The name Palantir (PLTR) was inspired by "The Lord of the Rings," where the magical palantíri were "seeing stones" that enabled users to view events across vast distances.
The name hints at what Palantir does: systems providing big-data analytics, identifying complex patterns and offering solutions for applications in security and privacy.
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The US government is Palantir's largest client. It also serves enterprise clients like Airbus and Merck KGaA.
On Dec. 6 Palantir announced a partnership with defense-technology provider Anduril Industries to enhance artificial intelligence training for defense applications.
Three days later the company said it expanded its contract with the U.S. Special Operations Command, securing a $36.8 million deal to act as the lead software integrator for its Mission Command System.
Palantir shifted its stock listing to the Nasdaq Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 26. The move made PLTR shares eligible for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100, which is broadly tracked by passive funds.
Palantir stock more than quadrupled in 2024 through Dec. 10, driven by the company’s expanding role in AI and increased demand for the technology and its applications. In November, the company posted quarterly results that were well above Wall Street expectations.
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Palantir stock could surge, veteran analyst says
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) dropped 5.1% on Monday, as all the major U.S. indexes declined. Investors are wondering whether this dip signals a buying opportunity or if the stock has more room to fall.
Wall Street veteran Stephen "Sarge" Guilfoyle just shared his views on Palantir stock with TheStreet. He'd predicted Palantir's growth as early as May 2024.
Related: Analyst who forecast Palantir's rally makes another bold call
Guilfoyle's career stretches back to the 1980s on the NYSE floor. His investment style is best described as hybrid. He blends economic, fundamental and technical analysis to determine which stocks are worthy of his hard-earned investment capital.
Guilfoyle sees upside potential for Palantir in the deal with the U.S. Special Operations Command, known as Socom.
"Though the dollar amount [of $36.8 million] is not what might make investors really take note, this was the first deployment for Palantir's Mission Manager platform to special-operations units," he wrote on Dec. 10.
"It is really more about the opportunity to be the lead software integrator for the military's Socom units, which one could see as being potentially lucrative, and not about an immediate increase in the top-line performance," Guilfoyle said.
Guilfoyle also commented on Palantir’s shift to Nasdaq, saying this could mean that Palantir management is actively pursuing broader appeal and better stock prices for its shareholders.
Related: Veteran trader revamps Palantir stock price target on Nasdaq move
Guilfoyle, who raised his price target on Palantir to $70 in November, now has a target price of $90 on the stock, the highest among Wall Street analysts.
He warned, however, that the shares could be volatile in the short term.
“Given the macroeconomic data points that we expect to be released over the next two days and the potential for firm-specific news on Friday, it might seem obvious that the firm will go through a period of increased volatility,” Guilfoyle wrote.
He noted that Nasdaq 100 announcement for inclusion of Palantir might come on Friday, Dec. 13, when the index is reconstituted.
Is Palantir fairly valued? Some are skeptical.
Some analysts are skeptical of Palantir’s valuation.
On Nov. 7, Jefferies and Argus downgraded the stock to underperform from hold and to hold from buy, respectively. The two firms argued that Palantir’s fundamentals might not fully support its stock price.
Jefferies said Palantir would need to accelerate growth to 40% for four consecutive years and trade at 12 times estimated 2028 revenue "just to hold its stock price, which seems unlikely," thefly.com reported.
As of Dec. 10, Palantir’s forward price-to-earnings multiple exceeded 161. A multiple of that size could mean the stock is overvalued relative to peers, and the price might not be sustainable if the company fails to meet growth expectations.
Guilfoyle is critical of the two investment firms.
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"Don't let the guys rattle you," he said in November. "They both are longtime PLTR bears and have been wrong every step of the way. Neither of these analysts has had anything better than a hold rating on PLTR at any point this year."
About half of Palantir's available shares are owned by individual investors, according to FactSet data The Wall Street Journal pulled in September.
Palantir stock closed at $72.46 on Dec. 9.
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