UiPath (PATH 1.78%) specializes in automation. This tech company went public in April 2021, and the stock is down 25% from its all-time high as of this writing. But the market may be underestimating UiPath's long-term growth prospects.
In this Backstage Pass video, which aired Sept. 27, 2021, Motley Fool contributor Trevor Jennewine shares his thoughts on how UiPath uses artificial intelligence, and why this stock could be a big winner for long-term investors.
Trevor Jennewine: UiPath's mission is to fully automate the enterprise. That means basically automating any business process or workflows that can be automated. The company has the slogan, and it's a robot for every person and they're talking about software robots. Management essentially envisions the future where robots work alongside people, helping them drive efficiency, productivity and that can be anywhere, the office, home, any environment.
That may sound ambitious but I wanted to frame it. Back in 1980, Bill Gates, when he was the CEO of Microsoft had a similarly ambitious vision that was a computer on every desk and in every home. I think UiPath's vision is 10, 20, 30, 40 years and I think we'll look back and think of it as that's obvious in hindsight.
To do this, UiPath wants a few different technologies low-code development, which simplifies software development with drag and drop tools, robotic process automation, which basically makes it possible to automate simple, repetitive, rule-based tasks so logging into applications. Moving files and folders, copying and pasting data, seeking important dates on a calculator or calendar, and then they infuse those technologies with artificial intelligence. There's a few different kinds. We touched on this earlier.
They use computer vision, which allows the software bots to see natural language processing, which allows them to understand language and then machine learning, which allows them to make complex decisions and then emulate and learn from human behavior. Just, for instance, AI enables the bots to engage in conversations. They can understand documents, filed tax returns, makes sense a sales numbers. Hypothetically, if you work in HR and you get resumes or job applications every day, you could use these robots to help sort through those applications, they can identify the ones that show promise, match them with the appropriate job opening, summarizes the information and email the hiring manager, and then actually compose and respond to the applicant themselves, letting them know what the next step of the application process will be.
A little bit more complex scenario and I like this one it has to do with mortgage origination. UiPath uses this example in one of their videos. But basically, these bots could help automate the mortgage processing and processing mortgage applications. They could take the application in, fill out information like income, credit scores add other personal information, verify the title and deeds, interpret home inspection notes, and then predict the default risk and then pass all of that work along to human employees. They've done the background, all the prep work for human employee.
That's how you UiPath leans on artificial intelligence and one of the things I really like about this company is that they've been recognized as a leader by a lot of different research firm. Forrester, Gartner, IDC have all recognized UiPath as a leader in the goal to automate enterprise workflows essentially. Then just one number that I thought really drives this home: In 2020, UiPath added more revenue to its top line than the next nine competitors combined.
