Palantir (PLTR) had the kind of quarter most companies dream about. Revenue grew 96% to $2.31 billion. Wall Street wanted $2.18 billion. Profit more than doubled from a year earlier. Then the stock fell more than 3% after hours on Monday, Nov. 2. At a valuation above $400 billion, a great quarter was the price of admission.
The headline inside the headline is where the growth came from. U.S. commercial revenue, meaning sales to businesses, jumped 148% to $984 million. Sales to the U.S. government grew 96%, to $953 million. For the first time, Palantir's business customers in the U.S. paid it more than the government did. CEO Alex Karp said business leaders have learned that AI agents can be a big liability when they're set up badly, the Journal's Elias Schisgal and Heather Somerville report. Companies want more control over how they use AI, and they're paying Palantir for it.
Profit for the third quarter was $1.13 billion, or 44 cents a share. A year earlier it was $475.6 million, or 18 cents. Palantir also nudged up its forecast for the year. It now expects revenue of $8.53 billion to $8.534 billion. The old range was $8.15 billion to $8.158 billion, and analysts had $8.21 billion penciled in. Those ranges really are as narrow as they look.
Why a great quarter can still sting
The stock fell twice on Monday. It closed down 3.1% in the regular session, before the report. Then it fell about 3.85% more in late trading, to $171.48. Those are two moves off two different starting points, so don't add them together. The reason is simple. A company valued above $400 billion is priced for years of growth like this one. When the numbers match that hope, there's no surprise left to pay for. At that price a beat isn't a reward. It's the minimum.
Our read
This is an Investments/Risk · IN04 story. Palantir is held at weight in 20 of our model books. Nothing was added on Monday. We don't change a position because a good report got a shrug. We do note what the shrug means. The market has already paid for the growth. From here the stock needs more than great. It needs better than expected, every quarter, and that's a hard thing to keep up.
Here's the connection to your own money. If Palantir, or a stock like it, has run up in your account, the position is probably a lot bigger than the one you bought. Open the app this week and check the weight, not the gain. A stock that doubled your money also doubled its share of your plan. If it's grown past the size you chose on purpose, that's the number to talk about. You fix the roof while the sun's out, not when the rain starts.