Palantir Soars to $375B Market Cap—Now a Top 20 U.S. Titan
Big data just got bigger. Palantir’s valuation skyrocketed to $375 billion on Friday, muscling its way into the elite club of America’s top 20 publicly traded companies. Not bad for a firm that still gives Wall Street analysts nightmares about 'black box' revenue models.
From spy tech to stock market heavyweight
The data-mining darling—once known for its government contracts—now flexes market cap muscles alongside consumer giants and tech titans. No IPO hype, no meme-stock antics—just relentless institutional adoption (and maybe a few defense contracts nobody’s allowed to discuss).
The cynical take
Let’s see how long the party lasts when the next 'adjusted EBITDA' report drops. For now, the algorithms—and the algos trading the stock—are having their day.
Palantir’s valuation outpaces its actual revenue
Despite being valued at $375 billion, Palantir’s total revenue over the past year was just $3.1 billion, a fraction of what most top 20 companies report.
For comparison, Mastercard, which sits just above Palantir with a $518 billion market cap, pulled in $29 billion over the same period. Still, the company has jumped ahead of Salesforce, IBM, and Cisco, ranking among the 10 largest U.S. tech firms by market cap.
The recent earnings report showed a 45% increase in U.S. government revenue, reaching $373 million, while total sales grew 39% to $884 million. Palantir will release its next results on August 4, and Wall Street analysts expect 54% profit growth to 54 cents, with revenue projected to hit $937.5 million, up 38% year over year.
But none of that explains the towering price tag. According to FactSet, Palantir trades at 273 times forward earnings, the highest in the top 20. Only Tesla, with a P/E of 175, comes close. That means buyers are betting on future growth far more than current earnings.
Analysts weigh the risk but still pile in
Piper Sandler officially started covering Palantir Technologies (PLTR) on Thursday, issuing an overweight rating. Analyst Brent Bracelin gave the stock a price target of $170, calling its growth model “one of a kind.” Bracelin said:
“We have monitored Palantir for five-plus years from a coveted late-stage private that completed a direct listing in September 2020 through the trough of disillusionment in late 2022 as the stock plummeted to $6 lows into the recent ‘rise of the phoenix’ moment where PLTR has been crowned an AI All-Star on accelerating growth.”
He also noted the risks: “No doubt, Palantir carries a rich valuation premium and remains a high-risk investment, but it also has a one-of-a-kind growth plus margin model that if proven durable could grow into a $24 billion run-rate by 3032 via share gains across two $1-plus trillion total addressable markets. We see Palantir as an AI secular winner and initiate at overweight.”
The spike in stock price also comes as retail investors flood into anything labeled AI. Enthusiasm from traders has kept demand strong, even though Palantir’s commercial revenue hasn’t taken off the way its government segment has. Still, expectations that the Trump WHITE House could steer more contracts toward companies like Palantir are fueling optimism.
The company’s recent performance follows a wild few years. After going public in a direct listing in 2020, the stock collapsed to $6 by late 2022. Since then, it’s staged a full recovery, with investors now calling this its “phoenix moment.” Whether or not it can hold that momentum or grow into its bloated valuation is still up in the air. But for now, Palantir sits in the big leagues.
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