This Overlooked Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Could Be the Surprise Winner of 2026

Tech stocks were among the market's biggest winners last year. However, one of the most overlooked artificial intelligence (AI) stocks in 2025 could be one the biggest winners this year.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) shot to fame back in 2024 after Nvidia revealed that it had taken a stake in the company. However, after the chip giant exited its stake a year later with some nice gains, SoundHound's stock lost its luster.

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Transforming into an agentic AI leader

However, the stock's 2025 performance didn't match the progress and transformation that was taking place at SoundHound. The company grew at a rapid pace in 2025, with its revenue more than doubling through the first nine months of the year. Meanwhile, it projected that it would be near break-even profitability in 2026.

The company also began a massive transformation last year. SoundHound has established itself as a leader in voice AI, where its "speech-to-meaning" and "deep meaning understanding" technology can interact with people more naturally since it is able to understand someone's intent even before they are done talking.

The company has made strong inroads in both the auto and restaurant spaces, and continues to win business in these sectors. In late January, it expanded a deal with burger chain Five Guys for AI ordering and answering menu and promotion questions.

However, following its acquisition of virtual agent provider Amelia in 2024, SoundHound has pivoted to not just offering an AI-voice solution, but to becoming a voice-first agentic AI platform. By combining Amelia virtual agents with its AI voice technology, SoundHound can now offer an end-to-end AI customer service solution where AI-powered agents can interact with people more naturally.

Amelia also brought with it customers in a variety of industries, including more highly regulated ones that have their own jargon and compliance requirements, such as financial services and healthcare. With its launch of Amelia 7.0 last year, the company entered the agentic AI race.

While numerous companies are going after AI agents, SoundHound's voice-first approach could give it a distinct advantage. Since AI agents can perform their own tasks with little human supervision, it becomes increasingly important that they understand the intent of the people they are interacting with. Otherwise, things can go awry quickly, and customers and patients dealing with AI agents can become increasingly frustrated. If SoundHound's technology can solve this issue, and it becomes a leading agentic AI platform, the sky is the limit.

Trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 12.5 times 2026 analyst revenue estimates, SoundHound is reasonably priced given its hypergrowth. Meanwhile, the growth stock could be a surprise winner this year if the company can forge its path as an agentic AI winner. It may even get bought out by a bigger player if it does start to succeed.

Geoffrey Seiler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends SoundHound AI. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.