SoundHound AI enters July with its short side more dug in than ever — short interest has now crept above 42% of the free float, the borrow market remains completely sealed, and yet options traders are still leaning bullish.
The short position has ground higher again this week. Short interest climbed to 42.1% of the free float by June 30, up 7.7% on the week, extending the trend that has been building since mid-June. That compares with roughly 38.1% two weeks ago — meaning shorts have added close to 17 million shares net over a fortnight. The ORTEX short score has continued to push higher, reaching 81.2, its best reading in this run. The stock ranks in the 1st percentile on short-positioning intensity across the full universe. The borrow market reflects how crowded this trade has become: availability has been 0% without interruption for the entire month of June — every share in the lending pool is already committed. Cost to borrow jumped 21% on the week to 14.0%, recovering sharply from a mid-month trough around 10.5% and heading back toward the May highs above 20%. With days to cover still near 5.9 sessions, unwinding this position is not a quick operation.
Options positioning continues to tell a different story — one of relative optimism. The put/call ratio dropped further to 0.36, now sitting close to its 52-week low of 0.31 and running more than 1.6 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.41. That is the most call-skewed the options market has been all year. The combination of extreme short positioning and options-market bullishness is the same contradiction flagged last week — and it has intensified rather than resolved. The stock managed a small weekly gain of 0.5%, closing at $6.47, which is a reversal from the 28% slide seen over the prior month.
On the Street, the picture is mixed but leaning constructive on valuation. The most recent analyst action was Northland Capital Markets lowering its target from $14 to $12 in early May while keeping an Outperform rating — a trim but not a capitulation. DA Davidson has maintained its Buy with a $14 target. The mean analyst target of $14.25 implies roughly 120% upside from current levels, though the analyst data is now around 54 days stale. Bulls point to diversified voice AI revenue streams, a clean balance sheet with no debt, and strong forward earnings estimate momentum — the 12-month forward EPS revision factor scores in the 98th percentile of the universe. Bears counter that the stock still trades at roughly 30x 2026 revenue, steep relative to peers even assuming high growth materialises, and that competition in the Voice AI market remains fierce. The short score ranking at the 1st percentile and days-to-cover rank at the 8th percentile both confirm the bears are committing real capital to that view.
Insider activity is worth noting. On June 15, the CEO, COO, CSO, CTO, and Chief Level Officer all sold shares on the same day at $7.46 — a coordinated cluster sale totalling around $1.9 million across the group. Net insider activity over 90 days is a modest positive at $4.1 million, largely because these appear to be routine plan sales rather than discretionary moves. Still, the fact that the entire founding leadership team sold into a price roughly 15% above where the stock closed the week is the kind of signal worth tracking.
Among correlated peers, GRRR was the standout mover this week, up 16.3%. REKR and AUR both added around 6%. SOUN's flat week looks notably cautious by comparison, with the weight of short positioning appearing to cap any sustained rally attempt.
Next earnings are scheduled for August 6. The prior two prints both saw the stock fall on the day — down 5.2% and 2.3% respectively — though the five-day reaction after the May 22 event recovered to a +8.2% gain. Whether the borrow market softens before that event, and whether cost to borrow continues its recent climb back toward May highs, are the two variables most worth watching heading into the print.
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