Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp attends meetings on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 18, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
With Palantir’s stock plummeting greater than 11% this week despite a better-than-expected earnings report, CEO Alex Karp took aim at investors betting against the software company.
Karp, who co-founded Palantir in 2003, went after short sellers in two separate interviews on CNBC this week. After “Big Short” investor Michael Burry revealed bets against Palantir and Nvidia, Karp on Tuesday accused short sellers of “market manipulation.”
He repeated that message on Friday in an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen, again knocking Burry’s wager against the stock.
“To get out of his position, he needed to screw the entire economy by besmirching the most effective financials ever … which are helping the typical person as investors [and] on the battlefield,” Karp said.
Even with Palantir’s slide this week, the stock is up 135% in 2025 and has multiplied 25-fold prior to now three years, an prolonged rally that is lifted the corporate’s market cap to over $420 billion. While revenue and profit are growing rapidly, the multiples have shot up much faster, and the stock now trades for about 220 times forward earnings, a ratio that rivals Tesla’s.
Nvidia and Meta, in contrast, have forward price-to-earnings ratios of about 33 and 22, respectively.
In August, Citron Research’s Andrew Left, a noted short seller, called Palantir “detached from fundamentals and evaluation” and said shares must be priced at $40. It closed on Friday at $177.93 after late-day gains pushed the stock into the green.
Palantir, which builds analytics tools for giant firms and government agencies, reported earnings and revenue on Monday that topped analysts’ estimates and issued a forecast that was also ahead of Wall Street projections.
However the stock fell about 8% after the report after which slid almost 7% on Thursday. Karp told Eisen that the recent boom in Palantir’s share price is not only for Wall Street.
“We’re delivering enterprise results for retail investors,” he said.
While Palantir has prior to now faced a reasonably heft dose of short interest, there are currently relatively few investors placing big bets against it. The short interest ratio, or the share of outstanding shares being sold short, peaked at over 9% in September and is now at somewhat over 2%, which is about as little as its been for the reason that company went public in 2020.
Still, calling out the doubters is a typical occurrence for Karp, who has previously said on CNBC that individuals should “exit” in the event that they “do not like the worth.”
In May, after the stock plummeted following earnings, Karp said ,”You do not have to purchase our shares.”
“We’re glad,” he said. “We will partner with the world’s best people and we will dominate. You possibly can be along for the ride otherwise you do not have to be.”
The corporate has also faced backlash over its work with government agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Karp has admitted that his strong pro-Israel stance led some people to go away the corporate.
The boisterous CEO has been particularly vocal this week. On Monday’s earnings call, he questioned how glad the individuals are who didn’t put money into the corporate, and told them to “get some popcorn.”
And on CNBC he aimed much of his ire at Burry after the investor revealed his short positions in Palantir and Nvidia.
“The 2 firms he’s shorting are those making all the cash, which is super weird,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. “The concept chips and ontology is what you desire to short is bats— crazy.”
WATCH: Palantir CEO Karp on short sellers
