Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, speaks in the course of the Digital X event in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 7, 2021.
Andreas Rentz | Getty Images
Palantir shares continued their torrid run on Friday, soaring 11% to a record, after the developer of software for the military announced plans to transfer its listing to the Nasdaq from the Recent York Stock Exchange.
The stock jumped past $65.77 on the close, lifting the corporate’s market cap to $150 billion. The shares at the moment are up greater than 45% since Palantir’s better-than-expected earnings report last week and have almost quadrupled in value this 12 months.
Palantir said late Thursday that it expects to start trading on the Nasdaq on Nov. 26, under its existing ticker symbol “PLTR.” While changing listing sites does nothing to change an organization’s fundamentals, board member Alexander Moore, a partner at enterprise firm 8VC, suggested in a post on social media site X that the move may very well be a win for retail investors because “it’s going to force” billions of dollars in purchases by exchange-traded funds.
“Every little thing we do is to reward and support our retail diamondhands following,” Moore wrote, referring to a term popularized within the crypto community for long-term believers.
Moore appears to have subsequently deleted his X account. His firm, 8VC, didn’t immediately reply to CNBC’s request for comment.
Last Monday after market close, Palantir reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates and issued a fourth-quarter forecast that was also ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. CEO Alex Karp wrote within the earnings release that the corporate “absolutely eviscerated this quarter,” driven by demand for artificial intelligence technologies.
U.S. government revenue increased 40% from a 12 months earlier to $320 million, while U.S. industrial revenue rose 54% to $179 million. On the earnings call, the corporate highlighted a five-year contract to expand its Maven technology across the U.S. military. Palantir established Maven in 2017 to supply AI tools to the Department of Defense.
The postearnings rally coincides with the period following last week’s presidential election. Palantir is seen as a possible beneficiary given the corporate’s ties to the Trump camp. Co-founder and Chair Peter Thiel was a significant booster of Donald Trump’s first victorious campaign, though he had a public falling out with Trump in the following years.
When asked in June about his position on the 2024 election, Thiel said, “In the event you hold a gun to my head I’ll vote for Trump.”
Thiel’s Palantir holdings have increased in value by about $3 billion for the reason that earnings report and $2 billion for the reason that election.
In September, S&P Global announced Palantir would join the S&P 500 stock index.
Analysts at Argus Research say the rally has pushed the stock too high given the present financials and growth projections. The analysts still have a long-term buy rating on the stock and said in a report last week that the corporate had a “stellar” quarter, but they downgraded their 12-month advice to a hold.
The stock “could also be getting ahead of what the corporate fundamentals can support,” the analysts wrote.
