New York, Aug 5 (AP) Shares of Palantir Technologies appear to be heading toward another record high Tuesday after booking its first USD 1 billion in quarterly sales and raising its outlook for the year.
The stock rose above USD 170 before the opening bell Tuesday, which would be tops for the company that has already notched record highs four times this year, the most recent on July 25 when its stock closed at USD 158.80.
Since going public in 2020 when it posted a USD 1.17 billion annual loss, the artificial intelligence software company has swung to a profit. Profit rose 33 per cent to USD 327 million in the second quarter.
Its USD 1 billion quarterly revenue haul was fuelled by a 53 per cent spike in government sales, despite massive spending cuts under President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk.
“DOGE has had zero negative impact on Palantir's US government business, which achieved its fastest growth rate since the second quarter of 2021,” wrote William Blair analysts Louie DiPalma and Bryce Sandberg. “Palantir is clearly benefiting from AI industry momentum across its government and commercial customer bases.”
The company also recorded a 93 per cent jump in business sales. Overall US revenue surged 68 per cent to USD 733 million.
Late Monday, Palantir raised its revenue expectations for 2025 to between USD 4.14 billion and USD 4.15 billion. It also raised its US commercial revenue guidance to more than USD 1.3 billion, which would mean that Palantir achieved a growth rate of at least 85 per cent.
“This was a phenomenal quarter,” CEO Alex Karp said in a statement accompanying the earnings release. “We continue to see the astonishing impact of AI leverage.”
Karp believes AI will benefit everyone, saying during a call with industry analysts on Monday that Palantir is, “bullish on all aspects of American life, including and especially people in the blue collar."
He said Palantir wants to “arm the working class or blue collar workers with AI agency enhancing skills,” and said that the company will reach out to labour leaders to help familiarise workers with the technology.
“People with less than a college education are creating a lot value and sometimes more value than people with a college education using our product,” Karp said.
Palantir, headquartered in Denver, specialises in software platforms that pull together and analyse large amounts of data. (AP) GRS
GRS