One-glance verdict
$7.84 our estimate vs market $5.49
Wall Street consensus: $9.00 (14.8% higher than our fair-value estimate)
30% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
SSTI · NCM · Technology · Software - Application
Current price
$5.49
52-week range
$5.42 - $12.76
Market cap
$72.27M
One-glance verdict
Wall Street consensus: $9.00 (14.8% higher than our fair-value estimate)
30% below our estimate, below the bear case
Balance sheet
Net cash $972.00K. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
SoundThinking provides technology to police departments and security teams, with its main product, ShotSpotter, automatically detecting and locating gunshots. The company makes most of its money from selling subscriptions to these tools, which creates recurring revenue (income that is predictable and likely to continue in the future). By offering a whole suite of connected products for public safety, their goal is to become an essential partner that is difficult for customers to replace.
Originally named ShotSpotter, the company was founded in 1996 by a physicist who realized the same technology used to find earthquake epicenters could also pinpoint the location of gunshots. For many years, its main business was selling this gunshot detection system to police departments. A key change happened in 2010 when a new CEO, Ralph Clark, shifted the company to a subscription model (where customers pay a recurring fee for the service), making it more affordable for cities. To better reflect its expansion into a wider range of public safety technologies, the company rebranded as SoundThinking in April 2023.
SoundThinking provides technology and data services to law enforcement agencies and public safety officials to help them respond to, investigate, and prevent crime. Think of it as a technology toolkit for police departments and other safety organizations. Their main products are sold as subscriptions, which means customers pay a regular fee to access the services, much like a Netflix subscription. The company's tools are bundled into a suite called the SafetySmart Platform, which helps law enforcement and community groups work together.
This is the company's main offering, an integrated suite of software tools for public safety, and it generates the vast majority of the company's revenue through subscriptions. Instead of one single business, SoundThinking offers several connected services that law enforcement agencies pay for. These services include ShotSpotter for detecting gunshots, CrimeTracer for searching criminal records, CaseBuilder for managing investigations, and other tools that help police departments manage their resources and solve crimes more efficiently. The company also now offers solutions for security outside of law enforcement, such as weapons detection for corporate campuses and hospitals.
Management is focused on expanding beyond its original gunshot detection business by selling more of its newer software and data tools to both existing and new customers. A key part of their strategy is the acquisition (buying other companies) of new technologies, like the 2023 purchase of SafePointe, a company that makes AI-based weapons detection systems. They are also focused on increasing their international presence and growing their customer base to include not just police departments but also universities and private companies. The overall goal is to become an indispensable partner for public safety, offering a wide range of connected services that help law enforcement and communities be safer and more efficient.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $9.00 (14.8% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $7.84 a share — about 42.8% above today's price of $5.49, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Net cash $972,000 - more cash than debt. Interest coverage -449.2x.
SoundThinking, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 0.0 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here and 3 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Total debt $5.51M Interest coverage -449.21x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $1.85B Interest coverage -0.66x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
Total debt $9.62B Interest coverage 8.22x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while SSTI does not.
Total debt $26.55M Interest coverage -11.33x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
Total debt $23.23M Interest coverage 127.11x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while SSTI does not.
Total debt $436.00K Interest coverage -1,926.43x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
What you should know
The numbers
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Valuation
Profitability
Health
Growth
Cash flow
Dividend
Metric explainer
Debt comparison
What you should know