Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, poses beside the company’s logo ahead of an interview with Reuters in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, on May 23, 2022.
Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters
Palantir surged more than 23% in premarket trading Tuesday after reporting stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results and guidance driven by ongoing artificial intelligence gains.
The Denver-based software company posted adjusted earnings of 14 cents per share and $828 million in revenue. That topped the 11 cents per share and revenues of $776 million expected by analysts polled by LSEG.
Palantir also issued upbeat guidance for the current quarter and full year. In the first quarter, the company forecast revenues between $858 million and $862 million. The LSEG estimate called for $799 million. The company projects sales of $3.74 billion to $3.76 billion, ahead of a $3.52 billion estimate.
The software company has been on a record run, surging 340% in 2024 as its AI platform gained traction amid ongoing investor excitement around the technology trend. Palantir provides software and technology services and is most widely known for its work with defense agencies.
In a letter to shareholders, CEO and co-founder Alex Karp called the momentum within its commercial and government segments “unlike anything that has come before.”
The company reported 64% growth in its U.S. commercial revenue, while U.S. government revenues rose 45% year over year. Palantir forecasted 54% U.S. commercial sales growth in 2025.
“We are at the way beginning of our trajectory, we are at the way beginning of a revolution, and we plan to be a cornerstone, if not the cornerstone company, and driving this revolution in the U.S. over the next three to five years,” Karp said during the earnings call.
Karp said Palantir is “very long America” and at the forefront of making the country “more lethal” to scare off adversaries.
His comments come after DeepSeek’s climb in popularity last week shook financial markets and raised concerns about the high costs associated with AI models.
“I think the real lesson, the more profound one, is that we are at war with China,” said Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar. “We are in an AI arms race.”
Several Wall Street firms lifted their price targets on the stock in the wake of the report. Bank of America’s Mariana Perez Mora called the company an AI “value adder” and lifted her price target, while Morgan Stanley upgraded shares to equal weight from underweight,
“Given the strength of the outlook, we acknowledge that we were wrong about our core fundamental catalyst of slowing growth below the 30% level due to the tougher compares in 2025,” wrote analyst Sanjit Singh. “This leaves us with valuation as the primary remaining concern.”
