Press Release: Five Guys Extends Partnership With Soundhound Ai

Leading burger chain extends use of SoundHound’s AI-powered ordering agent, which has already handled more than one million guest interactions

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoundHound AI, Inc. , a global leader in voice and conversational AI, today announced the expansion of its relationship with Five Guys, one of the nation’s most iconic burger brands.

The renewal highlights the strength of the collaboration, as SoundHound’s AI-powered ordering agents have already supported Five Guys in processing well over a million customer AI interactions to date. The fast casual favorite and industry innovator already offers an AI-powered ordering experience across hundreds of locations and will be giving franchisees the option of offering them more through this agreement.

Five Guys wants to ensure it offers customer experiences the way today’s customers expect, and AI technology improves both customer service and operational efficiency. Leveraging SoundHound’s voice AI, Five Guys is able to answer 100% of incoming orders – even during peak hours – to eliminate missed orders, and ensure guests can place an order quickly and accurately. For employees, this means fewer interruptions, freeing them to focus on in-store service, food preparation, and providing a great guest experience.

“We’re always looking for ways to innovate and make the guest experience as smooth and convenient as possible,” said Zerrick Pearson, CIO of Five Guys. “Being able to offer our franchisees a reliable ordering solution that can handle every order — even during our busiest times — has made a real impact on both our customers and our team.”

SoundHound’s voice AI technology is trained on Five Guys extensive menu and designed to understand regular human speech so that customers can order by speaking naturally – just as they would to another human. Beyond taking orders, SoundHound’s AI technology can answer a variety of menu-related questions, provide information about specials and promotions, and handle inquiries about opening times, parking, allergens, and other frequently asked questions.

“Five Guys is a forward-thinking partner that continues to raise the bar on what the ordering experience can be,” said James Hom, Chief Product Officer at SoundHound AI. “We’re proud to support their restaurants with solutions that enhance both the guest experience and day-to-day operations for staff.”

SoundHound powers well over 10,000 locations with its industry-leading voice and conversational AI technology. For more information about SoundHound AI’s restaurant solutions, please visit: https://www.soundhound.com/voice-ai-solutions/restaurants/.

About SoundHound AI

SoundHound AI , a global leader in voice and conversational intelligence, delivers AI solutions that allow businesses to offer superior experiences to their customers. Built on proprietary technology, SoundHound’s voice AI delivers best-in-class speed and accuracy in numerous languages to product creators and service providers across retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, smart devices, and restaurants. The company’s various groundbreaking AI-driven products include Smart Answering, Smart Ordering, Dynamic Drive-Thru, and the Amelia Platform, which powers AI Agents for enterprise. In addition, SoundHound Chat AI, a powerful voice assistant with integrated Generative AI, and Autonomics, a category-leading operations platform that automates IT processes, have allowed SoundHound to power millions of products and services, and processes billions of interactions each year for world-class businesses.

Media Contact:

Gianna Arantes

201-815-9852

PR@SoundHound.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/12dd11f3-c0ff-4715-bf3b-ed5d592760c1

What Happened?

A number of stocks traded in opposite directions in the afternoon session after geopolitical tensions between the United States and the European Union escalated, sparking fears of a renewed trade war. 

The broader markets adopted a "risk-off" mode, with investors seeking safe-haven assets amidst the uncertainty. The market's primary fear gauge, the VIX, jumped to a fresh eight-week high, signaling rising investor anxiety. 

The dispute, centered on Greenland, raised the possibility of a revived trade conflict, which could disrupt global supply chains and economic activity. 

Mega-cap technology stocks, many of which have significant international sales and operations, were particularly affected by the souring risk sentiment as a potential trade war threatened their global business models.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Developer Operations company GitLab fell 0.9%. Is now the time to buy GitLab? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Advertising Software company DoubleVerify jumped 0.7%. Is now the time to buy DoubleVerify? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Data Analytics company Samsara fell 7%. Is now the time to buy Samsara? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Automation Software company SoundHound AI fell 2.4%. Is now the time to buy SoundHound AI? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Video Conferencing company 8x8 fell 2.7%. Is now the time to buy 8x8? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Samsara (IOT)

Samsara’s shares are very volatile and have had 23 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 12 days ago when the stock dropped 6.3% on the news that a broader market rotation out of the technology sector led to profit-taking following a recent rally. 

The move was part of a wider trend that saw high-growth technology stocks fall, with the Nasdaq experiencing the sharpest decline among the major indices. Multiple reports indicated that traders were locking in profits, particularly from the artificial-intelligence trade, which had previously seen a strong run-up. This market action represented a shift in investor focus, as money moved out of tech. 

Defense stocks emerged as the primary beneficiary of this capital shift, surging after President Trump proposed a massive $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027. Major contractors rallied on the news, with Northrop Grumman jumping over 10% and Lockheed Martin gaining nearly 8%, providing a counterbalance to the tech slump that kept the S&P 500 flat. The rotation into heavy industry was further supported by a stabilization in energy markets, as crude prices rebounded.

Samsara is down 4.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $32.28 per share, it is trading 47% below its 52-week high of $60.96 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Samsara’s shares at the IPO in December 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $1,307.

The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who not so much). Let’s take a look at how automation software stocks fared in Q3, starting with SoundHound AI .

The whole purpose of software is to automate tasks to increase productivity. Today, innovative new software techniques, often involving AI and machine learning, are finally allowing automation that has graduated from simple one- or two-step workflows to more complex processes integral to enterprises. The result is surging demand for modern automation software.

The 7 automation software stocks we track reported a strong Q3. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 4.4% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.

Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 11.7% since the latest earnings results.

Weakest Q3: SoundHound AI

Born from the idea that machines should understand human speech as naturally as people do, SoundHound AI develops voice recognition and conversational intelligence technology that enables businesses to integrate voice assistants into their products and services.

SoundHound AI reported revenues of $42.05 million, up 67.6% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 2.7%. Despite the top-line beat, it was still a softer quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ EBITDA and billings estimates.

SoundHound AI scored the fastest revenue growth of the whole group. Still, the market seems discontent with the results. The stock is down 8.2% since reporting and currently trades at $11.17.

Read our full report on SoundHound AI here, it’s free.

Best Q3: Pegasystems

With a "Center-out Business Architecture" approach that transcends organizational silos, Pegasystems develops software that helps organizations automate workflows and use artificial intelligence to improve customer experiences and business processes.

Pegasystems reported revenues of $381.4 million, up 17.3% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 8.5%. The business had a stunning quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Pegasystems achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. Although it had a fine quarter compared its peers, the market seems unhappy with the results as the stock is down 8.2% since reporting. It currently trades at $52.38.

UiPath

Starting with robotic process automation (RPA) and evolving into a comprehensive automation powerhouse, UiPath provides an AI-powered business automation platform that enables organizations to create software robots that mimic human actions to streamline repetitive tasks and processes.

UiPath reported revenues of $411.1 million, up 15.9% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 4.7%. It was a satisfactory quarter as it also posted an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ billings estimates.

As expected, the stock is down 4.8% since the results and currently trades at $14.33.

Read our full analysis of UiPath’s results here.

Appian

Powering billions of transactions daily since its founding in 1999, Appian provides a low-code platform that helps businesses automate complex processes and operationalize artificial intelligence without extensive programming knowledge.

Appian reported revenues of $187 million, up 21.4% year on year. This number topped analysts’ expectations by 7.4%. It was a very strong quarter as it also put up an impressive beat of analysts’ billings estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

The stock is down 2.1% since reporting and currently trades at $28.70.

Read our full, actionable report on Appian here, it’s free.

Microsoft

Originally named "Micro-soft" for microcomputer software when founded in 1975, Microsoft is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and AI solutions for consumers, businesses, and organizations worldwide.

Microsoft reported revenues of $77.67 billion, up 18.4% year on year. This result beat analysts’ expectations by 2.9%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter as it also recorded a narrow beat of analysts’ revenue estimates, as the beat in Intelligent Cloud and Business Services trumped the miss in Personal Computing and a solid beat of analysts’ revenue estimates.

The stock is down 15.3% since reporting and currently trades at $460.52.

Read our full, actionable report on Microsoft here, it’s free.