SoundHound AI (SOUN -4.74%) stock is making big gains in Wednesday's trading. The conversational artificial intelligence (AI) specialist's share price was up 22.9% as of 2 p.m. ET.
The stock is gaining ground in conjunction with a conference call the company is participating in with Northland on Wednesday. The company's share price is likely also enjoying upward momentum thanks to recent bullish coverage from Wedbush.
SoundHound's CFO participates in another conference
SoundHound Chief Financial Officer Nitesh Sharan is participating in a conference call hosted by Northland Wednesday afternoon, during which he'll be interviewed by analyst Mike Lattimore. Investors appeared to be excited by the prospect that Sharan could share some new details about the business and its growth pipeline. Sharan has participated in other conferences and calls recently, and these events have sometimes been followed by fresh rounds of bullish coverage from analysts and substantial gains for the company's share price.
Analysts are getting more bullish on SoundHound AI stock
On Monday, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives published new coverage on SoundHound stock. The analyst maintained an overweight rating on the stock, which is equivalent to a buy rating. Ives also sharply raised his one-year price target on the stock from $10 per share to $22 per share.
The conversational AI software specialist's stock saw big gains following the note's publication, and subsequent coverage of the analysis appears to have pushed shares even higher. On the other hand, the stock is now trading above Ives' one-year target. As of this writing, that target actually implies a potential downside of roughly 8%.
Regardless, Ives thinks that SoundHound has what it takes to be a long-term winner in the AI revolution. He believes that the company is just starting to capitalize on emerging growth opportunities and that the business will benefit from surging AI spending from enterprises. Ives expects that SoundHound AI's software will allow it to move into new business categories and improve its monetization.
With Wednesday's gains, SoundHound AI stock is now up 983% across this year's trading. While the company could still be in the early stages of its long-term growth trajectory, it's now valued at roughly 106 times this year's expected sales. Due to its highly growth-dependent valuation, investors interested in building a position in the stock may want to consider a dollar-cost-averaging strategy rather than buying a large number of shares all at once.
