Shares of UiPath (PATH 5.63%) are surging this week, following a tighter partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI. At 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 9, UiPath's stock is up 40.7% since Friday's closing bell, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Image source: Getty Images.
It's really a two-week surge
This week's rocket ride sort of started last week, strangely enough. The company struck several separate deals with various tech giants on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The process automation specialist is integrating its agentic AI platform with Snowflake data analytics, Google Gemini's voice interpretation models, and Microsoft Azure's generative AI tools for app development. Moreover, UiPath announced a new connector to Nvidia (NVDA +2.57%) Nemotron agents. In short, UiPath's process automation systems got a whole lot more powerful last week, with more than a little help from various friends.
NYSE: PATH
Key Data Points
That explains UiPath's 16% price jump last week, but the momentum carried over into even larger gains after the weekend. ChatGPT maker OpenAI provided the catalyst this time -- with direct connections to last week's agentic AI bonanza.
This is the week of OpenAI's DevDay conference, and the AI expert spent a lot of time on AI agents. UiPath investors saw this agentic push as a promising driver of new business. The surge accelerated on Thursday, for a more hands-on reason: UiPath struck up a direct agentic AI collaboration with OpenAI.
What's next for UiPath?
That's a quick flurry of potentially game-changing partnerships. I see why UiPath investors are getting excited, driving the stock to prices not seen since (checks notes) the summer of 2024. Even now, the stock is still down 31% from the two-year peak seen in February that year.
At the same time, UiPath's stock is quite expensive at 513 times trailing earnings. The company can sure use some new business leads right about now.
On that note, UiPath's big surge is more of a recovery than a victory march. It remains to be seen how the new partnerships will affect the company's financial results. I don't mind watching from Wall Street's sidelines for now.
