The market is not favoring artificial intelligence (AI) stocks right now, as it is trying to de-risk itself by selling off the high-growth names that need prime economic conditions to succeed. This has opened up an opportunity to snag some of the top-performing AI stocks at a huge discount, and if you're patient, these stocks could easily crush the market over the next few years.
Two that I think have this potential are SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) and The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD). Each of these stocks is well off its all-time highs, but if each can report a strong string of solid quarterly results, they could easily climb back to their all-time highs.
1. SoundHound AI
SoundHound AI was a darling AI stock in 2024. It rose more than 800% in the year, although it was up more than 1,000% at its peak.
It is focused on using audio inputs for AI models, as there are many applications where text input isn't possible. Two of its biggest focus areas are digital assistants in cars and drive-thru automation. It also has healthcare, insurance, and finance products.
SoundHound AI put up incredible growth in 2024, which is why the stock was up so much. To end the year, it put up 101% revenue growth to $34.5 million in Q4. That's impressive, but what was even more encouraging was SoundHound AI's 2025 revenue guidance. Management expects $157 million to $177 million in revenue this year, indicating 97% growth. That's some impressive growth, but we'll need an update from the management team during its Q1 results to understand if this guidance is affected by any drop in economic activity caused by tariffs.
If this projection is still valid, it could result in strong stock performance from SoundHound AI. Furthermore, SoundHound has a $1.2 billion revenue backlog on its books. This isn't guaranteed revenue, but it gives investors an idea of how large some contracts it has signed are. SoundHound estimates that this backlog stretches out for about six years, although not every contract is set to expire in that time frame. So, investors can be confident that if SoundHound converts most of this backlog to revenue, there will be plenty of growth past its current impressive 2025 projections.
SoundHound AI has a long way to go before returning to its all-time highs, but if it continues growing at its current pace, it won't be long before it does.
2. The Trade Desk
A series of unfortunate events has hit The Trade Desk. Starting on Feb. 12, it missed revenue guidance for the first time in company history, which caused the stock to sell off more than 30% the following day. The miss was caused by transitioning the rest of its clients from an old platform to a new one, which caused The Trade Desk to miss out on some revenue during the quarter. This massive drop came only days before the broader market hit its all-time high and steadily declined to the point that we're at now.
Currently, The Trade Desk sits 65% below its all-time high, and it looks like a steal at these levels.
The Trade Desk is part of the digital advertising marketplace and assists buy-side parties in placing their ads in the most opportune spots. This includes places like podcast audio and connected TV, which are two emerging and important locations for the company. The runway for this ad-buying software is massive, as the global ad market is huge, and there is still a large transition occurring between linear TV and connected TV, where ads can be tailored to the viewer.
Wall Street analysts expect strong growth from The Trade Desk over the next few years, with revenue expected to grow 17% in 2025 and 20% in 2026. As a result of its strong growth expectations, the stock trades for a fairly attractive forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.
TTD PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts
While 27 times forward earnings isn't as cheap as some stocks in the market, it is the lowest level at which we have data for The Trade Desk trading. With long-term tailwinds blowing in favor of The Trade Desk's business model, I'm confident that the price investors are paying today is a bargain, and it has market-beating potential moving forward.
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Keithen Drury has positions in The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.