PCI-PAL Trading Update Summary Company Overview - **Company**: PCI-PAL - **Industry**: Cloud-based communication and payment solutions Key Points from the Trading Update Trading Performance - PCI-PAL reported strong overall performance for FY '25, signing more customers than ever before and expanding its partner ecosystem with major enterprise partnerships [2][3] - The company achieved a 25% growth in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), reaching £19.3 million, which is a key growth and valuation metric [4] - Contracted ARR (CAR) increased by 17% to £22.2 million, reflecting a branding change from TACV to CAR [5] - Customer retention remains high with churn rates below 5% and an increase in Net Revenue Retention (NRR) from 102% to 104% year-on-year [6] Financial Highlights - The company ended the year with approximately £4 million in cash, allowing for future investment opportunities [6][7] - PCI-PAL secured a significant contract renewal with the UK Department of Work and Pensions, valued at over £11 million [8] - The company is tracking competitor displacements and has successfully signed new contracts with FTSE 250 companies [9] Strategic Objectives - PCI-PAL aims to maintain its position as a leading cloud platform in the contact center market, leveraging its strong partner ecosystem [3][16] - The company anticipates substantial growth in the contact center solutions market, expected to grow six to seven times over the next five to ten years [17] - There is a focus on integrating conversational AI into their offerings, particularly in the CCaaS market [18][19] Future Growth Plans - PCI-PAL plans to invest approximately £1.5 million in marketing and product development to drive growth, with two-thirds of this impacting the P&L in FY '26 [22] - The company aims to grow ARR by 18-20% for FY '27 and beyond, emphasizing the importance of not remaining stagnant [21] - A new Chief Marketing Officer has been hired to enhance marketing efforts and drive growth [23] New Product Announcements - PCI-PAL announced a new fraud management product aimed at complementing its existing payment solutions, which is expected to create new revenue opportunities [24][25] - The product is designed to help customers reduce costs associated with fraudulent activities, particularly in contact center environments [26] Market Positioning - PCI-PAL is the only publicly listed company in its space and is committed to leveraging its market position to drive further growth [23] - The company is focused on expanding its product offerings to enhance customer relationships and increase sales [24][25] Conclusion - PCI-PAL is optimistic about FY '26, with plans to capitalize on market growth and enhance its product offerings to drive long-term stakeholder value [21][26]

Core Insights - AudioCodes reported a revenue increase of 1.3% year-over-year for Q2 2025, reaching $61.1 million compared to $60.3 million in Q2 2024 [15] - The company experienced a decline in EBITDA, with GAAP EBITDA at $3.6 million for Q2 2025, down from $6.2 million in Q2 2024 [2][15] - Non-GAAP net income for Q2 2025 was $4.1 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared to $5.5 million, or $0.18 per diluted share in Q2 2024 [4][15] Financial Performance - Total revenues for the first half of 2025 were $121.5 million, compared to $120.4 million for the same period in 2024 [27] - The gross margin for Q2 2025 was 64.1% on a GAAP basis and 64.5% on a Non-GAAP basis [15] - Net cash provided by operating activities was $7.7 million for Q2 2025, with total cash and cash equivalents amounting to $95.3 million as of June 30, 2025 [6][15] Business Developments - The company launched the Live Platform, an integrated UCaaS and CX solution, enhancing its offerings in the unified communications market [9] - AudioCodes reported strong demand in UC, CX, and conversational AI, with a 6.5% increase in Microsoft business during the quarter [8] - The company’s Annual Recurring Revenues (ARR) reached $70 million, marking a 25% year-over-year increase [8] Shareholder Returns - During Q2 2025, AudioCodes repurchased 715,732 ordinary shares for a total of $6.6 million [13] - A cash dividend of $0.20 per share was declared, amounting to approximately $5.7 million, payable on August 28, 2025 [16] Operational Challenges - Increased operational expenses were noted due to new tariffs on US imports, adding $1 million in costs, alongside rising costs in the EMEA region due to currency fluctuations [11] - The company is making investments in product and sales to accelerate growth in its Conversational AI products and solutions [12]

Core Insights - AudioCodes' Voca Conversational Interaction Center (Voca CIC) has been awarded the 2025 CX Today Award for Best CX Deployment for its implementation at the University of Central Florida (UCF) [2][6] - The partnership with AT&T Business was recognized as Highly Commended in the Best CX Partnership category, highlighting the integrated UCaaS and CCaaS offering for Microsoft Teams [2][3] Company Achievements - The deployment at UCF consolidated over 40 helpdesks into a single contact center, serving 70,000 students and 10,000 staff, showcasing significant scalability and reliability [3][6] - This marks the second consecutive year that Voca CIC has received recognition at the CX Awards, following its 2024 win for Best Microsoft Teams Contact Center Solution [4][6] Product Features - Voca CIC is certified for Microsoft Teams and built on Azure, utilizing Azure Communication Services to deliver scalable, AI-first customer experience across multiple channels [4][9] - The solution allows new customers to build a conversational contact center quickly, including AI and omnichannel features, with a 30-day free trial available [5][6] Strategic Partnerships - The collaboration with AT&T Business enhances the offering of Voca CIC, integrating AT&T Cloud Voice to support enterprise migrations to Microsoft Teams Phone [3][9] - This partnership is positioned to simplify and modernize customer engagement as UCaaS and CCaaS integration accelerates across the industry [3][9]

Core Viewpoint - An artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is underway, with CoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV) and SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) positioned to capitalize on this trend, as evidenced by their significant stock price increases of over 220% and 110% respectively this year [1] CoreWeave Analysis - CoreWeave has outperformed major tech stocks due to its strong relationship with NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), providing access to NVIDIA chips across more than 30 data centers [2] - The demand for NVIDIA's Blackwell chips has exceeded expectations, bolstering investor confidence in CoreWeave's future [2] - NVIDIA's 7% stake in CoreWeave indicates its potential as a key player in AI development, despite competition from Microsoft and Amazon [3] - CoreWeave was the first to offer NVIDIA's Blackwell Ultra chip for commercial use, enhancing its market position [3] - Revenues grew over 400% in Q1, with annual revenues projected to rise from $16 million in 2022 to $1.9 billion in 2024, and a CAGR of 105% expected to reach $16.6 billion by 2027 [4] - The company has relied on significant debt offerings, totaling $8.7 billion as of March 31, with interest payments consuming 27% of Q1 revenues [9][10] - Insiders have shown confidence in the company by purchasing more shares than they sold over the past year [5] SoundHound AI Analysis - SoundHound AI benefits from rising demand for voice automation in restaurants, gaining clients like Casey's General Stores and Chipotle [6] - The effectiveness of SoundHound AI's voice solutions is driving popularity, with the conversational AI market expected to grow from $17.05 billion in 2025 to $49.80 billion by 2031 [7] - A $1.2 billion booking backlog for 2024 indicates strong long-term revenue growth potential, with a total addressable market (TAM) of $140 billion [8] - SoundHound AI expects revenues to range from $157 million to $177 million this year, significantly higher than 2024's projected revenues of $84.7 million [8] - Despite strong revenue potential, SoundHound AI reported a loss of $188 million last year, prompting caution for new investors until profitability is achieved [12] Comparative Analysis - CoreWeave is favored in AI infrastructure and has strong backing from NVIDIA, but its significant debt and reliance on Microsoft as a main customer pose risks [9][11] - SoundHound AI's stock value has increased due to the acceptance of its voice AI solutions, but it also faces challenges with past losses [12] - Current Zacks Rank indicates SoundHound AI at 3 (Hold) and CoreWeave at 4 (Sell) [13]

Core Insights - Pennymac, a leading U.S. mortgage lender, has achieved over 50% annual telecom savings and significantly accelerated loan processing times by migrating to Bandwidth's cloud communication platform [1][3][4] Group 1: Cost Efficiency - The migration to Bandwidth's platform has resulted in more than 50% annual telecom savings for Pennymac [1][3] - The partnership has improved business-critical performance metrics, including a faster time to close for each loan [4][7] Group 2: Customer Experience - Pennymac's customer service communication is now faster and more agile, with automation expediting underwriting and shortening loan finalization times [5] - New conveniences for customers include 24/7 payment options through an automated contact center, enhancing overall customer experience [5] Group 3: Compliance and Risk Management - Pennymac leverages its new cloud communications systems to support compliance and mitigate risk, automating critical TCPA compliance checks for outbound calls [6] - The system ensures calls are not made to individuals on the National Do Not Call Registry or outside reasonable hours, enhancing regulatory compliance [6] Group 4: Technological Advancements - The use of Bandwidth's platform has provided Pennymac with advanced capabilities such as sophisticated call routing, conversational AI, and pre-built integrations with leading marketplace technologies [4][7] - The ability to tap into rich metadata from IP voice calls has allowed for enhanced performance analysis [4]

Core Insights - Shares of SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) and BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (BBAI) have seen significant increases of 182.2% and 423.7% respectively over the past year, driven by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) [1] Group 1: SoundHound AI - SoundHound AI reported first-quarter revenues of $29.1 million, reflecting a 151% year-over-year increase [2] - The company anticipates revenues of $157 million to $177 million for 2025, up from $84.7 million last year [2] - SoundHound AI has a booking backlog of $1.2 billion for 2024, indicating strong long-term revenue growth potential [2] - The total addressable market (TAM) for SoundHound AI is estimated at $140 billion, suggesting further expansion opportunities [2] - Demand for SoundHound AI's voice solutions is increasing due to their efficiency and automation benefits [3] - The conversational AI market is projected to grow from $17.05 billion in 2025 to $49.80 billion by 2031, providing opportunities for customer acquisition [3] - Rising customer demand for quick service and labor shortages are driving restaurants to adopt voice automation, benefiting SoundHound AI [4] - The company counts Casey's General Stores, Inc. and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. among its clients [4] - If trade tensions ease, SoundHound AI's overseas costs, particularly in China, will decrease, positively impacting its bottom line [4] Group 2: BigBear.ai - BigBear.ai reported first-quarter revenues of $34.8 million, a 5% year-over-year increase [5] - The company expects full-year revenues to increase to between $160 million and $180 million [5] - BigBear.ai's AI shipbuilding software supports U.S. Navy submarine construction, and its facial recognition technology is utilized in airport security [5] - Leadership changes occurred in 2025, with Kevin McAleenan becoming CEO, which may help secure government contracts due to his prior role as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary [6] - BigBear.ai's backlog rose 30% year-over-year to $385 million in the first quarter, driven by new government contracts [10] Group 3: Comparative Analysis - Both SoundHound AI and BigBear.ai are currently unprofitable, with losses of $188 million and $62 million in the past 12 months and first quarter respectively [7] - SoundHound AI's first-quarter revenue growth significantly outpaces that of BigBear.ai [8] - SoundHound AI has a robust balance sheet with negligible debt, total assets of $587.5 million, and $245.8 million in cash, exceeding total liabilities of $190.5 million [8] - In contrast, BigBear.ai has total liabilities of $198.5 million, including $100.6 million in long-term debt [8] - BigBear.ai's weak sales growth and balance sheet hinder profitability, while SoundHound AI's strong sales and healthy balance sheet suggest potential profitability by the end of 2025 [9] - BigBear.ai's reliance on federal contracts makes it vulnerable to budget cuts, while SoundHound AI is less exposed to such risks, making it a more favorable investment choice [9]

Core Technology & Products - Tavis offers a conversational video interface, an end-to-end pipeline for conversations with AI replicas, with a response time around 600 milliseconds [9] - Tavis's proprietary models, Sparrow Zero and Raven Zero, are being integrated into Pipecat [10][11] - Pipecat is an open-source framework designed as an orchestration layer for real-time AI, handling input, processing, and output of media [15][18] - Pipecat uses frames, processors, and pipelines to manage data flow, with processors handling frames of audio, video, or voice activity detection [23][24] Strategic Partnership & Integration - Tavis and Pipecat are partnering to enhance conversational AI, leveraging Pipecat's capabilities for real-time observability and control [8] - Enterprise customers are using Pipecat and want to integrate Tavis's technology within it, leading Tavis to move its best models into Pipecat [39] - Tavis is integrating its Phoenix rendering model, turn-taking, response timing, and perception models into Pipecat [39][40] Future Development & Deployment - Tavis is developing a multilingual turn detection model to improve conversational AI speed and prevent interruptions [41] - Tavis is working on a response timing model to adjust response speed based on conversation context [42][43] - Tavis's multimodal perception model will analyze emotions and surroundings to provide more nuanced conversational flow [44] - Pipecat Cloud offers a solution for deploying bots at scale, simplifying the process without requiring Kubernetes expertise [49]

Core Insights - Cerence Inc. announced the integration of its AI technologies into the next-generation MBUX system, debuting in the all-electric Mercedes-Benz CLA, marking a significant milestone in their collaboration with Mercedes-Benz [1][2] - The MBUX Virtual Assistant will feature advanced conversational capabilities, including a new "living" avatar and enhanced emotional interaction through Cerence's neural text-to-speech technology [2][3] - Cerence AI's solutions support seamless interaction across 25 languages, enhancing the user experience for drivers and passengers [2][5] Company Overview - Cerence Inc. is a leader in creating AI-powered experiences in the automotive sector, with over 500 million cars equipped with its technology [5] - The company focuses on voice interaction technologies, generative AI, and large language models to improve safety and connectivity in vehicles [5] - Cerence is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, and collaborates with major automakers and technology firms to innovate user experiences [5]

Pigment's Business and Technology - Pigment is an enterprise planning and performance management platform that helps companies build strategic plans and adapt to changing market conditions [1] - Pigment AI consists of conversational AI and autonomous agents that accelerates insight generation and scenario creation across the organization [2] - Pigment's autonomous agents framework allows users to schedule and automate reports and scenario creation, saving hundreds of hours of manual work [3] Challenges with Previous AI Architecture - Linear chain pipelines limited flexibility and made experimentation with agent-based workflows complex and cumbersome [4] - Managing graphs, memory, state transitions, and interruptions for custom agents was too complex [5] - Strong control over tools and agents, simple state management, and asynchronous processing were critical needs for financial use cases [5] Benefits of Long Graph - Long Graph offers graph-based orchestration, long-term memory, streaming, and interrupt capabilities [6] - Graph orchestration is easy to set up, allowing easy definition and tweaking of agent iteration and collaboration [6] - Full visibility and control over message flow between agents enables building reliable and testable logic [7] - Agent topologies can be abstracted into configuration files, enabling rapid prototyping and deployment of new workflows [7] Impact of Long Graph - Reduced time to insight from hours to seconds using natural language search and agent analysis [8] - Faster decision-making by surfacing anomalies and key performance gaps in real time [8] - Users can focus on higher value work by automating routine analysis and planning tasks [9] - Engineering team has more time to experiment and innovate, focusing on higher impact features [9] - Significantly less time is spent implementing key site capabilities like persistent, long-term memory [9]

Core Insights - SoundHound AI (SOUN) maintains a high valuation with a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 20.45, exceeding the industry average of 19.17, reflecting fluctuating investor interest in voice AI [1][2] - The company has established itself in conversational AI, particularly in the automotive and restaurant sectors, but faces caution from investors due to its high valuation and competition from major tech firms [2] Valuation and Stock Performance - SOUN's stock has decreased by 1.7% over the past three months, underperforming the industry gain of 6.3% and the broader technology sector's increase of 11.2% [4] - Currently, SOUN trades at a 62.3% discount to its 52-week high of $24.98, yet remains above its low of $3.82, indicating that investor sentiment is focused on long-term growth rather than immediate earnings [5][7] Growth Drivers - The Polaris platform and the new agentic AI offering, Amelia 7.0, are central to SoundHound's growth strategy, enabling real-time voice recognition and autonomous task execution [9] - SoundHound's voice AI solutions are now implemented in over 13,000 restaurant locations, with a recent partnership with Mastercard enhancing its position in AI-enabled payment flows [10] - The U.S. healthcare market, valued at $4.9 trillion in 2023, presents significant growth opportunities for SoundHound, particularly through its partnership with Allina Health [11] Revenue and Guidance - In Q1 2025, SoundHound reported revenue of $29.1 million, a 151% year-over-year increase, driven by the adoption of its voice AI solutions across various sectors [12] - The company has reaffirmed its 2025 revenue guidance of $157–$177 million, expecting a stronger revenue contribution in the first half of the year [13] Competitive Landscape - SoundHound faces intense competition from major tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple, which dominate the AI-powered voice assistant market [15] - The company must differentiate itself by offering more customizable and lightweight solutions to compete effectively against these established players [16] Challenges and Margin Pressures - SoundHound's automotive business has experienced softness due to geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, impacting unit volumes despite rising average selling prices [17] - Integration costs from acquisitions and legacy contracts are exerting pressure on gross margins, although management is working to improve this over the next 18–24 months [18] Market Sentiment and Future Outlook - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for a full-year loss in 2025 remains unchanged, indicating limited near-term upside potential for the stock [19] - Despite recent underperformance, SoundHound's expanding platform, debt-free balance sheet, and reaffirmed profitability guidance by year-end 2025 provide a stable outlook for long-term investors [21]