While much of the artificial intelligence (AI) narrative has focused on chipmakers, cloud providers or consumer-facing chatbots, C.H. Robinson is being singled out for what analysts are calling industrial AI. This largely untapped layer of AI adoption is where real-world industries are leveraging AI to automate complex operations, unlock new levels of productivity, fuel growth and enhance customer service—while delivering solid financial results.
That leadership is drawing notice from multiple corners of the investment community. Deutsche Bank analyst Richa Harnain spotlighted the Fortune 250 company (NASDAQ: CHRW) as a leader in AI, calling it “an undervalued AI play.” Deutsche Bank noted that while investor interest in AI remains high, few companies are demonstrating tangible business benefits at scale.
“While we’d argue there are many ways to invest in such a theme, we haven’t found as wide of a universe of companies harnessing AI and utilizing it effectively to enhance their businesses,” the Deutsche Bank report said. “CHRW is unique in this regard.”
Wells Fargo analyst Chris Wetherbee echoed the sentiment, stating that 120-year-old C.H. Robinson is “disrupting from within, and is a clear example of constructive AI implementation generating dynamically improving results.” J.P. Morgan analyst Brian Ossenbeck has made a similar point, noting that C.H. Robinson is “becoming the disruptor” as it uses generative and agentic AI to accelerate revenue growth.
Manish Gupta, co-manager of a $58 billion global fund at First Eagle Investment Management, has also called out the company’s increasingly tech-focused approach, naming C.H. Robinson as one of four “AI stocks to watch” and predicting that companies with the scale to invest in AI will widen their competitive lead as their application of AI grows.
“With technology, we don’t chase shiny objects. We innovate with discipline,” said C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman. “Our advantage with AI is the combination of having the best logisticians in the world, an operating model grounded in Lean principles, and technology that supercharges our people. That combination gives us a competitive moat no one else in the logistics industry can replicate, and it’s driving bottom-line results today while positioning us for long-term success.”
A new frontier: Industrial AI
C.H. Robinson is distinguishing itself not only from its competitors in third-party logistics (3PL) but also across the broader industrial landscape. Unlike consumer applications of AI, industrial AI is measured by tangible business outcomes. C.H. Robinson is simultaneously increasing revenue, volume and margins while bringing the benefits of AI to the 83,000 customers it serves across nearly every industry.
“This underscores our evolution as a technology company,” said Arun Rajan, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at C.H. Robinson. “Building on a solid technology and machine-learning foundation, we’ve heavily leveraged gen AI since 2023 and agentic AI in 2025. Our technology acts as an always-on digital workforce for us and our customers: boosting efficiency, lowering costs and augmenting our ability to deliver faster speed-to-market, greater precision and premium service. The impact is real and only accelerating.”
Across its global network, the company has seen measurable results:
- 35%+ productivity gains over two years, as measured by shipments per person per day
- 3M+ shipping tasks performed by agentic AI
- 32 seconds to deliver a price quote to a customer
- 5,500 truckload orders per day handled by the company’s orders agent
- 75% of less-than-truckload orders fully automated, up from 50%
- 600 hours per day saved by the orders agent
- 26,000 locations where the appointments agent sets pickups and deliveries
The scale of C.H. Robinson’s AI deployment already places it in a league of its own, earning accolades as the only 3PL honored in Freightwaves’ AI Excellence Awards for its fleet of 30+ AI agents.
“These aren’t prototypes or pilot projects. They’re AI deployments performing tens of thousands of tasks per day for thousands of customers per day,” said Damon Lee, Chief Financial Officer at C.H. Robinson. “It’s this combination of innovation and execution that's delivering an ironclad return you can see in our market outgrowth, margin expansion, and operating income—results that make C.H. Robinson a best-in-class transportation company and one of the most attractive AI investments in the market.”
Transformation driving momentum
The recognition from analysts also speaks to a larger story about the transformation under way at C.H. Robinson. Since CEO Dave Bozeman took the helm two years ago, Robinson has delivered six consecutive quarters of outperforming the market, despite a prolonged freight recession, global trade headwinds and continued supply chain volatility. That momentum has propelled the company’s stock price from roughly $85 in mid-2023 to historic highs, and led to a recent credit rating upgrade, reflecting investor confidence in its tech-forward strategy and ability to execute.
For C.H. Robinson, today’s progress is just the latest chapter in a 120-year history of innovation and pushing boundaries to stay ahead of competitors. “We’ve fended off disruptors before, and we’ve done it by evolving our business model, investing in new capabilities and relying on the strength of our people,” said Bozeman.
“AI is now accelerating that legacy and delivering undeniable results. We keep saying this is a comma, not a period—because we’re not done. Six months or a year from now, the story will be even bigger.”
—Dave Bozeman
With its unmatched combination of people, operating discipline and technology, C.H. Robinson is not only leading in logistics today but shaping the future of global supply chains.
