South Korea's Lee Calls Japan Indispensable Partner Before Visit
'Japan is our neighbor across the sea as well as an indispensable partner in our economic development,' Lee said at a ceremony on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of liberation. 'We will seek forward-looking, mutually beneficial cooperation with Japan while holding frequent meetings and frank dialogue through shuttle diplomacy.'
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Is SoundHound AI Stock Proving to Be the Real Deal?
Key Points SoundHound posted record quarterly revenue recently, with its top line surging by 217%. The company has benefitted from having a diverse customer base, giving it many ways to grow its business. It still, however, is nowhere near turning a profit, and its rate of cash burn has accelerated. 10 stocks we like better than SoundHound AI › For investors who don't want to simply load up on Nvidia and other already established artificial intelligence (AI) companies, it can be challenging to find the next big AI stock to buy. There are a lot of companies that claim they have AI-powered products and services -- and sprinkle the term AI into all of their press releases and reports -- but simply being involved with AI doesn't mean that a stock is destined to rise in value. One company that has been a popular option for investors in the past couple of years has been SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN). It's involved in voice AI software, making it easy for people to converse with AI, including placing orders at a drive-through. There have been question marks around SoundHound's business and whether it is indeed destined to be a top AI stock to own for the future, or if it's just one of many in an increasingly crowded space. With the company recently coming off a strong quarter that showed a lot of growth, has it proven that it is, in fact, the real deal, and that it's an AI stock worth investing in? SoundHound posts 217% revenue growth On Aug. 7, SoundHound released its second-quarter results. The company reported an all-time high for revenue, which totaled $42.7 million -- that's more than triple the $13.5 million that the business reported in the same period last year. The tech company has been expanding its business in many industries as its vast customer base has helped it expand across multiple sectors. The company also has released Amelia 7, which is its agentic AI platform that it says can be used for complex queries and perform them "as part of natural, humanlike interactions." SoundHound says that it now has 15 large enterprise customers that are migrating to this new platform. The company is still no closer to profitability While SoundHound reported strong growth in its most recent quarter, its financial performance was far from flawless. Its net loss doubled, from $37 million a year ago to just under $75 million. What also didn't look great was a significant decline in gross margin -- from 63% to 39%. The company says that this was mainly the result of its acquisition of AI company Amelia back in 2024. And it's that acquisition that has been a key reason why SoundHound's customer base has become more diverse, and why its revenue is up so much; the prior-year results didn't include contributions from Amelia. Another issue to consider is that SoundHound has been burning through more cash. Over the past six months, it used up $44 million during its day-to-day operating activities, compared with $40 million during the same period last year. Unfortunately, while SoundHound has experienced significant growth, it comes with an asterisk. Not only were the results boosted by an acquisition, but they didn't move the needle in terms of improving cash flow and overall profitability. Without that, this remains a highly risky business to invest in. SoundHound AI still has a lot to prove Mergers and acquisitions can be a great way for companies to manufacture growth. By simply adding another company into the mix, you're adding sales without needing to grow organically. SoundHound highlighted its overall growth rate last quarter, but not its organic growth, which may tell a much different story. While the headline of 217% growth sounds impressive, I'm not convinced that SoundHound is really on the right path. If its margins are deteriorating and losses are getting bigger, it may simply be incentivizing customers with lower prices and promotions in order to grow sales. Shares of SoundHound jumped on the quarterly results, but the stock is still down around 18% this year. And as the excitement from the revenue growth cools and investors take a closer look at the numbers and see the risks that still linger with the stock, I wouldn't be surprised to see it give back some of its recent gains. This is still a risky stock to own, and until SoundHound shows that it has a path to profitability, you may be better off steering clear of it. Should you invest $1,000 in SoundHound AI right now? Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $663,630!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,115,695!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,071% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is SoundHound AI Stock Proving to Be the Real Deal? was originally published by The Motley Fool
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23 minutes ago
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Wall Street's New Obsession? Japan's Market Just Went Vertical
Japanese stocks are on a tear. For the third time this week, the Topix Index closed at a record highup 1.6% to 3,107.68after Japan's economy delivered a surprise: GDP grew 1% annualized in Q2, more than double what economists were bracing for. That set off a wave of buying, especially in financials, as investors ramped up bets that the Bank of Japan may be forced to hike rates sooner than expected. Bank stocks soared 9.4% this weekmarking their biggest five-day jump since last year's post-crash rebound. Meanwhile, SoftBank (SOBKY) rallied 6.4% on renewed optimism around its AI exposure. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 11 Warning Signs with SOBKY. But here's what matters more: the big money's coming back. Foreign investors appear to be rotating hard into Japan's large caps, especially those in the Topix Core 30 index, which jumped 2.6% on Friday. That group massively outpaced smaller stocks, suggesting this isn't just local enthusiasmit's global capital reallocating. Only 52% of stocks in the Topix advanced, underscoring just how concentrated the buying was. Strategists say this could be part of a broader shift away from US equities, as expectations grow that the Fed will cut rates and the dollar will lose steam. That makes Japan's assets, especially banks, look increasingly attractive. Add in a little political heat from across the Pacific, and the rate hike drumbeat gets louder. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called Japan behind the curve on inflation, helping to push October rate hike odds to 49%, up from just 39% earlier in the week. The yen firmed 0.5% to 146.95, while 10-year JGB yields climbed to 1.56%, their highest in years. Daiwa's Yugo Tsuboi thinks the Nikkei could level off in the short term, but says the next leg up may arrive in Septemberright around the time the Fed is expected to ease. If that happens, Japan could be one of the few markets tightening into strength. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
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This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Is Growing Fast and Still Trades at Just 10 Times Earnings
Key Points Micron Technology is now expecting stronger growth in the current quarter, as greater demand is allowing it to increase memory pricing. The company supplies its AI-focused memory chips to all the leading players in this space. Micron's ability to deliver phenomenal growth makes it a no-brainer buy right now, particularly considering its cheap valuation. 10 stocks we like better than Micron Technology › Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is playing a central role in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology: Its memory chips are being used by top chip designers such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices in their data center graphics cards. Micron's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) suits the technical needs of AI accelerator graphics processing units (GPUs) because they are capable of moving huge amounts of data with low lag, and are more energy efficient than conventional memory chips. And given the high demand for AI chips, demand for Micron's HBM chips has also been robust, which explains why its growth has been remarkable in recent quarters. Importantly, it appears Micron's terrific growth will persist thanks to its lucrative opportunity in the HBM space -- and its latest guidance update provides further evidence to that effect. Micron Technology's AI-fueled growth is just getting started On Monday, Micron increased its guidance for its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter. For the period, which will end Aug. 28, it now expects revenues of $11.1 billion to $11.3 billion, up from a range of $10.4 billion to $11 billion previously. At the midpoint, that's a boost of $500 million. Additionally, management bumped up its non-GAAP earnings guidance from $2.50 per share to $2.85 per share. Those figures would equate to a year-over-year increase of 44% in revenue and a 141% jump in adjusted earnings per share. Micron management says that "improved pricing, particularly in DRAM, and strong execution" are the reasons behind its improved guidance. Booming demand for HBM is a key factor that's allowing memory makers to increase prices. According to one estimate, the HBM market's revenue could double in 2024 to $34 billion, driven by a combination of higher shipments and increased pricing. Specifically, production capacity constraints are expected to push up the price of HBM by 15% to 20% in the calendar third quarter, which would be sharper than the 5% to 10% growth seen in the previous quarter. At the same time, the next iterations of AI graphics cards designed by Nvidia and AMD will be equipped with bigger HBM chips. Nvidia, for instance, is packing 288 gigabytes (GB) of HBM into its Blackwell Ultra B300 GPU, up from the 192GB configuration of the B200. Similarly, AMD is bumping up the HBM capacity of its MI355X and MI350X accelerators to 288GB; the previous generation MI325X had 256GB. What's more, AMD is planning to increase the HBM capacity of its next-generation MI400X GPUs to a whopping 432GB. Given all that, demand for HBM is likely to remain solid. Micron's peer SK Hynix is forecasting annualized increases of 30% in the HBM market through 2030. AI, therefore, can be expected to remain a solid long-term growth driver for Micron, especially considering the company's improving share of this market. The memory specialist says it's supplying HBM chips "in high volume" to four major customers, which indicates that custom AI chipmakers such as Broadcom and Marvell Technology are also among its big clients. Not surprisingly, Micron's HBM market share is expected to jump to 24% by the end of 2025 as compared to around 20% earlier this year. That potential improvement in Micron's market share, along with the outstanding growth of the HBM market, explains why analysts have increased their revenue growth expectations from the company. Even better, Micron's healthy top-line growth will drive a big jump in the company's bottom line since demand for HBM is outpacing supply. The favorable supply-and-demand dynamic should lift memory prices and supercharge Micron's earnings, which is why buying the stock right now is a no-brainer. Micron stock is too cheap to ignore Micron reported $1.30 per share in earnings in its fiscal 2024. The following chart makes it clear that its earnings are on track to grow significantly in the current fiscal year and beyond. The best part for investors is that Micron stock is trading at just 10 times forward earnings, which is dirt cheap considering the earnings growth that it's projected to deliver. Its forward earnings multiple is significantly lower than the tech-laden Nasdaq-100 index's multiple of 30. Ideally, the market will reward the AI-fueled growth that this chipmaker is set to deliver with a higher earnings multiple. For instance, an earnings multiple of even 20 after a year could send its stock price to $244 (based on its fiscal 2026 earnings estimate of $12.22 per share). That would be nearly double its current stock price. So, investors should consider buying this AI stock hand over fist as it has the potential to fly higher, even after recording a 52% gain so far in 2025. Should you invest $1,000 in Micron Technology right now? Before you buy stock in Micron Technology, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Micron Technology wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $663,630!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,115,695!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,071% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and Marvell Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Is Growing Fast and Still Trades at Just 10 Times Earnings was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
