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Palantir Technologies began trading on the NYSE in September.
Michael Nagle / Bloomberg
Palantir Technologies
stocks broke their six-day loss streak with a sharp rebound rally on Friday. The always-volatile stock had fallen more than 30% in six days, pressured by disappointment with the company’s fourth quarter financial results and the recent expiry of the post-IPO lock-up period for investors.
The Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column on Friday points out that the stock has been embraced by the Reddit WallStreetBets crowd, the same group of individual investors who
GameStop
stocks (ticker: GME) parabolic higher last month.
On Tuesday, Palantir (PLTR) posted sales of $ 322 million for the December quarter, up 40% from a year ago and well ahead of the Street consensus at $ 300.7 million. The company reported non-GAAP earnings of six cents a share, above Street’s consensus of two cents. On a GAAP basis, the company lost eight cents a share. Palantir said government customer revenues were $ 190 million, 85% more than a year earlier, while commercial revenues were $ 132 million, up just 4%
The big data analytics firm said it expects revenue growth of 45% for the first quarter. Palantir continues to expect revenue growth of more than 30% for the full year and announced a new target of more than $ 4 billion in revenue by 2025.
Street reaction to the results was mixed. As reported Wednesday, the stock was met after the profit
Goldman Sachs
from Neutral, with a new price target of $ 34, while William Blair moved from Market Perform to Underperform, claiming the stock was not sufficiently priced in risk. Citigroup analyst Tyler Radke reiterated his Sell rating and $ 15 target, claiming that “the stock is overvalued given the narrowing of growth drivers and increased quality issues with higher government exposure.”
Credit Suisse analyst Brad Zelnick reiterated his Underperform rating this week, setting a $ 20 price target. He wrote in a research note that the fact that the company is outperforming estimates for the quarter, but has not stepped up its outlook for 2021, “raises lingering questions about the potential magnitude of the slowdown in growth in the second half.” And he adds that the lack of full-year margin guidance “questions the sustainability of the recent margin expansion as Covid-related savings come back. [like many IT services companies, the company reduced travel spending during the pandemic] and the company invests aggressively in direct sales. “
Trading activity in this stock has skyrocketed this week before the freeze ends on Thursday. Nearly 308 million shares were traded on Thursday, the highest total on record, aside from the listing day of last September 30, when 339 million shares changed hands. Friday will be the fourth day in a row with trading in at least 149 million shares.
Palantir shares opened for trading at $ 10 last year. The stock has been very volatile over the past few weeks, trading as high as $ 45 during the day on January 27. After closing at $ 38.17 on February 9, the stock went up. in a six-day downward spiral for today’s recovery rally. On Friday, Palantir shares are up about 13% to $ 28.37. At that level, the company has a valuation of about $ 53.5 billion, or about 36 times the Street revenue consensus estimates for 2021.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]