AI Agents Are Coming in 2025. Here's My Top Stock Pick To Capitalize on the Next Wave of AI Investing.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is an incredible technology, and we've only scratched the surface of its potential. Currently, it's being used as a program on the side of normal work, but it's about to enter a new phase: Agentic AI. Agentic AI, often called AI agents, involves setting up software programs to do tasks that humans normally do. This next phase in implementing AI is critical, as it will allow those at the cutting edge to do more with fewer resources.

One of the leaders in agentic AI is Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). The software company is making a heavy push to promote and integrate agentic AI, and it also has one of the best platforms for implementing it.

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Salesforce's platform is ripe for agentic AI integration

Salesforce makes customer relationship management (CRM) software. CRM is an incredibly broad sector but can generally be summarized as a business interaction with a potential customer from the marketing stage to after-sale support. There's a lot that happens between those two points, and Salesforce software is there to offer support along the way.

Many customer interactions can be automated by AI agents, which is why agentic AI is such a massive trend for Salesforce. As with most software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, the more add-ons you have from the base software package, the more expensive it gets. This unlocks another milestone for the generative AI trend; we're reaching a point where many companies are starting to monetize their AI investments.

Salesforce's CEO and co-founder, Marc Benioff, is extremely bullish on agentic AI. During the company's 2024 Dreamforce conference, he stated, "This is what AI was meant to be." That's a big statement, but the ability for companies to become more efficient and free their workers up to do tasks that require original thinking will be a huge change for many in the workforce.

However, does this one technology have the ability to drive Salesforce's stock to new heights?

Salesforce needs this new technology to kick-start growth again

Salesforce is a mature software company that started to shift from growth-at-all-costs to maximizing profitability a few years ago. However, its sales growth has been a bit slow, by most software company standards, over the past few quarters. In its fiscal 2025's third quarter (ended Oct. 31), revenue was up 8% year over year to $9.44 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) were $1.60 versus $1.26 a year ago -- a 27% gain.

EPS growth outpaced revenue growth because of Salesforce's rising margins. During last year's third quarter, Salesforce posted operating margins of 17.8%. This year, it delivered 20.6% operating margins. This will be a key trend to watch, as some of the most profitable software companies can reach profit margins of up to 30%. It will likely be some time before Salesforce can reach that level (if it can), but shareholders will be elated if it does.

Right now, Salesforce stock trades at 32 times forward earnings, so it's far from cheap, especially with its current growth rate. Salesforce needs agentic AI to drive further revenue growth to justify its current price tag, but its platform currently has one of the most logical use cases for agentic AI. As a result, Salesforce will be a key company to watch to see how successful this agentic AI push is.

I think it will be a huge success and help Salesforce deliver faster sales growth. We won't know how well this trend turns out for a few more quarters, but I'm optimistic that Salesforce will see a massive benefit from this push, making it a top pick in the AI investing world.

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Keithen Drury has positions in Salesforce. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Salesforce. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.