Better Agentic AI Stock: SoundHound AI vs. Salesforce

The next big evolution in artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to be agentic AI, in which AI agents will perform tasks autonomously, with little or no human supervision. The technology carries the promise of a workforce of AI agents who work alongside everyday employees.

It’s no surprise that a multitude of companies are looking for this opportunity. Two of the most intriguing are AI SoundHound (HER 5.23%) And Sales force (CRM 0.03%). Both approach technology differently and both have something unique that helps them stand out.

Let’s take a look at the prospects of both stocks to see which one is better to buy.

SoundHound AI: A Leader in Voice-Centric AI Agents

Over the past few years, SoundHound has established itself as a leader in AI voice technology. The company has created a platform that can interact more naturally with people through its use of “speech to meaning” and “deep meaning understanding” technology, where it can recognize a person’s intent before they have even finished speaking, much like how humans process speech. This technology alone has found a solid foothold in the automotive and catering sectors.

However, SoundHound saw where the puck was moving with AI and smartly acquired Amelia, which brought with it virtual agents used across multiple industries, including highly regulated sectors like healthcare and financial services. It then combined the two companies’ technologies to launch a voice-focused AI agent platform, then acquired a company specializing in workflow automation.

Today, SoundHound seeks to offer its customers an end-to-end AI customer service solution that can naturally interact with people. We are only at the beginning of this opportunity, but it is huge. The company was already growing rapidly before this agentic AI push, with revenue more than doubling in the last nine months. The stock isn’t cheap, however, trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 15 times analysts’ 2026 revenue estimates.

Salesforce: Creating a Data Advantage

A leader in customer relationship management (CRM) software, Salesforce’s stock is under pressure as it believes it will be one of many software-as-a-service (SaaS) losers to AI. The risk for SaaS companies is seen as two-fold, as there is a thesis that AI would lead companies to become leaner, thus requiring fewer headquarters. At the same time, there is also a trend where organizations will simply “vibe code” (using natural language and AI to develop software) custom software solutions to replace incumbent vendors.

In my opinion, these risks seem exaggerated. SaaS companies can change their pricing models, but there is a big difference between creating a software prototype and developing a market-ready solution that can meet the security, compliance, and reliability requirements needed to run a large-scale business. Removing complex software embedded throughout an organization is not an easy step.

Meanwhile, Salesforce has already begun to evolve into an agentic AI platform. One of its strengths has always been data collection and breaking down departmental silos, but with the acquisition of master data management company Informatica and the launch of Data 360, Salesforce has positioned itself as the master record of an organization’s data.

While it hasn’t generated much fanfare, it’s a huge move that establishes the company as a pillar of agentic AI. The reason is that AI has been found to work best when it can rely on clean, organized data, and this is going to become even more important when dealing with AI agents, which have little human oversight.

With a forward P/S multiple of just 4.5 and a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of less than 17 based on analyst estimates for 2026, the stock is cheap and has a big growth opportunity ahead of it.

The verdict

Personally, I like Salesforce between the two, given its depressed valuation and the fact that I think the company has made smart moves to become an eventual leader in agentic AI. However, I think SoundHound probably has more upside potential, given its much smaller size. If its voice technology proves to be an important differentiator in the race for AI agents, there could be limits.