Palantir Technologies Stock Surges Following Strong Q2 Earnings and AI Potential

Palantir Technologies Shares Are Trading Higher Today: What's Going On - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR)

Palantir further fueled investor confidence by announcing key strategic partnerships midweek. Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR is seeing its stock surge Friday. Here's what you need to know. What To Know: Palantir's shares have been gaining traction this week, following the company's strong second-quarter earnings report released on Monday. The company posted better-than-expected financial results, with total revenue increasing by 27% year-over-year, bolstered by a 55% surge in U.S. commercial revenue. Additionally, Palantir's customer base grew by 41% year-over-year. CEO Alex Karp expressed optimism about the company's future, noting that the growth of the business has been steadily re-accelerating, with significant opportunities ahead. This positive outlook was further reinforced by analysts, many of whom raised their price targets on Palantir stock. What Else: The momentum continued midweek with Palantir announcing key strategic partnerships. On Wednesday, Palantir revealed a collaboration with Wendy's Quality Supply Chain Co-op (QSCC) to enhance digital transformation, AI adoption and operational decision-making. The partnership will see Wendy's utilizing Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) for supply chain management and waste prevention. On Thursday, Palantir also announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft Corp. MSFT, aimed at deploying AI tools for U.S. government agencies. This collaboration will integrate Palantir's AIP with Microsoft's Large Language Models (LLMs) via Azure OpenAI Service, targeting the U.S. Defense and Intelligence Community. PLTR Price Action: Palantir shares were up by 2.96% at $30.15 according to Benzinga Pro. See Also: e.l.f. Beauty To Gain From Bold Expansion Efforts Internationally - Analysts Weigh In Image via press release. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Analyst revamps Palantir stock price target on earnings, Microsoft deal

Palantir Technologies shares moved higher in early Friday trading after top Wall Street analyst revamped his price target on the group following solid second quarter earnings and a "game changing" partnership to expand its flagship AI platform. Palantir (PLTR) , which raised its annual profit forecast for the second time this year on August 5, is one of the few stocks on Wall Street that wasn't hauled down by the broader market volatility triggered by leverage currency trades earlier this week. The data-analytics group published record quarterly profits of 6 cents per share for the three months ending in June, with sales rising 27% to $678 million, thanks in part to surging demand for its AIP Logic platform that tests and improves AI-related strategies. A big boost in sales for its commercial division, which saw a 55% surge, also suggests Palantir is having success in expanding its overall business outside of its legacy government client list. "The performance tells us that Palantir's value proposition for AI and generative AI solutions continues to resonate with customers despite a crowded and opaque market landscape," said Third Bridge analyst Jordan Berger. Palantir - Microsoft partnership "We've heard from experts that downsizing an initial deployment of Palantir's Foundry platform could significantly broaden the company's addressable market, and the introduction of AIP and the Bootcamp sales model appears to be successfully facilitating that transition," he added. The Denver-based group also forecast full-year sales of around $2.75 billion, a modest boost from its prior forecast, with adjusted income in the region of $966 million and $974 million. Related: Analyst resets Palantir stock price target ahead of Q2 earnings That forecast, in fact, came just days before the group unveiled a new partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) that will see the tech giant integrate Palantir's products into Azure's cloud services for government customers. Palantir will also adopt Azure's OpenAI, with the ability to deploy it in classified environments among its growing base of government and intelligence community clients. "With this marquee deal solidified and Microsoft leveraging Palantir for AI and LLM capabilities to the US government, the company can now increase the pace of AI implementation while Palantir continues to accelerate AIP adoption within the federal sector," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. "We believe this will be a launching pad for the Palantir AIP story to hit the (Department of Defense) and broader Beltway ecosystem over the next 12 to 18 months," he added. Growing commercial business Ives carries an 'outperform' rating and a $38 price target on Palantir stock. Citigroup analyst Tyler Radke, who lifted his Palantir price target by $2, taking it to $30 per share, said government contracts were a key factor in its second quarter earnings beat. "Results show that Palantir's approach, potentially helped by AIP, is able to tap into emerging AI pools of spend with record net adds of large 8-figure customers and a 15-point reacceleration in US Commercial that helped offset some softer international market performance," Radke and his team wrote. More AI Stocks: "We are impressed by FQ2 results, but see forward returns capped with the highest valuation in software, with a (next 12 months) revenue multiple of 19x and (enterprise value to free-cash flow) of ~60x with continued government lumpiness," he added. Palantir shares were marked 1.95% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $29.85 each, a move that would extend the stock's year-to-date gain to around 74%. Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks

Why Palantir Technologies Was Blasting Higher This Week

A solid earnings report and analyst price target hikes made the company's stock popular on the market. Palantir Technologies (PLTR 11.25%) stock seemed to be on track to land in positive territory this week. Following the very positive investor and analyst reaction to its latest set of quarterly results, the next-generation data analytics company saw its share price balloon by 18% week to date as of early Friday morning, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. A fine start to the trading week After delivering a double beat on its second quarter, in results published after market hours Monday, Palantir stock seemed destined to cruise over the next few days. It managed to post a robust 27% year-over-year increase in revenue to more than $678 million, and a much higher (85%) increase in non-GAAP (adjusted) net income; this hit $221 million, or $0.09 per share. In addition to these encouraging growth numbers, management also raised its full-year revenue forecast. Both headline figures landed above the consensus analyst estimates. Collectively, those pundits were expecting slightly over $653 million on the top line, filtering down to a $0.08 per share adjusted net income figure. These days, Palantir is a popular investor play on artificial intelligence (AI). One element of the company's results that helped to blast its stock higher was sharply growing customer interest in its Artificial Intelligence Platform. Bolstered by the offering, U.S. commercial revenue rose by a hot 55% year over year. Time for the bulls to run That's the kind of performance that attracts the positive kind of analyst attention. In the wake of the earnings release, several high-profile researchers raised their price targets on Palantir stock. Among the raisers was Goldman Sachs' Gabriela Borges, who now feels the shares are worth $16 apiece; formerly she valued them at $14. Although she maintained her neutral recommendation on the stock, her latest evaluation on the company sounded quite bullish at times. In her latest Palantir research note she opined that the company is "uniquely positioned to benefit from medium-term enterprise AI engagements given its ability to structure data, upgrade IT infrastructure and custom-built AI applications."