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Shares of Palantir Applied sciences (NASDAQ: PLTR) exploded 27% greater right now (4 February). This follows the software program firm’s fourth-quarter earnings, which as soon as once more crushed Wall Avenue’s estimates.
Extremely, the share value is now up 1,557% because the begin of 2023! As I write, this implies a £20k funding made inside a Shares and Shares ISA again then would have mushroomed into roughly £332k (discounting forex strikes).
That even leaves fellow AI inventory Nvidia within the mud — it’s up ‘simply’ 700% on this interval.
Sadly, I’ve by no means owned the inventory, regardless of contemplating it a handful of instances because it went public in 2020. Ought to I now rectify this expensive oversight? Let’s check out the earnings.
Palantir scores a hat-trick
For the fourth quarter, Palantir reported that income grew 36% 12 months on 12 months to $828m. This was higher than the $776m that analysts have been anticipating (beat primary).
Subsequent, the corporate’s adjusted earnings per share (EPS) climbed 75% to $0.14. Once more, this was greater than Wall Avenue was anticipating ($0.11). In order that was beat quantity two.
Lastly, administration supplied better-than-expected steering for 2025. It sees full-year income of $3.75bn (31% development), greater than the $3.52bn that was beforehand anticipated.
What we have now right here then is a giant double beat (on the highest and backside strains) and a steering elevate. Palantir’s income continues to speed up!
Why is that this taking place?
The factor that’s fuelling all this development is the corporate’s Synthetic Intelligence Platform (AIP). That is serving to organisations and enterprises harness AI to analyse huge quantities of knowledge, automate advanced duties, and maker smarter selections. It may possibly uncover patterns and forecast future traits in actual time.
The numbers communicate for themselves. US business income within the quarter rocketed 64% to $214m, whereas US authorities income jumped 45%. Its buyer rely grew 43% because it closed 129 offers value at the least $1m, 58 offers of at the least $5m, and 32 offers value at least $10m!
Eccentric CEO Alex Karp is all the time value quoting. In Palantir’s letter to shareholders, he mentioned: “We now have the merchandise and attain of a longtime incumbent and the pace, development, and agility of an rebel startup. It’s that the majority deadly of combos.”
In Q3, he mentioned {that a} “juggernaut is rising“. In This autumn, the CEO confirmed that the “software program juggernaut has certainly emerged“. The juggernaut, after all, being Palantir.
In some ways, Karp jogs my memory of David Goggins, the previous Navy SEAL turned motivational speaker. If I need motivation to stand up on a chilly morning to go for a run, or end that final mile, I may placed on certainly one of his rousing YouTube speeches.
Likewise, if I ever doubt the AI revolution has legs, I can tune into Karp’s quarterly commentary on AI. Reassuringly, he says: “We’re nonetheless within the earliest phases, the start of the primary act, of a revolution that can play out over years and many years.”
Insane valuation
Make no mistake, these numbers are mightily spectacular. Nevertheless, I’m nonetheless left with the impression that this high-quality inventory is grossly overvalued. Based mostly on the 2025 forecast, it’s now buying and selling at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of round 64.
In my expertise, it’s harmful to speculate at this a number of. So I feel buyers contemplating the inventory ought to tread rigorously.
