The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights BigBear.ai, SoundHound AI, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Mastercard

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 15, 2025 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. BBAI, SoundHound AI, Inc. SOUN, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG and Mastercard Inc. MA.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

BBAI or SOUN: Which AI Stock Deserves a Spot in Your Portfolio?

BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc., which provides artificial intelligence (AI)-driven data analytics solutions to both the U.S. government and private-sector companies, saw its shares soar more than 400% over the past year.

Similarly, a provider of voice AI solutions, SoundHound AI, Inc.’s shares surged over 250% in the same period. Despite such gains, both AI stocks face challenges, with BigBear.ai’s losses widening, and SoundHound continuing to struggle with profitability. So, which stock should be in your portfolio now? Let’s find out –

Can AI Hype Mask BigBear.ai Weak Financials - Time to Sell?

The excitement around AI stocks was a positive factor for BigBear.ai stock for quite some time. Under the capable leadership of its current and former CEOs, BigBear.ai secured numerous government contracts. Some of these deals involved the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense. Acquiring well-known biometric tech companies also expanded BigBear.ai’s total addressable market.

Despite these promising growth drivers, BigBear.ai’s revenues remain under pressure, and the road to profitability is unclear. In the second quarter, revenues totaled $32.5 million, down 18% from $39.8 million in the same period last year, according to ir.bigbear.ai. Revenue growth has slowed over the recent quarters, with the latest quarter showing the steepest decline. Revenues fell due to decreased volumes in some Army programs.

Additionally, BigBear.ai announced that full-year revenues are expected to be between $125 million and $140 million, lower than the previous forecast of $160 million to $180 million. This revision was primarily due to the postponement of contracts from the U.S. government.

As of June 30, 2025, BigBear.ai has a sizable backlog of $380 million, but only 4% of this is secured and authorized, based on SEC filings. Most contracts are from the U.S. government, which could mean lengthy approval processes.

Finally, BigBear.ai is not profitable, which raises concerns about its long-term viability. In the second quarter, the company reported a non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA loss of $8.5 million, more than double the $3.7 million loss from the same period last year. The company’s losses increased due to lower gross margins and higher R&D expenses. Overall, investors should refrain from buying BigBear.ai stock at this time.

Is SoundHound AI Stock a Good Investment Right Now?

Unlike BigBear.ai, SoundHound appears to be performing much better from a revenue-generation perspective. Its second quarter has been the strongest ever, with revenues coming in at $42.7 million, up a staggering 217% year over year, citing investors.soundhound.com.

Revenues improved as several large enterprises showed interest in SoundHound’s conversational AI platform. Lately, SoundHound secured a prominent global healthcare company as its client and a major OEM in China. Its Houndify platform is well-known for powering voice AI for varied customers, including Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. and Mastercard Inc.

All these encouraged SoundHound to raise its full-year revenue guidance to $160-$178 million, which is much higher than the revenues of $84.6 million in 2024. To top it off, SoundHound has a strong cash balance of $230 million with no debt as of June 30, 2025, suggesting that it’s capable of withstanding economic upheavals. SoundHound can also create growth opportunities with substantial cash. These factors should encourage existing shareholders to remain invested in SoundHound stock.

However, new investors should approach SoundHound stock with caution, given its lack of profitability. This is because, on a GAAP basis, SoundHound posted a wider year-over-year loss of $0.19 a share in the second quarter. It also reported a loss of $0.03 a share on a non-GAAP basis, and the gross margin shrank as well.

For now, SoundHound stock has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), while BigBear.ai stock has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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