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Tata Motors Profits Crash 63% as U.S. Tariffs Slam Jaguar Land Rover
Tata Motors (TTM) just posted a sharp 63% drop in quarterly profit to 39.2 billion rupees ($447 million), missing analyst estimates by a narrow margin. Revenue dipped 2.8% to 1.04 trillion rupees, though it still edged past forecasts. But it's the US tariffs that bit the hardestTata said the new levies led to 254 million ($341 million) in extra costs, forcing Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to pause US-bound shipments for nearly a month in April. That stung, especially given that North America is JLR's biggest international market. Domestic demand didn't offer much of a cushion either, with India sales of cars and commercial vehicles down 7% year-on-year. JLR's numbers were hit hard too. Pre-tax profit tumbled 49% to 351 million on 6.6 billion in revenue. The luxury SUV maker now expects free cash flow to be close to zero for the full year, with EBIT margins in the 5% to 7% range. Group EBITDA dropped 38% to 97 billion rupees. Tata's CFO P.B. Balaji noted that demand conditions are likely to remain challenging, though he pointed to ongoing efforts to lean on pricing, optimize the product mix, and push contribution margins higher. Management flagged that the recently announced USUK trade deal could help reduce tariff pressure in coming quarters. The earnings update came just days after JLR's CEO Adrian Mardell stepped downadding to the wave of recent C-suite reshuffles in global autos. The backdrop isn't getting easier: EV softness in Europe, weak China volumes, and protectionist headwinds in the US have all added pressure. Still, Tata isn't sitting still. It recently acquired Iveco Group's commercial vehicle business for 3.8 billion to expand its global reach. Balaji called the move a screaming buy, but not everyone's convincedJefferies labeled it a risky detour, pointing to Tata's mixed track record with European deals and the likelihood of an upcoming equity raise. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. 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
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SoundHound AI CEO talks Q2 beat as stock skyrockets
SoundHound AI (SOUN) stock is skyrocketing after the company reported stronger-than-expected second quarter results and lifted its full-year outlook. SoundHound AI co-founder and CEO Keyvan Mohajer sits down with Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman to discuss the earnings print, what's next for the artificial intelligence (AI) company, the journey to profitability, and more. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts. Joining me now is Keyvon Mohajer who is Soundhound AI Co-founder and CEO. It's good to see you. Thanks for coming in studio. Thanks for having me. So you guys saw revenue that more than tripled in the quarter and you have three main business lines, you've got autos, you've got enterprise, you've got restaurants. Where was that demand coming from? It actually came from all of those. So it was our as a blowout quarter stronger strongest record quarter on record. Every business unit delivered success. We had growth in AI for automotive, AI for restaurants and AI for enterprises. We closed new deals, we had cross-sells across these these units, which was amazing. We also made a lot of progress with our voice commerce, which is something we demonstrated earlier this year. How does the voice commerce work? So it's a great example of agentive AI. So everybody talks about agentive AI as a vision of the future, but Soundhound is actually bringing that to life at scale because of our reach and technology. So imagine, you're driving home from work, uh, historically you've had limited use cases of your AI in the car, maybe navigation or setting a, um, setting the fan speed. What if you could do more? What if you could find the restaurant that your family likes and placing an order, uh, for dinner by talking to the car and maybe you make you book some appointments for the next few days, maybe health healthcare appointments or salons, uh, or the groceries, uh, and Soundhound is doing that. Uh, we are working with, um, prominent, uh, auto OEMs, auto makers in Europe, in North America. Uh, we have participation from restaurants and merchants with national and global coverage. That's going really well and everyone is rushing to be a part of it. So can I buy a car now that has this product or this is something that is in development that would come to a car when? Uh, so you could buy a car that is powered by Soundhound, so we are in millions of cars, uh, that's pillar one of our business. Uh, and we are now running pilots with several OEMs, car OEMs. Some that are using us now, some that are not using us, but they are going to use us. So it's in the new near future. Um, one of the reasons I like talking to Keyvon is I think that the whole idea of Gen AI, agentive AI is very conceptual in some cases and I like talking to you because it sort of makes it more real in a way. So, I want to ask you about another example. Um, you have a lot of restaurant deals as we've talked about before. A couple, um, newer ones I think you signed, IHOp for example, Red Lobster for example. Um, how if I'm a customer, how do I interact with your AI at these establishments? Yeah, so we are Omni channel. So, uh, in in some cases, uh, the channel, the more primary channel for for those, uh, restaurants is phone. So you call them and you can place an order. A lot of times when you call the restaurant, they don't pick up the phone or if they do, somebody's very distracted and busy and noisy environment. So all of that is going to go away. You always get somebody to pick up the phone with patience and you can talk to them at any speed that you want and you can place an order. Sometimes their channel is drive-through. Uh, so we power the drive through with AI. So, and we can, uh, our solution increases the revenue and decreases decreases cost. So restaurants now need us more than ever, uh, because we help them in both top line and bottom line, uh, reduce cost. Uh, that's obvious, but we upsell, AI always upsells and the throughput goes up. We can take orders faster, we can take orders parallel, uh, multiple lanes and so on. Uh, so that increases the revenue. Can the people keep up with the increased orders? You know, we actually have had cases where they had to turn it off because they couldn't keep up. Wow. That is really interesting. I guess that's a unless you're expanding into, you know, burger flipping machines, I guess that's another another issue. Um, um, you guys rolled out your new agentive platform called Amelia 7. So how is this being deployed and kind of what makes it different? So it's the agentive version of even call it agentive Plus, uh, agentive version for AI for enterprises. Another example of agentive that that I can explain. Uh, so in customer service traditionally, um, when you called and got AI, the AI handle very simple cases, maybe answer question or just figured out what you want. And then for more complicated things, you got escalated to human. Now, AI can do more complex things. So for example, if you, um, uh, for troubleshooting, uh, you know, uh, the agentive is perfect or for healthcare appointments, let's say, you want to book an appointment for yourself and for your child, maybe at the same, not at the same time, but on the same day, different different doctors, um, and that's a very complicated criteria. Right. Yeah, and that used to, you know, be escalated to humans, but now agentive can handle that. Interesting. Yes. I too, I've definitely had that experience. Do you guys use your own LLM for all of this or is it powered by a different one? Uh, so that's one of the great things about Soundhound is that we have our own foundation models, but we also utilize, uh, third-party models. And we were very, we are very fast to adopt when innovation happens outside of four walls. Uh, and you know, like when two years ago, OpenAI opened their API, we saw it as an opportunity because, you know, we thought Google, Amazon, Apple, they're not going to sign up for an open AI right away, but we can. And that made our products better. Uh, but Soundhound also has its own models called Polaris and for what it does, it beats our competitors by a large margin. So for example, we beat the closest competitor by 35% in accuracy, by four times in latency, all of that at a lower cost. Interesting. Okay. Finally, I want to ask you about profitability, okay? Because obviously you guys are in growth mode. Um, I believe that analysts are looking for a positive EBITDA next quarter, but kind of what does that journey look like? When are you going to sort of turn your focus to, um, from growth to that profitability question? Yeah, it's a constant, constant conversation because the opportunities are, um, limitless in front of us. And I think we are at an inflection point for enterprise adoption of AI. It used to be, you know, POC budgets or innovation budgets, but now it's a mandate from their IT budget. And they need a partner like Soundhound. So investing in growth is very important for us, but we also want to be, uh, as close to profitability so that we can decide when we want to be get there. At the moment, we are guiding that we will exit the year on adjusted EBITDA positive basis. Right. Um, and then, um, you guys have been very acquisitive in order to grow in part as well. Are you on kind of slowing that down or are you still full steam ahead with making more acquisitions? We, we bought three companies last year and those have gone amazing. Uh, we, we think we have demonstrated a repeatable formula for success. So first we bought companies that were amazing on their own. They had great solutions, great teams, amazing customer base. And then we gave them what they needed to thrive. We replaced their legacy tech dependencies with Soundhound's own models that improved the quality of the user experience while lowering their expenses. We explored a lot of cost synergies. We did cloud migration, revenue synergies, upsells, cross sales, which we showed up in our financials. I mean our financials speak for themselves. And all of that happened in 12 to 18 months. So we think we've become good at it and we, uh, would be able to do it again, but it does depend on finding the right targets that are great on their own. Right. Where do you think you would want to add to? Uh, so our our future doesn't depend on it. So we have the scale that we need now. Uh, but it's all about accelerating, um, uh, our market share and going into new verticals. So we went to, uh, with the last acquisition we had, now we are in the top, seven of the top 10 financial institutions. We are in healthcare, we are in insurance, we're in military, um, and, uh, more of that would be welcome by us. Related Videos S&P 500 has a concentration problem: Why ETFs can't keep up Trade Desk nosedives, Twilio weak outlook, FuboTV revenue beat Serve Robotics CEO: Drones are 'complementary,' not competitive Gold hits new high, altcoins stocks rally, Tempus AI Q2 beat 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
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Motorious Readers Get Extra Entries in Outdoor Dream Giveaway
⚡️ Read the full article on Motorious Enter to win a 2024 Ford F-250 Lariat 4x4 with off-road upgrades and $20,000 toward federal prize taxes. Adventure-seekers and off-road enthusiasts now have the chance to win a heavily upgraded 2024 Ford F-250 Lariat 4x4 Crew Cab as part of the latest Outdoor Dream Giveaway. This rugged, trail-ready truck comes loaded with premium accessories and, if you're the lucky winner, includes $20,000 toward the federal prize tax. This F-250 Super Duty isn't just built to work—it's built to play. Equipped with the powerful 7.3-liter 'Godzilla' V8 engine, it delivers 430 horsepower and 485 lb-ft of torque, plus a 4,000-pound payload capacity and a 17,200-pound towing rating. Assembled in Kentucky and continuing Ford's reign as the best-selling truck line for 47 consecutive years, this F-250 is a celebration of American engineering and capability. The grand prize also boasts a full array of high-end, trail-ready accessories, courtesy of and its partners. Highlights include: Addictive Desert Designs Phantom winch front bumper Rear Bomber Series bumper RealTruck ReTrax PRO MX retractable tonneau cover Husky Liners X-Act Contour floor liners Bushwacker Pocket Style fender flares RealTruck GoTent and GoRack BedRug Classic bed liner Superlift 2-inch leveling kit 4Play 4P83 20-inch wheels Lighting Trendz custom lighting With the Outdoor Dream Giveaway, one lucky entrant will win a truck capable of exploring the more than 85 million acres of U.S. national parks—or towing heavy loads to the jobsite with ease. Whether you're a camper, contractor, or weekend warrior, this custom Ford F-250 Lariat blends performance, practicality, and serious style. Entries are open now, and Motorious readers receive bonus entries as part of their exclusive access. Don't miss your chance to own this one-of-a-kind Super Duty prize package—because once it's gone, it won't come around again.
