SoundHound AI is in a different place than it was a week ago — the stock has fallen further, short interest has ticked back up, and the options market is tilting more bullish even as the underlying continues to drift lower.
The short thesis has not only held, it has quietly strengthened. Short interest climbed to 38.9% of the free float by June 12, up from 37.4% a week earlier — adding roughly 5.7 million shares net over the week. That is a meaningful re-addition. Shorts are not covering into the decline; they are pressing it. The ORTEX short score is running at 80.1, barely changed from last week's 79.99, and still in extreme territory. Availability remains at 0% — every share in the lending pool is lent out, a level that has held almost continuously since early May. Borrow costs have stabilised around 11.7%, flat on the week and less than half the 27% paid just a month ago. The cost of carry has fallen enough to remove the urgency to cover, which may explain why short positions are being rebuilt rather than closed.
Options positioning tells a different story, and it is worth naming the contrast explicitly. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.41, roughly 1.5 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.44 — near the lower end of the past year's range. Call activity is running well above normal relative to puts. That is an unusually bullish options skew for a stock down 6.6% on the week and 14% over the past month. It suggests a cohort of market participants is buying upside, likely speculating on a squeeze or a sharp reversal, even as short sellers reassert themselves.
The Street remains split and the analyst data is somewhat dated, with the most recent recorded change from late April. The consensus sits at hold, with buyers at DA Davidson (target $14) and HC Wainwright (target $20) facing a Piper Sandler neutral at $9. The mean target of $14.25 implies roughly double the current $6.90 price — the gap reflects genuine disagreement rather than alignment. Bulls point to nearly 80% revenue growth year-on-year and a forward EPS momentum score ranking in the 99th percentile. Bears flag the forward revenue multiple — still in the high double digits even after the stock's retreat — alongside persistent losses and a quality score near the bottom of the sector. The EV/EBITDA multiple of -64.8x is uninformative on its own; the real question is the path to profitability, and the 90-day EPS momentum ranking of 99 suggests estimates are moving in the right direction, even if the company is not yet there.
On the earnings reaction front, the most recent print on May 7 produced a -5.2% move the next day and a -9.1% drift over the following five days. The prior event on May 22 fell 2.3% on the day before recovering 8.2% over the week. The pattern is inconsistent enough that the next report — scheduled for August 6 — does not clearly favour either side in the immediate aftermath. Institutionally, BlackRock added roughly one million shares in the period through May 31, now holding 7.5% of the company. Goldman Sachs added 3.5 million shares as of March 31. Morgan Stanley and Bank of America both trimmed. The founder-and-CEO cluster sale from March 20 — where the CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, and both other founders sold simultaneously at $6.79 — remains the most notable insider event in the window, and the stock is barely above those sale prices now.
Among correlated peers, FIVN fell 9.7% on the week and ZETA dropped 8.2%, suggesting sector-level pressure rather than a SOUN-specific story. ARQQ was the outlier, gaining 12% — a reminder that idiosyncratic moves remain possible in this part of the market. The August 6 earnings date is the next hard catalyst; between now and then, the interaction between a 39% short base, zero borrow availability, and an options market skewed toward calls is the setup worth watching.
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