SoundThinking (NASDAQ:SSTI) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $24.8 million, up 6% year over year, and record full-year 2025 revenue of $104.1 million, a 2% increase from 2024, as management pointed to continued demand for public safety technology despite contract timing headwinds and budget-related uncertainty among some customers.
CEO Ralph Clark said the company “execut[ed] through some of the headwinds we encountered in 2025” while maintaining double-digit adjusted EBITDA margin profitability and making “critical growth investments.” Clark highlighted expansion activity during the year, including going live with ShotSpotter in 10 new cities and two universities and expanding with 11 existing customers. He also said SafePointe saw acceleration, with $1.6 million in bookings from 11 customers expected to go live in the first half of 2026.
ARR outlook and 2026 priorities
Management outlined three focus areas for 2026:
- ARR growth: aiming for approximately 15% net ARR growth.
- More multi-product adoption: introducing customers to more solutions within the platform and emphasizing workflow outcomes over point solutions.
- Operating discipline: continuing targeted investments, particularly in SafePointe, while seeking efficiency gains, including through “agentic AI” capabilities.
Clark also said the board and management team have begun a review aimed at identifying efficiency opportunities across the organization. In response to an analyst question, Clark described it as an early-stage governance effort to “pressure test” whether the company can “do things more efficiently,” noting SoundThinking is now “over 300 plus” employees and has made investments in AI.
Product commentary: ShotSpotter, CrimeTracer, PlateRanger and SafePointe
Clark framed the company’s strategy around connected physical infrastructure—acoustic sensors for gunshot detection (ShotSpotter), visual sensors for vehicle intelligence (PlateRanger), and passive magnetic sensors for concealed weapons detection (SafePointe)—combined with AI-based algorithms that generate real-time alerts integrated into customer workflows.
ShotSpotter exited 2025 with $67.6 million of ARR. Clark said the company believes it can add about $8.3 million of ARR in 2026, including $2.7 million tied to a potential Puerto Rico recapture and roughly $5.6 million from other new domestic and international customers and expansions. He noted this estimate excludes Chicago and excludes ARR from a newly launched perimeter-based sniper solution focused initially on protecting critical infrastructure such as utility substations.
CrimeTracer exited 2025 with $8.1 million of ARR. Clark said the company expects to add approximately $3.1 million of ARR, including $2.5 million tied to rolling out CrimeTracer across about 18 agencies in a new state. That deployment has been delayed, but Clark said the company believes it will occur “no later than Q3” of 2026. He also discussed the CrimeTracer Gen3 release, which applies generative AI to a data environment that includes “over 1 billion cross-jurisdictional CJIS records combined with Thomson Reuters CLEAR,” with the goal of improving investigative workflows.
PlateRanger, SoundThinking’s ALPR offering powered by a partnership with Rekor, is “gaining solid traction,” Clark said, and management is “modestly targeting” $1.5 million of new ARR in 2026. CFO Alan Stewart said the company started several pilots in the second half of 2025, converted five into customers, and is working to convert four or five additional pilots into customer contracts.
SafePointe was described as a passive, frictionless weapons detection system intended to avoid checkpoint-based screening. Clark said the company saw Q4 2025 SafePointe bookings of about $800,000 across six customers and estimated SafePointe could contribute another $4 million of ARR in 2026. On the Q&A, Clark said healthcare has been the most prominent vertical in SafePointe’s pipeline because customers “value the passive nature” that supports “full ingress and egress” without friction. Stewart added that over half of SafePointe customers are in healthcare and that some systems may have large expansion potential across many facilities.
Customer and market updates: Chicago, New York and international
On Chicago, Clark said the formal evaluation process for the city’s RFP has been completed and the company believes a recommendation has been transmitted into procurement channels, but the matter is now in the city’s administrative process. SoundThinking is “in a wait-and-see posture,” Clark said, while noting the line-item budget approval for gunshot detection remains in place.
On New York, Clark said the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget framework left the company’s current three-year agreement with NYPD “fully intact,” with no proposed reductions or structural changes. He added that ShotSpotter “remains embedded” in the city’s public safety architecture, including integration with “drones as first responders and crime gun intelligence.”
Internationally, Stewart said momentum improved after moving slower than expected in 2025. He said SoundThinking expects that by the end of 2026 there will “probably be 3 new deployments in 3 separate countries,” describing them as expansions in countries where the company is already deployed. He highlighted Brazil as a key market, citing performance in Niterói and the addition of a new sales VP in Brazil, as well as potential further expansion in Uruguay and additional deployment activity in South Africa.
Financial results and updated guidance
In the fourth quarter, SoundThinking posted gross profit of $12.6 million, or 51% of revenue, compared with $11.7 million, or 50% of revenue, in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.3 million, down from $1.7 million a year earlier, which Stewart attributed primarily to delayed contracts tied to the CrimeTracer deployment in a new state and the ShotSpotter renewal in Puerto Rico.
The company reported a GAAP net loss of approximately $2.8 million, or $0.22 per share, compared with a net loss of $40.1 million, or $0.32 per share, in the prior-year quarter.
For full-year 2025, gross profit was $56.6 million, or 54% of revenue, compared with $57.9 million, or 57%, in 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was $12.6 million, down from $14.4 million in 2024. Stewart noted that 2024 included about $9 million of revenue related to Chicago that was not renewed, which affected 2025 profitability comparisons. Full-year GAAP net loss was approximately $9.4 million, or $0.74 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.2 million, or $0.72 per share, in 2024.
SoundThinking ended 2025 with $15.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, up from $11.8 million at the end of the third quarter. The company repurchased 225,334 shares at an average price of $13.15 for roughly $3 million during 2025. Stewart said the company has about $36 million available on its line of credit, with approximately $4 million outstanding.
For 2026, management reduced full-year revenue guidance to $109 million to $111 million from a prior range of $114 million to $116 million. Stewart said the change reflects delays in two expected bookings and deployments: the CrimeTracer rollout across approximately 18 agencies in a new state (about $2.5 million in revenue) and the ShotSpotter renewal in Puerto Rico (expected to add about $2.7 million in ARR). The company also reduced its adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to 16% to 18% from 18% to 20%, citing the timing delays and ongoing investments in AI modeling and tools.
About SoundThinking (NASDAQ:SSTI)
SoundThinking, Inc, a public safety technology company that provides transformative solutions and strategic advisory services for law enforcement and civic leadership. Its SafetySmart Platform, an integrated suite of data-driven tools that enable law enforcement and community violence prevention and health organizations to be efficient in public safety outcomes. It offers ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot detection system; CrimeTracer, a law enforcement search engine; CaseBuilder, an investigation management system; and ResourceRouter, a software that directs patrol and community anti-violence resources to help maximize their impact.
