SoundHound AI has now reported, and the post-print picture is the first genuine data shift after three consecutive weeks of one-directional pressure building.
The short book has finally eased, if only slightly. Short interest fell to 43.35% of the free float — down from the 43.8% peak documented in the pre-earnings notes, and off roughly 0.67% on the week. That is a meaningful directional change after four successive articles recorded either stasis or expansion. The prior week's high of 43.8% now looks like the cycle peak. Cost to borrow has also pulled back, dropping nearly 20% from its July highs to 12.8% — the lowest reading in the 30-day window and the first meaningful relief in carry costs since late June. Shorts who survived the print have modestly lighter exposure at a lower rate.
The borrow market tells a more complicated story, though. Availability remains pinned at exactly 0% — every session across the full 30-day window, including today. That structural seal has not broken despite the slight unwind in short interest and the drop in cost to borrow. What this means in practice: any short covering that has occurred happened through buying in the open market, not through shares returning to the lending pool. The ORTEX short score barely moved, sitting at 81.46 — still in the 1st percentile of the broader universe for squeeze pressure. The setup remains structurally charged even if the headline SI number has nudged lower.
Options traders moved mildly more defensive on the day of the print. The put/call ratio ticked up to 0.38, the highest reading in two weeks, though it remains well below the 52-week high of 0.67 and only half a standard deviation above the 20-day average of 0.37. The options market never crowded into puts heading into earnings — and that posture has not dramatically reversed post-print. Call-side dominance still characterises the options picture.
The stock added 6.7% on the day and 4.3% on the week, closing at $6.51. That follows the pattern of the two most recent earnings reactions: both prior prints saw same-day declines (one of 2.3%, one of 5.2%), followed by mixed five-day outcomes. The five-day window this time is still open. Correlated peers moved sharply on the same day — QBTS added 9.3% and AISP gained 9.2%, suggesting a broader risk-on move in speculative AI names that may have lifted SOUN as much as any company-specific catalyst. OPRA added 5.1% and BMR rose 8.1% on the same session, reinforcing that the sector was broadly bid.
The Street remains constructive in aggregate. Six analysts carry buy-equivalent ratings with a mean price target near $13 — roughly double the current price. The most recent analyst action on record was a target cut at Northland Capital Markets in early May, lowering to $12 from $14 while maintaining Outperform. Piper Sandler holds a Neutral at $9, sitting below the current price. The bull case centres on royalty-based revenue diversification and synergies from acquisitions; the bear case rests on a valuation that priced in ~30x forward revenue at the high end and execution risk in a crowded voice AI market. EPS momentum factor scores remain extreme — 88th percentile on 30-day momentum and the 99th percentile over 90 days — driven by sharp upward estimate revisions rather than current profitability, as the company continues to run negative earnings and negative book value.
What to watch now is whether the slight unwind in short interest accelerates over the coming sessions, and whether the borrow market — sealed at 0% availability for more than 30 consecutive days — finally shows any sign of loosening as the earnings catalyst passes.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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