Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been the first big usage of AI. However, the next major wave may be agentic AI. Generative AI uses generative software models to create text, image, video, or audio content in response to a user prompt. An example would be asking ChatGPT a question and getting a text response. With agentic AI, meanwhile, automated AI agents will go out and complete assigned tasks autonomously without constant human supervision.
Let's look at two stocks looking to benefit from agentic AI.
UiPath
NYSE: PATH
Key Data Points
UiPath (PATH 1.88%) started out as a robotic automation company that helped customers build out tools whereby software robot agents could complete mundane tasks, such as data entry. Its platform also provided low-code development tools and tools to process documents, and its platform performed quality assurance testing.
Notably, robotic automation is done with structured data across rules-based tasks where the robot agents can automate repetitive work. This is different from agentic AI where the AI agents can work with unstructured data and make autonomous decisions on how best to complete a task.
At its user conference in October, the company laid out its roadmap for agentic automation. Among the tools it plans to launch are Agent Builder, which will allow customers to build agents that work in tandem with its software robots. The AI agents can be created from scratch, with help from its low-code platform or from pre-built templates that it will have available. Customers will be able to use third-party robots in their workflow as well.
In addition, the company will launch Agentic Orchestration, which will let humans, robots, and AI agents work together with Agentic Orchestration as the conductor. UiPath said this solution will allow customers to design, implement, monitor, operate, and optimize complex business processes. In the end, it is looking for this solution to be able to make AI actionable and applicable to the real world. UiPath said its big advantage will be serving as the Switzerland of agentic AI, allowing organizations to use AI agents from any vendor, while its Agentic Orchestration platform will help them all work together.
UiPath has gone through a rough patch as it looks to move from a robotic automation company to an agentic AI company, but its founder has returned as CEO to lead it down its new path. The company is also still growing, with revenue growth of 9% last quarter and annual recurring revenue (ARR) rising 17%. Existing customers, meanwhile, continue to spend more with the company, with its net dollar retention of 113%. UiPath needs to add more new customers, and along those lines, it has partnered with SAP, Microsoft, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young to help accomplish this.
Trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 4.8 times fiscal 2026 analyst estimates, the stock is not very expensive and could be a good rebound candidate later this year after the launches of its new agentic AI solutions.
Image source: Getty Images.
Salesforce
NYSE: CRM
Key Data Points
Another software company turning to agentic AI is Salesforce (CRM +0.51%). Salesforce has always been a software innovator and is one of the first software companies to build a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform from scratch.
Today, the company is the clear leader in customer relationship management (CRM) software in which its platform acts as a centralized hub to store customer information in one place. More recently, the company has moved into the areas of automation, analytics, and employee communication through its acquisitions of Mulesoft, Tableau, and Slack.
Moving forward, Salesforce is betting heavily on agentic AI with the introduction of its Agentforce solution. The platform will let customers build and customize their own autonomous AI agents. Agentforce includes out-of-the-box agents that can easily be customizable through its no-code and low-code tools.
The company said these agents can be used in numerous industries to help with various tasks. Some of the examples it has given include using its agents within the healthcare field as patient-services agents that can help answer questions and schedule the best doctor based on a patient's need. Agents can also be used in the public sector as a department of motor vehicle (DMV) agent to answer questions about vehicle registration, licenses, and appointments.
After introducing Agentforce in October, the company said on its early December earnings call that it had closed 200 Agentforce deals and had thousands of potential deals in its pipeline. In mid-December, the company released Agentforce 2.0 with new reasoning, integration, and customization features. It also announced that it had closed another 1,000 Agentforce deals. That's a lot of closed deals in a short period of time, showing the huge potential of agentic AI.
Agentforce is a usage-based product that costs $2 per conversation. The company, meanwhile, is looking to have 1 billion Agentforce AI agents deployed by the end of fiscal 2026 (ending January 2026).
Trading at a forward P/S ratio of 7.6 times fiscal 2026 analyst estimates, the stock is fairly reasonably priced given the massive agentic AI opportunity in front of it.
