AI agents have moved beyond experiments and are now being used in real business settings, but many companies are still underwhelmed by the results. Indeed, the 2025 IBM (IBM) Institute for Business Value C-suite Study found that only 25% of AI projects have delivered the return on investment leaders expected, and just 16% have successfully scaled across an entire organization. This shows a big gap between the goals executives set for AI and the way it is being put into practice. A common mistake is expecting AI to drive huge revenue gains right away.
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In reality, the most successful AI projects often start with cost savings. These benefits are easier to measure, come more quickly, and help make the business case to increase its use. For example, an industrial company could use AI agents to analyze millions of documents, cutting down on costly manual work while improving decisions. To get real value from AI, companies need a clear and disciplined plan. As a result, IBM suggests starting with specific, high-impact use cases and then setting a baseline to measure cost, time, and quality improvements.
It’s also important to build flexible technology that avoids locking in with a single vendor and that allows integration across multiple systems. Finally, ROI should be measured not only by speed and cost savings but also by new capabilities, such as unlocking insights from old data or fixing outdated code. These harder-to-measure benefits can be the most powerful. Therefore, IBM stresses that AI agents are not a silver bullet or a side project, and that they work best when tied directly to business strategy.
Is IBM a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on IBM stock based on six Buys, six Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average IBM price target of $293.58 per share implies 8.1% upside potential.
