Palantir Technologies Inc.

Средний индекс, незначительно упал. Быки в растерянности.

Medium index, slightly down. The bulls are confused.

Сильный индекс, значительно упал. Медведи в растерянности.

Strong index, significantly down. The bears are confused.

Слабый индекс, значительно упал. Рынок не поддерживает быков.

Weak index, significantly down. The market does not support the bulls.

Слабый индекс, значительно вырос. Рынок на стороне медведей.

Weak index, significantly up. The market is on the bears' side.

Средний индекс, незначительно вырос. Отток средств из лонгов на высоком уровне.

Medium index, slightly up. Outflow of funds from longs at a high level.

Средний индекс, незначительно упал. Приток средств в шорты на высоком уровне.

Medium index, slightly down. Inflow of funds into shorts at a high level.

Key Points
To kick off another meaningful rally, Palantir will need to report accelerating revenue growth in Q3.
The company's AI sovereignty boot camps should generate meaningful sales.
Palantir's profit margin is great, but to support the stock's premium valuation, it may need to keep expanding.
Back in August, I made a bullish prediction about Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR): I said the artificial intelligence (AI) software company would reach $220 per share before the end of 2026, driven by its outstanding revenue growth and increasing demand from commercial customers.
I'm sticking with that prediction. But Palantir has some work to do.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
On Friday, shares were trading in the $190 to $198 range, leaving the stock roughly 11% to 16% below my target. And with Palantir scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Nov. 2, investors are about to get a much better idea of whether my prediction will come true.
I think Palantir needs to deliver three things to make a run at $220.
1. Quarterly revenue needs to top $2.3 billion
Palantir has established a remarkable track record of accelerating revenue growth, thanks largely to businesses adopting its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP).
Second-quarter revenue jumped 93% year over year to $1.94 billion. U.S. commercial revenue was particularly impressive, climbing 149% to $764 million, while U.S. government revenue increased 90% to $809 million. Those are outstanding numbers for a company of Palantir's size.
But management's third-quarter revenue guidance of approximately $2.16 billion implies sequential growth of roughly 12%, compared with about 19% in the second quarter. That seems awfully conservative to me.
Palantir has consistently beaten its revenue guidance this year, and another quarter of 19% sequential growth would put revenue at approximately $2.3 billion.
That's the number I'm watching. If Palantir's revenue is growing at an accelerating rate, that would be an important bullish signal to the market.
2. Sales tied to the company's AI sovereignty efforts must increase
One of Palantir's more interesting opportunities involves the market for AI sovereignty services -- helping organizations maintain control over their data and AI operations rather than surrendering much of that control to external technology providers. It has been a primary focus of CEO Alex Karp in recent months.
It's a natural fit for Palantir. The company's software already helps customers connect their data, build digital models of their operations, and deploy AI applications while maintaining control over sensitive information.
Palantir has used its client boot camps to demonstrate how its software can solve potential customers' operational problems. Its sovereignty-focused efforts offer another way to introduce organizations to those capabilities.
But there's an important distinction between demonstrating what software can do and getting customers to pay for it. In the Q3 report, I will be looking for fresh evidence that these efforts are producing meaningful business. That could include new contracts, larger customer commitments, or management providing specific information about how sovereignty-related demand is contributing to growth.
Palantir's commercial business has already been expanding rapidly. Showing that its sovereignty initiatives are generating additional revenue would give investors another reason to believe that growth can continue.
3. Sterling profit margins must get even better
Revenue growth gets most of the attention when Palantir reports earnings. But profitability deserves just as much scrutiny.
Palantir reported an adjusted operating margin of 62% in the second quarter, up from 60% in the first quarter. That's an extraordinary level of profitability for a software company that's growing as quickly as Palantir.
It also raises expectations.
One of the advantages of selling software is that revenue can grow much faster than expenses once the company has developed its products and infrastructure. That allows a larger fraction of each incremental sale to be converted into operating profit.
I'd like to see Palantir push its adjusted operating margin above 62% in the third quarter. If revenue growth continues to accelerate while margins expand, it would strengthen the argument that Palantir will eventually justify its currently expensive valuation.
Can Palantir reach $220 in 2026?
I'm still bullish on Palantir. Its AIP has become an increasingly important tool for businesses that are looking to put AI to work, and its financial results have supported that enthusiasm.
But the stock isn't cheap, and investors have already priced in tremendous expected growth.
That's why the Nov. 2 report matters so much.
Revenue above $2.3 billion, evidence of meaningful business from AI sovereignty, and another improvement in operating margins would make a compelling case that Palantir's business momentum hasn't peaked.
I don't expect Palantir stock will reach $220 this year simply because management delivers another good earnings report. It needs to give investors a reason to raise their expectations.
But if Palantir delivers on all three of these points, I think my prediction has a good chance of coming true.
Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $355,124!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,296,254!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 901% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 210% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 25, 2026.
Patrick Sanders has positions in Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

I Said Palantir Stock Would Top $220 This Year. Here's What It Has to Prove on Nov. 2.

Key Points
Palantir gained ground after announcing a collaboration with Knox Systems.
The company operates a federal cloud and compliance platform that helps companies deploy software and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Palantir stock appears pricey at first glance, but not all valuation metrics are created equal.
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock was sharply higher Monday morning, gaining as much as 5.9%. As of 12:19 p.m. ET, the stock was still up 5.5%.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
The catalyst that sent the data-mining and artificial intelligence (AI) software specialist higher was a new partnership that expands the availability of its technology.
Image source: Getty Images.
More was to access Palantir
In a press release that dropped Monday morning, Palantir announced a new partnership with Knox Systems, one of the world's largest Federal and Department of Defense (DoD) managed cloud providers. The collaboration "ensures mission-critical applications have access to the most secure infrastructure possible, while still being able to deploy their product on their schedule, at the fastest pace possible."
The partnership brings together Palantir's leading data mining and AI platform and Knox's managed federal cloud computing platform. Together, the pair will help customers accelerate their acceptance into the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), "getting the best technology into the hands of the warfighter and the U.S. Government," according to the release.
Palantir's AI solutions already help consolidate and process battlefield data in real time, identify and track enemy threats, and coordinate responses. FedRAMP and Impact Level 5 are two of the strictest federal certification standards. This partnership helps accelerate software deployments in these environments more quickly, getting the company's solutions to more warfighters more quickly.
Recent concerns about the future of AI adoption have weighed on Palantir, though the stock still appears pricey at 83 times next year's expected earnings. However, thanks to Palantir's triple-digit profit growth, the stock's price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio comes in at 0.5, when any number less than 1 is the standard for an undervalued stock.
That’s why Palantir stock is a buy.
Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $380,363!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,315,732!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 919% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 211% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 19, 2026.
Danny Vena, CPA has positions in Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Founded in 1993 in Alexandria, VA., by brothers David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company dedicated to building the world's greatest investment community. Reaching millions of people each month through its website, books, newspaper column, radio show, television appearances, and subscription newsletter services, The Motley Fool champions shareholder values and advocates tirelessly for the individual investor. The company's name was taken from Shakespeare, whose wise fools both instructed and amused, and could speak the truth to the king -- without getting their heads lopped off.

Why Palantir Technologies Stock Rallied Today

Key Points
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is a great core holding.
The Invesco QQQ and Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF are two top growth and technology funds.
The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF continues to outpace the value fund category.
With certain market valuation metrics flashing warning signs and a few high-profile investors calling for a stock market crash, now can be a scary time to invest in stocks. However, it shouldn't be.
Yes, Michael Burry, who previously called the housing collapse, has called for a major correction, as has billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio. At the same time, the CAPE ratio is at roughly the same level as before the dot-com crash, while Warren Buffett's favorite valuation metric (the total market cap of U.S. stocks divided by U.S. GDP) is at a historic high. This has led to a lot of nerve-wracking headlines lately.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
However, in times like this, it would be prudent to follow the advice of one of America's greatest fund managers, Peter Lynch. As the manager of Fidelity's flagship Magellan Fund, Lynch racked up an astonishing 29.2% annual average return during his long tenure, and he was never afraid of a bear market. In a 1995 essay in Worth magazine, he famously said, "Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections or trying to anticipate corrections than has been lost in corrections themselves."
In the article, Lynch noted that if you had invested the same amount every year on Jan. 1 from 1965 until 1994, the year before the article was written, it would have returned an average annual rate of 11%. However, if you had invested at the market peak each year, your average return would be only slightly lower, at 10.6%. As such, he concluded that: "[i]n the long run it doesn't matter whether your timing is good or bad. What matters is that you stay invested in stocks."
With that in mind, let's look at four exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to dollar-cost average into whether a stock market correction is coming or not.
The Vanguard 500 ETF
If you decide you only want to invest in one ETF, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) would be my first choice. It gives investors an instantly diversified portfolio of the country's 500 largest stocks, and has a track record that is hard to beat. In fact, over the past decade, only 14% of actively managed large-cap U.S. funds have beaten the index.
With an average annual total return of 15.7% over the past 10 years, this is a must-have core holding.
The Invesco QQQ Trust
Growth and technology stocks have led the market higher for much of the past decade, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100 index, is a great way to play this trend. In fact, as other funds have struggled to top the S&P 500, it has done so consistently and is up an average total return of 21.1% over the past decade.
The Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ)
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be the greatest technological innovation of our time, and the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (NASDAQ: AIQ) is a great way to invest in the sector. It invests in stocks set to benefit from AI, from semiconductor stocks like Nvidia and cloud computing stocks like Alphabet to AI agent companies like Meta Platforms and AI software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks like Palantir. It's been a strong performer over the past three years, with total return price gains averaging 33.6% annually.
The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
While growth stocks have led the charge the past decade, value stocks also have their place in a portfolio, and the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEMKT: SCHD) is one of the top funds in this category. The ETF invests in dividend-paying stocks and has a yield of 3.4%, but the index it follows focuses on dividend growth sustainability and seeks to avoid value traps. That has resulted in the ETF's total returns outperforming the value category over the past 10 years, up 12.8% versus 11.1% for the category. Meanwhile, it's up an impressive 31.4% year to date versus 12% for the average value fund, according to Morningstar.
Should you buy stock in Invesco QQQ Trust right now?
Before you buy stock in Invesco QQQ Trust, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Invesco QQQ Trust wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $379,123!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,408,822!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 950% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 215% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 12, 2026.
Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet, Invesco QQQ Trust, Meta Platforms, and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Afraid of a Stock Market Crash? 4 Great ETFs to Buy Regardless.

Key Points
Melius Research upgraded Microsoft to buy, based on its cybersecurity offering for AI agents.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Palantir to buy, citing demand from companies that want control over their AI data.
TD Cowen upgraded Marvell to buy on its AI data center connectivity business, and its valuation looks reasonable for its growth potential.
Three tech stocks got Wall Street upgrades last week: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR), and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL). Marvell has climbed 224% year to date, while Palantir is up 17% and Microsoft has trailed the S&P 500's 14% gain.
All three have solid catalysts and could be solid long-term investments, but Marvell offers the best growth for the price.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
Microsoft
On Oct. 5, Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes upgraded Microsoft from hold to buy with a $665 price target. That implies about 25% upside from the current share price.
With growing concerns around AI safety, the analyst sees Microsoft's cybersecurity offerings benefiting from the adoption of AI agents. On the company's fiscal fourth-quarterearnings callin July, CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the advantages of Agent 365. It extends security tools to AI agents, and nearly 40 million agents are already registered on the platform, reflecting the advantage Microsoft has from its long-running relationships with leading enterprises.
Azure, the cloud backbone for Microsoft's AI services, continues to benefit from surging demand. Revenue from Azure and other cloud services grew 43% year over year in fiscal Q4 2026, which ended in June, and management said demand still exceeds capacity.
The stock trades at 27 times forward earnings, based on fiscal 2027 estimates. The consensus analyst estimate is for earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 15% in the coming years. That's a reasonable price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) multiple of 1.8x.
The main risk is that growth depends on how quickly Microsoft can add data center capacity, a process that requires heavy spending and could drag on margins and earnings. Still, a slightly higher P/E and continued growth in the business put the $665 price target within realistic reach over the next year, with more gains in store for investors who hold for the long term.
Palantir Technologies
On Oct. 8, Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges upgraded Palantir from neutral to buy with a $230 price target. That implies about 10% upside from the current share price.
Palantir shares have surged about 65% in the last three months, but the analyst sees further upside as companies seek to control their own data and AI models. That should increase demand for Palantir's custom-built applications with each enterprise customer.
This builds on the trends Palantir is already seeing. Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) lets companies build and run AI models using their proprietary data. That is one of the main factors that appeals to prospective customers who want full control over their data and don't want it used to train another company's AI models.
Management's full-year 2026 guidance calls for revenue of approximately $8.1 billion, up about 82% from 2025. Analysts expect 53% annualized earnings growth in the coming years. However, it trades at a forward earnings multiple of 123 -- a PEG multiple of 2.3x. I hold Palantir in my portfolio, but I don't expect it to hit the analyst's price target in the near term. Marvell offers a better valuation relative to expected growth.
Marvell Technology
If I were adding new money to any of the three right now, it would be Marvell. On Oct. 7, TD Cowen analyst Sean O'Loughlin upgraded Marvell from hold to buy with a $350 price target. That implies about 27% upside from the current share price.
The upgrade follows Marvell's Investor Day on Oct. 6, 2026, where management highlighted the momentum in its connectivity business -- the chips and optics that move data inside AI data centers. O'Loughlin sees the risk around its custom chip business fading. These risks centered on the low margins custom chips produce and Marvell's dependence on selling these chips to a few customers.
During the investor day conference, CEO Matt Murphy raised the company's fiscal 2028 revenue outlook to about $20 billion. He said the shift from AI training to inference and the use of agents will drive greater demand for connectivity equipment, with optics already accelerating, backing up the analyst's thesis.
Marvell is also positioned to capture a growing share of AI infrastructure spending with its custom silicon business. These are chips designed for specific tasks, such as cloud giants' AI workloads. That business is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in revenue in 2025 to $12 billion by fiscal 2029.
The stock trades at 65 times 2027 earnings estimates, with analysts expecting 49% annualized earnings growth in the next several years. Marvell offers the lowest PEG ratio of the three at 1.3x. This could support the stock reaching the analyst's price target over the next year, while also setting up the potential for excellent returns for an investor who buys today and holds for the long term.
Should you buy stock in Microsoft right now?
Before you buy stock in Microsoft, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Microsoft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $379,123!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,408,822!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 950% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 215% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 11, 2026.
John Ballard has positions in Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Goldman Sachs Group, Marvell Technology, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

3 Tech Stocks Wall Street Upgraded Last Week, and the One I'd Buy First

Key Points
Palantir faces rising competition from AI labs.
Its price-to-sales ratio of 81 is a steep premium to the valuations that the market affords most software companies.
Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) has been an incredible stock to own over the past few years. It has become one of the most prominent AI companies in the country, and a host of companies and government agencies make use of its services. It has grown its sales at an incredible pace over the past few years, and its stock has soared as a result.
However, there's one overarching question: Has Palantir's stock gotten ahead of itself? I think history offers a pretty strong indication about the answer, and it's not one that Palantir shareholders will be happy to hear.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
Competition is rising
Palantir made a name for itself by offering its customers a fairly easy plug-and-play AI software. Essentially, clients can easily deploy Palantir's AI-powered analytics tool to mine their internal data for useful insights. The early iterations of its software were intended for government use, but eventually, the company found its way into the commercial marketplace. The combination of government and commercial AI has been a powerful one for Palantir, but it isn't the only game in town anymore.
Rising stars like Anthropic and OpenAI also have great AI products that companies can use, and these products could become more popular than Palantir's, which could result in its growth slowing.
Wall Street analysts are already projecting just that. The consensus view is that Palantir will report that it grew by 84% in Q3, and that it will further slow to 75% in Q4, compared to 93% in Q2. Next year, the projected growth rate declines to 50%.
If that happens, the stock could be in trouble, as there is a ton of hoped-for growth already baked into the stock. However, Wall Street has been consistently wrong on its Palantir projections, as its growth rate has continued to accelerate quarter after quarter, even though the company's own projections also indicated it would slow.
Yet as more companies become comfortable deploying AI tools from giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, this may pose a sizable headwind for Palantir, since most of its platforms' capabilities can be recreated for far less than it charges for a subscription.
That wouldn't be great for the stock, and history has nearly countless examples of innovators that started as disruptors before being disrupted themselves. The main problem for Palantir's stock is that it's priced like the company has no competition.
Palantir's stock is pricey
From a price-to-sales ratio standpoint, Palantir is very expensive at 81.
Generally speaking, software stocks are considered expensive when they trade above 20 or 30 times sales, let alone triple or quadruple that level. For comparison, AI lab Anthropic is expected to go public with a market cap of about $2 trillion sometime in November. Back in July, Anthropic told investors that its annual run rate would be about $65 billion. If the market were willing to put a P/S valuation of 81 on Anthropic, that would give it an IPO market cap of $5.3 trillion.
As a group, companies that reach such high price-to-sales multiples have a terrible track record of long-term share price performance in the years that follow, as there is a lot of anticipated growth already priced into the stock. Even if Palantir can continue growing rapidly, its stock will spend a lot of time absorbing that growth while trading sideways to bring its valuation down to a more reasonable level. Or, it could be disrupted by one of the growing AI labs such as Anthropic or OpenAI, in which case the market could respond by selling it off. As a result, I think investors can expect lackluster returns from Palantir through 2028.
Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $379,123!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,408,822!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 950% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 215% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 11, 2026.
Keithen Drury has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Founded in 1993 in Alexandria, VA., by brothers David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company dedicated to building the world's greatest investment community. Reaching millions of people each month through its website, books, newspaper column, radio show, television appearances, and subscription newsletter services, The Motley Fool champions shareholder values and advocates tirelessly for the individual investor. The company's name was taken from Shakespeare, whose wise fools both instructed and amused, and could speak the truth to the king -- without getting their heads lopped off.

History Says This Will Happen to Palantir Stock by 2028

Key Points
Palantir's shares added around 60% during the third quarter, the sixth time they've risen 40% or more in a quarter since trading started in 2020.
In four of the five earlier cases, shares rose again the next quarter.
Palantir's revenue growth sped up in each of the last three quarters, hitting 93% in the second quarter of 2026.
Shares of Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) closed September around 60% above where they started July, climbing from about $117 to about $187. Much of that came in one day. The stock surged around 29% the day after the company posted its second-quarter results on Aug. 3, a quarter when revenue rose 93% year over year.
That kind of quarter isn't new to longtime shareholders, though. By my count, it was the sixth time the AI software specialist's stock has gained 40% or more in a quarter since it started trading in September 2020.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
After the other five, shares kept rising the next quarter four times. But five cases is a small sample, and the path behind each of those quarter-end numbers was far from smooth.
Image source: Getty Images.
Six big quarters
The first big quarter came just after the stock began trading, when shares climbed around 148% in the fourth quarter of 2020. The next didn't arrive until the second quarter of 2023, with an 81% gain. Then the gains came closer together: 47% in the third quarter of 2024, 103% in the fourth quarter of 2024, and 62% in the second quarter of 2025. The quarter that just finished makes six.
What came next was mainly good news. In the third quarter of 2023, the stock climbed around 4%, and it more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2024. It added 12% in the first quarter of 2025 and 34% in the third quarter of 2025.
The only exception was the first quarter of 2021, when shares dipped around 1%.
In the middle case, the stock gained about 12% the next quarter. So, the record leans positive, but it doesn't suggest another 60% quarter.
Five cases make a thin record
Still, I wouldn't lean on this pattern much. Even leaving aside the small sample, the cases aren't fully separate from each other. Two of the big quarters sit back to back in 2024, so the 103% fourth quarter is both a big quarter and a follow-up.
The quarter-end numbers also hide plenty of movement. In the first quarter of 2021, the stock closed as much as 66% above where the quarter began in late January, then gave all of it back.
The first quarter of 2025 played out in a similar way. Shares closed as much as 65% higher in mid-February, then ended the quarter up around 12%.
And this recent rally is different in one key way. Palantir's stock dropped around 34% in the first half of 2026, so the third quarter's rise mostly made up lost ground.
Shares closed September only about 3% above where they finished September 2025.
Can revenue growth keep speeding up?
The business is arguably a better guide than the stock chart. And there, the trend is strong.
Palantir's revenue growth has accelerated for three straight quarters. It rose from 63% year over year in the third quarter of 2025 to 70% in the fourth quarter, then 85% in the first quarter of 2026. By the second quarter, growth hit 93% and revenue was around $1.9 billion.
Better still, profit grew faster than sales. Second-quarter net income came to about $1.06 billion, over three times what Palantir made a year before.
Management's outlook for the third quarter, though, calls for revenue of around $2.16 billion, or about 83% more than a year ago. That's still an impressive pace. But it would snap the streak of faster growth.
That said, Palantir has tended to beat its own forecasts. For each of the past three quarters, revenue came in about 6% to 7% above the top of management's range. A similar result this time might put third-quarter growth in the mid-90s -- another acceleration.
Palantir released its third-quarter results on Nov. 3 last year, so the next update's probably a few weeks away. This report might matter more for the stock than any pattern in its past.
After all, investors are paying a high price for that growth. At roughly $193 as of this writing, shares trade at about 165 times earnings. Even if Palantir doubled its profit from here, the stock would still cost over 80 times earnings.
Overall, Palantir's earlier big quarters lean in shareholders' favor, and the business behind this one is growing faster than a year ago. But a pattern based on five quarters doesn't tell investors much about a growth stock priced around 165 times earnings. That price is still too high for me to buy.
Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this:
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Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Palantir Stock Rose 60% in the Third Quarter. Here's What Its Other Big Quarters Did Next.

Key Points
Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges upgraded Palantir stock to "buy" with a $230 price target this morning.
The AI market is shifting towards sovereign AI systems and "bespoke applications," providing more room for Palantir to grow.
Palantir stock trades for more than 160 times earnings but closer to 136 times free cash flow.
Defense stock and artificial intelligence company Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) defied today's market downturn to rise 3% through 9:50 a.m. ET Thursday morning.
You can thank Goldman Sachs for that.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
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Goldman Sachs loves Palantir stock
Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges upgraded Palantir stock to "buy" with a $230 price target, as StreetInsider.com reports today. The rapidly rising growth stock, says Borges, did $6.2 billion in revenue over the last 12 months, has already reached an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $8 billion, and is growing revenue at 100% per year.
Investors are valuing Palantir stock at 80 times trailing sales -- and twice that for price-to-earnings. This gives the stock a PEG ratio of about 1.6x, which is challenging, but not entirely indefensible, assuming Palantir can maintain its growth rate.
What's next for Palantir stock
But can Palantir keep growing sales at 100% per year? Borges argues it can, because the artificial intelligence market is approaching a new "step function" in which sovereign AI systems and "bespoke applications" (both built and owned entirely by their builders, rather than rented from other companies) provide a new market to grow in. Borges sees Palantir as a leading force in this market as it deploys "artificial intelligence forward-deployed engineers," or AI FDEs -- software agents built by Palantir -- to help build these systems.
The analyst further points out that Palantir stock is cheaper on a price-to-free cash flow basis than on P/E alone -- which is true. Free cash flow at the company runs about 10% ahead of reported net income. On an enterprise value-to-free cash flow-to-growth basis, Palantir scores closer to a 1.4x ratio.
Palantir still isn't a cheap stock, but Goldman's right: It's at least a little cheaper than it looks.
Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now?
Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $375,887!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,459,146!*
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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Founded in 1993 in Alexandria, VA., by brothers David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company dedicated to building the world's greatest investment community. Reaching millions of people each month through its website, books, newspaper column, radio show, television appearances, and subscription newsletter services, The Motley Fool champions shareholder values and advocates tirelessly for the individual investor. The company's name was taken from Shakespeare, whose wise fools both instructed and amused, and could speak the truth to the king -- without getting their heads lopped off.

Why Palantir Stock Popped on Thursday

For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – October 6 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks and ETFs featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Palantir Technologies PLTR, BP BP and Quanta Services PWR
Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:
Borrowing Costs at Two-Decade Highs: Global Week Ahead
What happens across this Global Week Ahead?
Global markets are starting to wake up to the reality of:
Borrowing costs at two-decade highs
Oil above $100 a barrel, and
Central bank rate hikes
These are heaping pressure on governments, investors and households, and eroding some of the AI-driven enthusiasm in equities.
Add to that:
Political turmoil in France
Rising government bond yields and FX volatility
A cloudy policy rate outlook, and
A major election in Brazil
There is plenty of room for surprises across this week.
Next are Reuters’ five world market themes, re-ordered for equity traders—
(1) Major FX trading pairs are breaking out of their summer hibernation.
Currency markets are breaking out of their summer hibernation, with the U.S. dollar set to gain and the euro set to struggle.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against six others, is up for a third straight week, at its highest in 18 months, confounding bets that 2025's weakness would continue.
Helping are surging growth, high U.S. yields and elevated oil and gas prices — beneficial for an energy exporter, policy permitting.
The negatives elsewhere are as important; there are reasons to worry for the pound and yen, but the euro stands out.
Heavily indebted Eurozone bond markets, such as France, are blowing up, energy costs will weigh on growth, and the combination could limit rate rises.
Not surprisingly, the euro has fallen below $1.13 for the first time since May 2025, while volatility and bets on a steeper decline have picked up.
But in a sign of broader weakness, it has also fallen on the pound, the yen and the Swiss franc.
(2) September U.S. FOMC meeting minutes come out.
Investors will seek clues next week about the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates on the heels of the U.S. central bank's first rate hike in three years.
Minutes will be released on Wednesday that cover the Fed's meeting last month, when it raised rates for the first time since 2023 and suggested more monetary tightening would come before the year is out.
Fed Fund futures heading into the week suggested markets were leaning toward an expectation that the Fed would raise again at the next meeting in October, but such bets have cooled.
Data showed inflation rose less than expected in August, while New York Fed President John Williams said on Tuesday that the central bank had time to weigh economic data before deciding when to hike rates again.
(3) In Europe, watch France’s minority government and rising French bond yields.
France's beleaguered minority government has presented its 2027 budget bill, which could result in perhaps weeks of wrangling over spending cuts in a deeply divided parliament, just as opposition parties harden their positions before next year's presidential election.
The tension is palpable.
France's 10-year bond yield, trading near 5%, has hit its highest level since 2002.
On the streets, strikes by students and public sector workers against planned budget cuts aimed at easing pressure on public finances are gaining momentum.
France's debt as a share of economic output is at a record high of almost 120%. It plans to sell a record €340 billion in bonds next year.
With an election looming, market pain is getting worse. The Bank of France chief says the country cannot count on the ECB to fix France's debt problems.
That does not mean the ECB is not watching closely.
(4) On Thursday, two key macro readings land — from Japan.
Two key readouts on Thursday will offer a glimpse into how Japan Inc. is coping with the energy shock from the Middle East conflict and a weak yen.
First up is the Reuters Tankan, which mirrors the Bank of Japan's gauge of corporate sentiment and follows its July-September survey showing manufacturers more resilient than non-manufacturers.
The data will offer another clue on whether the BOJ will proceed with a back-to-back interest rate hike this month following September's 25-basis-point increase.
Later that day, the operator of the global Uniqlo clothing chain, Fast Retailing, reports annual results.
It serves as a bellwether for consumer spending in Japan and China.
While analysts expect another solid performance, investors will focus on its guidance and the impacts of rising energy costs and the weak yen on margins.
(5) On Sunday, Brazil held a national election.
Brazil went to the polls on Sunday in a vote that will show whether Latin America's biggest economy joins the rightward political shift seen across much of the region, or carves its own path.
Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was expected to ‌clinch a narrow lead in the first round. His challenger was Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, whose coup conviction after the 2022 election remains a rallying point for conservatives at home and abroad.
However, after voting, Flávio Bolsonaro is now the favorite to become Brazil’s next president after defying polls to take a commanding lead in the first round of voting in Sunday’s elections, heralding the prospect of a major political shake-up in Latin America’s largest country.
Bolsonaro, won 47 per cent of the vote compared with 45.2 per cent for leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with almost all the ballots counted.
The two will contest a run-off on October 25th.
For investors, the stakes are high. Brazil's elevated interest rates have made the real a carry-trade darling, but they are also squeezing households and businesses and fueling concerns over growth.
Whoever wins, the next president inherits a fiscal headache and markets remain wary that either camp can put Brazil's rising debt burden on a more sustainable path.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stocks
Next, I picked three “hot” Zacks #1 (STRONG BUY) large-cap stocks.
(1) Palantir Technologies: This is a $190 a share tech growth stock, with a market cap of $456.7B
It is found in the Zacks Internet Software industry. The stock holds a Zacks Value score of F, a Zacks Growth score of B, and a Zacks Momentum score of C.
F12M P/E: 118.2.
Palantir Technologies builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community principally in the United States.
Palantir Technologies is based in Denver, Colorado.
(2) BP: This is a $44.50 a share oil & gas stock, with a market cap of $116.6B
It is found in Zacks Oil & Gas — Integrated International industry. The stock holds a Zacks Value score of A, a Zacks Growth score of B, and a Zacks Momentum score of B.
F12M P/E: 6.4.
BP has come a long way since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill incident in 2010, which followed the explosion on the British energy giant's Deepwater Horizon rig.
To combat its huge litigation expenses that stemmed from the disaster, the company embarked on a massive asset divestment program and relied significantly on debt capital. BP successfully settled all litigation with the relatively insignificant cash outlays remaining.
BP has been banking on its strong portfolio of upstream projects.
BP is also on track to capitalize on the global economy's transition to lower carbon fuels. The company has been investing in renewable energy business with a plan to ramp up capital spending for non-oil and gas business. In fact, BP has plans of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050.
Its reportable segments now are: Oil Production & Operations, Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Customers & Products and Rosneft.
It entered a non-binding MOU with Eni to combine their upstream portfolios into a joint venture in Angola.
(3) Quanta Services: This is a $663 a share Industrials stock, with a market cap of $99.6B
It is found in the Zacks Engineering – R&D Services industry. The stock holds a Zacks Value score of F, a Zacks Growth score of A, and a Zacks Momentum score of C.
F12M P/E: 39.7.
Quanta is a leading national provider of specialty contracting services, and one of the largest contractors serving the transmission and distribution sector of the North American electric utility industry.
Quanta has operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and other selected international markets.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Palantir Technologies, BP and Quanta

Palantir Technologies PLTR has gained roughly 42% over the past three months, reflecting growing investor confidence in the company’s artificial intelligence strategy, accelerating commercial adoption and expanding government presence. While the share-price rally raises valuation concerns, PLTR’s improving economics and increasingly entrenched position within customer operations strengthen the long-term investment case.
Palantir’s Ontology Creates a Powerful Enterprise Foundation
One of Palantir’s most important competitive advantages is its Ontology framework. Rather than treating enterprise information as disconnected data points, the platform models an organization around the real-world assets, customers, orders, facilities and operational relationships that define its business.
This structure allows applications to act on enterprise information within established rules, permissions and workflows. As a result, Palantir is positioned to become more than an analytics vendor. Its software can operate as a digital foundation connecting data, decisions and business processes.
The investment case becomes particularly compelling as artificial intelligence adoption expands. More capable AI models alone do not guarantee meaningful business outcomes. Enterprises still need systems that connect models with trusted data, workflows and controlled actions. Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform, or AIP, addresses this gap by helping organizations deploy AI within operational environments rather than keeping it confined to experimental applications.
Once a customer builds its initial use case around Palantir’s platform, additional applications can be created on the same underlying structure. This potentially improves returns on the original implementation while increasing the difficulty and cost of replacing the platform.
Growth and Customer Spending Remain Exceptional
Palantir delivered another exceptionally strong quarter, with revenues reaching $1.94 billion and advancing 93% year over year. U.S. commercial revenues rose 149% to $764 million, while U.S. government revenues climbed 90% to $809 million.
The company also generated a GAAP operating margin of 47%, while adjusted free cash flow reached $1.22 billion, representing a margin of 63%. Net dollar retention increased to 157% from 150% sequentially, indicating that existing customers are significantly expanding their use of Palantir products.
U.S. commercial customer count rose 35% year over year to 653. The contrast between customer growth and revenue expansion is particularly noteworthy. Palantir is generating substantially more revenue from existing customers as organizations broaden deployments after initial adoption.
This dynamic supports the argument that Palantir’s platforms become more valuable as customers build additional applications on top of their established digital infrastructure.
Improving Deployment Efficiency Could Unlock More Growth
Another potential catalyst lies in Palantir’s deployment model. Historically, the company has relied heavily on highly skilled engineers to work closely with customers during implementation. That approach can accelerate value creation but may also limit how quickly Palantir can onboard new customers.
Greater automation and self-service capabilities could therefore represent an important next phase of growth. If PLTR can reduce the level of manual engineering required for new deployments while maintaining implementation quality, it could accelerate customer additions without needing a comparable expansion in sales or technical headcount.
Such operating leverage would further strengthen an already attractive business model.
Government Platform Adoption Adds Strategic Value
Palantir’s government business provides another source of long-term strength. Its Maven-related platform activity illustrates how deeply the company can become embedded within large operational programs.
More than 25,000 developers and participants have reportedly been building applications and AI agents around the platform. Although this should not be interpreted as paid-user data, the level of participation suggests that Palantir technology can become an operating environment on which additional tools and workflows are created.
That type of ecosystem can reinforce customer dependence on the underlying platform and expand its strategic importance over time.
Analyst Sentiment Remains Highly Favorable
Consensus estimates continue to support Palantir’s growth trajectory. Earnings are projected to increase 114.7% in 2026 and 40% in 2027, while revenue growth expectations remain robust at 83% in 2026 and 42.5% in 2027.
Analyst sentiment has also improved considerably. Over the past 60 days, analysts issued 10 upward earnings estimate revisions for 2026 and none downward. Forecasts for 2027 also moved higher, with 10 upward revisions and none downward, reflecting growing confidence in Palantir’s execution capabilities and expanding AI opportunity.
Valuation and Accounting Risks Should Not Be Ignored
Palantir’s rapid appreciation means investors are paying heavily for future growth. A forward EV/EBITDA multiple around 66 times reflects expectations for sustained exceptional revenue growth, margin expansion and cash generation.
Stock-based compensation also remains meaningful. It totaled about $265 million in the latest quarter, equivalent to nearly 14% of revenues, creating ongoing dilution concerns.
Investors should also be cautious about extrapolating current net profitability. Palantir’s unusually low effective tax rate contributed to reported earnings strength and may not represent a normalized long-term tax profile.
How Do Palantir’s Peers Stack Up?
Microsoft MSFT remains one of the most important comparisons because of its expanding enterprise AI ecosystem and deep integration of AI tools into corporate software environments. Microsoft benefits from enormous distribution through Azure and its productivity applications. Still, Palantir differentiates itself by focusing heavily on linking AI directly with operational data and workflows. Microsoft remains a formidable competitor, but Palantir’s specialized architecture could sustain demand in complex deployments where governance, integration and execution are critical.
Oracle ORCL is another relevant enterprise technology peer due to its extensive database, cloud infrastructure and business-application footprint. Oracle continues to expand its AI capabilities across enterprise systems, giving customers another pathway for integrating AI with critical corporate data. However, Palantir’s emphasis on building operational digital environments across disparate systems provides a different value proposition. Oracle has considerable scale, while Palantir is increasingly positioning itself as a specialized operating layer for AI-enabled decision-making.
Why PLTR Looks Like a Buy
Palantir’s investment case rests on more than rapid AI-related revenue growth. The company is becoming deeply embedded within critical customer operations, while expanding deployments suggest rising platform value after initial adoption. Its ability to connect artificial intelligence with governed enterprise workflows creates meaningful differentiation and potentially high switching costs. Improving deployment efficiency could broaden customer adoption, while government and commercial momentum provide multiple growth avenues. Valuation remains demanding and shareholder dilution deserves attention, but Palantir’s expanding strategic importance, exceptional operating leverage and strengthening customer economics support continued upside. For investors comfortable with premium valuations, PLTR remains a Buy.
PLTR stock currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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Palantir Stock Surges 42% in 3 Months: Is PLTR Worth Buying?

Warren Buffett once sat down with Coca-Cola’s (NYSE: KO) annual report from 1896, which is a level of homework most investors will never attempt. He observed how the company sold 116,492 gallons of syrup that year. A century later, it sold 3.2 billion.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
For Buffett, the report was proof of a rule he already lived by: Buy businesses “virtually certain to possess enormous competitive strength” 10 or 20 years from now. He also admitted that even after a lifetime of looking, he and Charlie Munger found only a few. He called them “The Inevitables.”
We asked analysts on Team Hidden Gems and Team Rule Breakers what their favorite Inevitable is: A stock they’d buy for 20 years. Here’s what they picked.
1. AerCap Holdings
AerCap Holdings (NYSE: AER) was built to profit from aviation’s chronic dysfunction.
The company is the world’s largest aircraft lessor, having twice bought its largest rival. Plane manufacturers seek permission from AerCap before launching new models. This is a business built on scale. Size buys cheaper financing, better terms from manufacturers, and a clearer view of which aircraft will hold their value.
Global demand has never been stronger. Millions across Asia, Africa, and Latin America will board their first flight in the coming decades. The carriers serving them will favor leasing over tying up scarce capital. And by keeping only the newest models in its fleet, AerCap can easily re-home any aircraft returned to it as part of a bankruptcy.
This is a cash-generation machine that has reduced its share count by 25% over the past three years while also paying a dividend. Few companies are set up better for continued success over the next 20 years.
2. Microsoft
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) brings a large portfolio of services that businesses around the world depend on: 365, Windows, Azure, and more. Customers use these tools every day, which gives the company a wide moat, and Microsoft keeps widening it with additional services and upgrades.
Microsoft also sits at the cutting edge of new technology. It’s a major player in the artificial intelligence revolution, but it uses a smart approach: build AI into the suite customers already use, so they get new tools and new ways to work without having to shift to a new platform. Looking ahead, Microsoft continues to research the next frontier of tech, such as quantum computing.
The company’s fantastic balance sheet and financial resources give it room to invest in the future and protect it from current risks. Microsoft has the cash flow and liquidity to fund a major investment push today and still keep a strong safety net against potential market and economic shocks.
I believe this company will still rank among the biggest tech companies two decades from now, and will continue to lead in innovation, no matter what twists and turns the future brings.
3. Alphabet
Plenty of companies will profit from AI over the next 20 years, but my money is on Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) to be one of the biggest winners. It has posted 12 straight quarters of double-digit revenue growth, and it still owns search. Gemini now answers questions at the top of Google’s search results, and Search revenue grew 17% last quarter, suggesting AI is strengthening Google’s core business.
Google’s products are easy to use and hard to leave. More than 3 billion people use its productivity apps, and when Google raised prices for business customers in 2025, the number of paying organizations still grew past 11 million. Businesses building their own AI pushed Google Cloud revenue up 82% last quarter, giving the tech giant a second major revenue stream that doesn’t depend on ad budgets.
As long as people keep working inside its products, and Alphabet keeps getting paid for the AI built into them, I’m happy to own it for 20 years.
4. Palantir
Palantir’s (NASDAQ: PLTR) biggest growth engine today isn’t Washington, it’s corporate America. When a vinyl window manufacturer integrated Palantir’s platform, its on-time complete deliveries shot up from 40% to 90%. Wall Street missed what that meant. Last quarter, Palantir’s U.S. commercial sales soared nearly 150% year over year.
Palantir builds a living, real-time blueprint of an enterprise. Every customer order, delivery truck, factory floor line, and inventory count is mapped into a single operational brain. Third-party AI models plug in as simple, interchangeable tools; the models are replaceable, but the underlying operational map is not. Rip out Palantir, and you dismantle a corporation’s entire digital nervous system. That extreme switching cost is the moat.
As AI models become cheaper and more commoditized, the data structure holding everything together becomes even more valuable. Palantir holds a two-decade head start operating inside battlefield units, hospital networks, and manufacturing plants.
CEO Alex Karp and co-founders control nearly half of the voting power through Class F shares, so a cash-rich rival can’t just buy Palantir and hijack its technology. Mark Zuckerberg’s similar control at Meta (NASDAQ: META) has rewarded patient shareholders handsomely.
As long as Palantir remains the irreplaceable central nervous system for complex organizations, the long-term thesis remains firmly intact.
5. Today’s Question!
Four stocks down, more to go! Stay tuned for Part 2 of the 20-Year Stock Challenge later this month, with more analysts and their favorite picks.
Until then, it’s your turn to make a call for 2046.
If you could buy one stock today and hold for 20 years, which would it be and why?
Debate with friends and family, or become a member to hear what your fellow Fools are saying!
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Lou Whiteman has positions in AerCap. Michael McCoy has positions in Alphabet, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Sanmeet Deo, CFA has positions in Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Palantir Technologies. Toby Bordelon has positions in Alphabet and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AerCap, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $60 calls on AerCap. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Founded in 1993 in Alexandria, VA., by brothers David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company dedicated to building the world's greatest investment community. Reaching millions of people each month through its website, books, newspaper column, radio show, television appearances, and subscription newsletter services, The Motley Fool champions shareholder values and advocates tirelessly for the individual investor. The company's name was taken from Shakespeare, whose wise fools both instructed and amused, and could speak the truth to the king -- without getting their heads lopped off.

Indicator	Mar 26	Jun 26	Jul 26	Sep 26	Oct 26	TTM	Median
P/E	164.36	99.72	—	159.87	—	159.87	33.34
Price/Sales	71.71	48.61	—	—	—	48.61	2.86
P/B	40.98	28.36	34.48	—	—	34.48	3.01
P/FCF	139.75	89.21	117.57	—	—	117.57	23.04

Indicator	Mar 26	Jun 26	Jul 26	Sep 26	Oct 26	TTM	Median
ROE	31.75	37.01	—	—	—	37.01	14.14
ROA	26.41	31.04	—	—	—	31.04	6.67
ROI	0.00	0.00	—	—	—	0.00	10.08
Net Worth	376.08	299.69	—	—	488.16	488.16	1.02
Quick Ratio	0.00	—	—	—	—	0.00	1.59
Current Ratio	6.91	—	—	—	—	6.91	1.86

Indicator	Mar 26	Jun 26	Jul 26	Sep 26	Oct 26	TTM	Median
Net Profit Margin	43.69	49.03	—	—	—	49.03	10.12
Operating Margin	38.11	42.79	—	—	—	42.79	10.80
Gross Margin	84.08	84.81	—	—	—	84.81	50.00
Return on tangible equity	31.75	37.01	—	—	—	37.01	26.05

Indicator	Mar 26	Jun 26	Jul 26	Sep 26	Oct 26	TTM	Median
EPS	—	—	—	—	—	0.06	0.36
EPS Forecast	—	—	—	—	—	0.05	0.25
Revenue	1.63B	1.94B	—	—	—	1.94B	66.00M
Gross Profit	1.42B	1.64B	—	—	—	1.64B	—
EBITDA	761.00M	920.00M	—	—	—	920.00M	—

Palantir Technologies Inc.

Recent quarterly and TTM performance

Valuation

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Other ratios

Revenue