:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2158420275-33e24b286b8c4315834a7a5589abff33.jpg "Palantir’s Stock is Soaring—While Analysts Are Calling for a Slide")
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Key Takeaways
- Palantir’s stock is surging after its latest results beat Street expectations.
- Analysts worry the company may be overvalued, with many maintaining sell or equivalent ratings despite a strong quarter.
- Deutsche Bank said the company benefits from “a more entrenched retail investor following relative to everything else we cover.”
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares rocketed higher Tuesday after last night’s earnings results comfortably beat expectations. Some analysts remain wary that the analytics software provider is overvalued.
“There’s no denying that [Palantir] is deserving of a premium valuation,” wrote analysts at Mizuho after the company delivered revenue growth of 30% and raised its 2024 guidance. However, they said, it is “increasingly difficult to justify” the shares’ valuation.
Mizuho, which has an “underperform” rating on the shares, raised its price target to $37 from $30—which, however, still calls for the shares to decline. The stock was recently up some 20% to about $50, more than tripling this year; the mean price target tracked by Visible Alpha is closer to $33.
Deutsche Bank analysts raised their price target to $26 from $21. Palantir, they wrote, benefits from what it calls “a more entrenched retail investor following relative to everything else we cover.” Palantir trades at roughly double the multiple of the next most-expensive stock the bank covers, the analysts said.
CEO Alexander Karp said the company, “absolutely eviscerated this quarter, driven by unrelenting AI demand that won’t slow down.”
The company’s U.S. commercial revenue grew 54% to $179 million in the period, and its U.S. government revenue improved 40% to $320 million. Executives cited AI-related demand as a driver of that growth.