI Stock Holds More Promise?
Voice-driven artificial intelligence is emerging as a key battleground in tech, and SoundHound AI, Inc. SOUN and Cerence Inc. CRNC have positioned themselves at the forefront of this niche. SoundHound is a newer entrant leveraging its conversational voice platform across industries from automotive to restaurants, while Cerence is an established leader in in-car voice assistants for automakers. Both companies operate in the voice AI space, and a comparison is timely as generative AI amplifies demand for voice their common focus on voice AI, SoundHound and Cerence differ in scope and strategy. SoundHound's technology spans multiple industries, powering voice ordering in restaurants and voice-enabled customer service, in addition to automotive voice assistants. In contrast, Cerence is focused on the mobility market, supplying voice assistant software to nearly every major car OEM. The broader market reach of SoundHound compared to Cerence's auto specialization sets the stage for an intriguing comparison. Let's analyze which voice AI stock offers better upside potential now. SoundHound has emerged as a leader in voice AI by combining advanced speech recognition with large language models to power natural, voice-based interactions. Its Polaris AI engine delivers fast, accurate responses — even in noisy settings — supporting applications across industries. The company's acquisitions of SYNQ3, Amelia and Allset have expanded its capabilities in restaurant ordering, customer service and voice commerce. Now operating with a three-pronged strategy — enterprise agents, automotive assistants and voice commerce —SoundHound is gaining traction among automakers and tech firms. Its innovation pace and platform versatility position it as a strong independent player in the voice AI broad industry reach opens up significant growth potential. It's gaining traction in restaurants, with voice ordering in nearly 13,000 locations, and in automotive, powering voice AI for more than 20 car brands. Its enterprise solutions are used by top global banks, reflecting strong B2B adoption. This diversification limits dependence on any single customer. As generative AI demand grows, SoundHound's independent, brand-friendly platform appeals to companies wary of Big Tech. Partnerships with firms like Lucid Motors and NVIDIA extend its footprint into luxury EVs and edge AI. Overall, SoundHound is well-positioned to scale across multiple high-growth first-quarter 2025 results highlight strong momentum, with revenues surging 151% year over year to $29.1 million, driven by organic growth and recent acquisitions. Key contributions came from restaurant and enterprise voice AI solutions, supporting diversification. While the GAAP gross margin fell to 37% due to integration costs, the adjusted gross margin stood at 51%, with management targeting margin improvements over the next 18 to 24 months. The company posted a non-GAAP net loss of $22.3 million but remains well-capitalized, holding $246 million in cash and no debt. The full-year revenue guidance of $157-$177 million implies a near doubling, and SoundHound is targeting adjusted EBITDA breakeven by year-end, signaling a focus on scaling efficiently toward operational momentum, SoundHound faces formidable competition from deep-pocketed tech giants. Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon AMZN and Apple AAPL dominate the AI-powered voice assistant market. Google Assistant powers Android Automotive and is well integrated into in-car experiences globally. Amazon's Alexa, backed by AWS and a large developer community, is expanding into vehicles and has an entrenched smart home base. Apple's Siri benefits from tight integration across its ecosystem, especially via iPhones and CarPlay. These larger players — Alphabet, Amazon and Apple — could leverage their ecosystems to challenge SoundHound's growth. Another risk is the company's heavy spend on R&D and marketing (up 66% year over year due to acquisitions), which must eventually translate into sustainable customer wins. Cerence stands as the leading voice AI provider in the automotive industry, with its technology embedded in more than 500 million vehicles and powering roughly 51% of cars produced in the trailing 12 months ending the fiscal second quarter. Spun off from Nuance Communications, it brings decades of automotive voice expertise and serves nearly all major automakers, offering them white-labeled voice assistants that preserve brand identity and data control — an edge over Big Tech undergoing restructuring, Cerence remains focused on innovation. Its upcoming Cerence XUI platform blends on-device processing with generative AI, while its proprietary CaLLM model (developed with NVIDIA) aims to enhance in-car voice capabilities. Integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT via Microsoft Azure further strengthens its generative AI offerings. Beyond autos, Cerence is expanding into retail and mobility through partnerships with Code Factory and Tuya while defending its IP through active litigation. This combination of scale, neutrality and next-gen AI investment reinforces Cerence's leadership in voice-driven mobility Cerence's fiscal second-quarter results reflect progress in its turnaround strategy. Revenues rose 15% year over year to $78 million, slightly exceeding guidance due to a one-time $21.5 million fixed-license boost. The gross margin improved to 77% on a favorable software mix. Restructuring efforts paid off, and non-GAAP operating expenses dropped 32% to $34.1 million, fueling a sharp profitability rebound. Adjusted EBITDA surged to $29.5 million, well above guidance, while GAAP net income reached $21.7 million — a major swing from last year's loss. Free cash flow remained strong at $13.1 million, and the company ended the quarter with $122.8 million in cash after partially repurchasing its 2025 convertible maintained fiscal 2025 revenue guidance of $236-$247 million, down from fiscal 2024 due to the loss of the Toyota contract and fewer license deals. Still, it expects adjusted EBITDA of $28-$34 million, showing a focus on profitability over growth this year. While the fiscal third quarter will face tough comps, Cerence's leaner cost base positions it to stay cash-flow positive. Cerence faces several challenges despite a strong fiscal second-quarter performance. The absence of fixed-license revenues in the second half will pressure margins and profitability. Auto OEMs are pushing for price reductions amid macro uncertainty and potential tariff impacts. Professional services revenues are declining faster than expected due to product standardization and OEMs' internalizing integration. Legal disputes with Samsung and Microsoft add costs and risks. Lastly, Cerence remains exposed to global auto production trends, with volumes flat and China still a weak spot. SoundHound stock has risen 7.7% over the past three months. Meanwhile, Cerence shares have rallied 10.6% over the same period. Both SOUN and CRNC stocks have underperformed the Zacks Computer and Technology sector during the period. Share Price Performance Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Having a market capitalization of around $3.85 billion, SoundHound's stock has been volatile, reflecting the high expectations built into its valuation. After a huge AI-fueled rally in 2023, the stock pulled back in 2025. Even if revenues double as expected, the forward price-to-sales would be roughly 20X, still lofty relative to most software a market capitalization of around $407.5 million, Cerence trades at roughly 1.61X trailing 12-month sales. SOUN trades at about 20.67X forward 12-month trailing sales, much higher than CRNC's. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The loss estimate trend for SOUN has remained unchanged over the past 60 days, whereas the market remains skeptical about CRNC's ability to sustain profitability. Over the same period, the estimate has changed to a loss from break-even earnings for CRNC stock for the current estimated figure for SOUN's 2025 bottom line reflects an improvement from a year-ago reported loss of $1.04 per share, unlike CRNC. Cerence management has cited sluggish EV sales and softness in China as headwinds in the current year. For SOUN Image Source: Zacks Investment Research For CRNC Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Both SoundHound AI and Cerence are prominent players in voice AI, yet they present starkly different investment profiles. SoundHound is a high-growth upstart, doubling its revenues and expanding aggressively across industries with cutting-edge voice AI both SoundHound and Cerence — each carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) — are credible players in voice AI, SoundHound's diversified industry exposure, strong revenue growth and ambitious roadmap position it for broader upside as voice interfaces gain mainstream adoption. Cerence, though more deeply entrenched in the auto market, faces growth constraints and contract headwinds. Given SoundHound's expanding customer base, product versatility and potential to scale across sectors beyond autos, it appears better positioned for long-term growth despite its premium valuation. Cerence's stock arguably has a more limited immediate upside, with its growth currently constrained by industry softness. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cerence Inc. (CRNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Russell 2000 Stock to Own for Decades and 2 to Keep Off Your Radar
Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 (^RUT) can be a goldmine for investors looking beyond the usual large-cap names. But with less stability and fewer resources than their bigger counterparts, these companies face steeper challenges in scaling their businesses. Picking the right small caps isn't easy, and that's exactly why StockStory exists - to help you focus on the best opportunities. Keeping that in mind, here is one Russell 2000 stock that could deliver strong gains and two best left off your watchlist. Market Cap: $220.5 million Spanning a broad range of styles, brands, and prices, Genesco (NYSE:GCO) sells footwear, apparel, and accessories through multiple brands and banners. Why Is GCO Risky? Disappointing same-store sales over the past two years show customers aren't responding well to its product selection and in-store experience Eroding returns on capital from an already low base indicate that management's recent investments are destroying value Limited cash reserves may force the company to seek unfavorable financing terms that could dilute shareholders Genesco's stock price of $20.46 implies a valuation ratio of 12.9x forward P/E. If you're considering GCO for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more. Market Cap: $3.99 billion Founded in 2005, SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) develops independent voice artificial intelligence solutions that enable businesses across various industries to offer customized conversational experiences to consumers. Why Does SOUN Give Us Pause? Gross margin of 44.1% is way below its competitors, leaving less money to invest in areas like marketing and R&D Operating margin dropped by 39 percentage points over the last year as the company focused on expansion rather than profitability Negative free cash flow raises questions about the return timeline for its investments At $9.96 per share, SoundHound AI trades at 25x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than SOUN. Market Cap: $3.3 billion Founded in the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis to bring new capacity to the mortgage insurance market, NMI Holdings (NASDAQ:NMIH) provides mortgage insurance that protects lenders against losses when homebuyers default on their mortgage loans. Why Will NMIH Outperform? Annual net premiums earned growth of 9.6% over the last two years beat the sector average and underscores the value of its insurance products Underwriting operating profits increased over the last four years as the company gained some leverage on its fixed costs and became more efficient Annual book value per share growth of 15.9% over the past five years was outstanding, reflecting strong capital accumulation this cycle NMI Holdings is trading at $42.24 per share, or 1.3x forward P/B. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it's free. Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs. While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today Sign in to access your portfolio
