Meta, Amazon, Booking Best Positioned For Agentic AI Opportunity, Says Analyst

Bank of America Securities analyst Justin Post highlighted Agentic AI as one of his top themes for 2025 in a research note issued on Wednesday.

This prediction comes on the heels of significant first-half launches, specifically OpenAI’s Operator and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google’s Mariner, which Post considers essential steps in the evolving Agentic AI timeline.

Agentic AI refers to AI systems capable of autonomous decision-making and action, operating with a degree of independence from direct human control.

The analyst noted Agentic AI would favor consumers, and all transactional-based Internet companies would need to adapt strategies to compete for changing purchase behavior.

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The analyst stated that leading AI tech companies, including Google, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), and OpenAI, are in intense competition to be the starting point “Agent” to help consumers navigate their lives.

Within Online media, Post expects two major monetization shifts driven by Agentic AI: users are increasingly willing to pay (subscribe) for added AI functionality, and an ad model shift from CPC (Cost Per Click) to CPA (Cost Per Action/Acquisition).

While the analyst expects Google to see rapidly growing subscription revenue from new AI capabilities in Gemini and Workspace, he noted Meta is best positioned given potential incremental Agentic AI opportunity for its Meta AI assistant and expected core ad business benefit from new AI capabilities.

Post expects Agentic AI to compress the multi-step shopping discovery process in eCommerce as consumers increasingly trust AI to deliver choices and outcomes.

Also, AI engines are likely personalized, factoring in subscription benefits, favoring Amazon, he noted. Also, Amazon has Prime lock-in, and is building a 1-stop shopping agent that can buy from other sites, the analyst added.

He said that agentic AI will likely function as a personal travel agent, handling everything from trip planning to booking and potentially providing on-trip assistance.

Gen AI chatbots can enhance travel planning, but Agentic AI will go further, making personalized booking decisions and automating the booking process, Post noted.

While Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) remains the analyst’s top pick in the broader travel and transportation sector, driven by AI’s potential to open up the competitive autonomous vehicle (AV) market, the near-term outlook positions Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG) as the most favorably situated.

This is because Agentic AI companies, such as OpenAI’s Operator, will heavily rely on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Booking for their extensive data and vast inventory to facilitate seamless booking processes, potentially at a lower cost than traditional paid search advertisements.

Furthermore, Post highlighted Booking’s highly successful Genius program, which accounts for over 50% of its bookings, as a key advantage, expecting AI Agents to favor such loyalty programs when making price comparisons for consumers.

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