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Globe and Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Why Shares of SoundHound AI Are Soaring Today
Shares of the voice-powered artificial intelligence (AI) company SoundHound AI(NASDAQ: SOUN) traded nearly 13% higher as of 11:18 a.m. ET today. Analysts at Piper Sandler initiated coverage of the stock Tuesday morning with an overweight rating. A pure play on AI Piper Sandler analyst James Fish wrote in his initiation note that SoundHound, which provides advanced AI voice assistants, is a great way to play the AI trade, and the company has just begun to tap into its potential. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » He added that he sees a combined $30 billion serviceable addressable market by 2027. Furthermore, Fish and his team expect SoundHound to transition to more of a subscription model, in which revenue from this segment of the business could make up 90% of total revenue in just a few years. Two years ago, subscription revenue represented just 4% of total sales. Fish has a price target on the stock of $12, implying another 12% upside, even after this recent rally. Still early in the journey SoundHound AI certainly looks to have a long runway and is making financial progress as well. Revenue in the first quarter of 2025 grew more than 150% year over year, while the company reported $0.31 earnings per share and a $0.06 loss per share on an adjusted basis. With a $4.3 billion market cap, the stock is still expensive, so like many of my recommendations on these AI stocks with big potential, you can start to accumulate shares but don't need to go all in just yet. 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 10 best stocks 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 whenNetflixmade this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,you'd have $639,271!* Or when Nvidiamade this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,you'd have $804,688!* Now, it's worth notingStock Advisor's total average return is957% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to167%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you joinStock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Zawya
07-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
How a costly financial mistake inspired South Africa's first flat-fee financial advice platform?
A costly financial lesson that depleted a quarter of his savings motivated a South African entrepreneur to create a unique platform to transform how South Africans obtain personal financial advice. Doshguide, South Africa's first flat-fee financial advisory platform, is turning the traditional commission-based model on its head by offering 100% unbiased personal-finance advice through a monthly subscription whereby no commissions are charged. It is already growing to meet the needs of the increasing number of South Africans, particularly younger professionals, who are often overlooked by the financial advisory industry due to a lack of sufficient capital for investment. Rory Brachner, founder of Doshguide, first sought the advice of a recommended financial advisor in 2016 while working at Google as a technology sales executive in Singapore. He thought he was making savvy financial decisions by investing his surplus income, but four years later, he realised he had been paying excessive fees for an investment that didn't align with his lifestyle. 'Recommending a 30-year retirement annuity as an expat in Singapore for a short-term period was objectively terrible advice,' he admits. He faced a tough decision: continue investing in an expensive and unsuitable financial product or withdraw and forfeit 25% of his investment. 'I withdrew, and it made me realise just how costly investing in the wrong financial product can be.' Revolutionising financial guidance Frustrated with himself for not asking the right questions at the time, Brachner recognised a fundamental flaw that traditional models reward advisors for the products they sell, not always for the advice they give. This experience sparked a mission for Brachner after he quit his job and moved back to South Africa. He began considering how he could remove commissions altogether and make advice easy to access. It was a natural return to entrepreneurship for Brachner, who launched a tutoring agency - connecting the tutors he had trained with students - while still in university. Within a few years, this grew into a thriving marketplace with 250 tutors and four full-time staff. This was his first experience building a scalable, people-focused platform. He later joined Google and worked with some of the world's biggest marketplace platforms, including Uber and Airbnb. 'I saw how powerful platforms could be when they connect the right people with the right expertise. These companies have fundamentally changed consumer behaviour by introducing smarter marketplaces that enhance transparency and efficiency, and Doshguide is built on the same idea, just applied to financial well-being.' Unbiased financial access Formally launched in 2023, Doshguide is a marketplace platform that connects individuals with vetted, independent, flat-fee Certified Financial Planners™ (CFPs) from its trusted network to provide truly unbiased personal finance guidance. Doshguide operates exclusively on an affordable, cancel-anytime, monthly flat-fee model. With tailored packages designed for everyone from young professionals starting their careers to individuals with complex financial situations, it strives to make high-quality financial advice more accessible, particularly for the often-overlooked younger market. 'Many South Africans under 45 don't fit the industry's traditional model, which depends on clients investing their liquid assets with an advisor. We're changing that by offering direct access to financial advisors, providing unbiased client-focused advice to empower clients to take control of their current finances and work towards the future they want,' says Brachner. The flat-fee financial advice model is growing in global markets but remains largely absent in South Africa, where financial advice has long been dominated by commission-driven models tied to product sales and asset-based fees. He says that their platform has already shown promising traction. 'Some of our advisors used to add just five clients a year. Now they're seeing 25 to 30, thanks to better visibility and better-fit clients. We've also introduced a mentorship model to support advisors who want to shift to a flat-fee approach – making conflict-free financial advice more widely available.' While South Africans may still be getting used to the idea of paying directly for advice – rather than seeing it as 'free' through commissions – early adopters are already seeing the benefits. 'One of our clients reported making more progress in 10 months with Doshguide than in 12 years with a traditional advisor,' says Brachner. He concludes, 'Accessing expert guidance shouldn't be complicated, biased, expensive, or limited to the wealthy. Doshguide aims to be integral in changing how South Africans approach their financial future, for the better.' All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
