Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, speaks during the Digital X event in Cologne, Germany, on September 7, 2021.
Andreas Rentz | Getty Images
Palantir Stocks continued their strong run on Friday, rising 11% to a record high, after the military software developer announced plans to move its listing to the Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock jumped to over $65.77 at the close, bringing the company's market value to $150 billion. Shares are now up more than 45% since Palantir's better-than-expected earnings report last week and have nearly quadrupled in value this year.
Palantir said late Thursday that it expects to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Nov. 26, under the current ticker symbol “PLTR.” While changing listing locations does nothing to change the company's fundamentals, board member Alexander Moore, a partner at venture firm 8VC, suggested in a post on social media site In purchases through exchange-traded funds.
“Everything we do is reward and support our retail diamond followers,” Moore wrote, referring to a popular term in the cryptocurrency community for long-term believers.
Moore appears to have later deleted his X account. His company 8VC did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Last Monday, after the market closed, Palantir reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat estimates and issued a fourth-quarter forecast that was also above Wall Street expectations. CEO Alex Karp wrote in the earnings release that the company “completely off the charts this quarter” driven by demand for AI technologies.
US government revenues rose 40% from the previous year to $320 million, while US commercial revenues rose 54% to $179 million. On the earnings call, the company highlighted a five-year contract to expand its Maven technology across the US military. Palantir created Maven in 2017 to provide AI tools to the Department of Defense.
The post-earnings rise coincides with the period following last week's presidential elections. Palantir is seen as a potential beneficiary given the company's ties to the Trump camp. Co-founder and President Peter Thiel was a major supporter of Donald Trump's first victorious campaign, despite his public disagreement with Trump in the following years.
When asked in June about his position on the 2024 election, Thiel said: “If you held a gun to my head I would vote for Trump.”
The value of Thiel's holdings in Palantir has increased by about $3 billion since the earnings report and $2 billion since the election.
In September, S&P Global announced that Palantir would join the S&P 500 stock index.
Analysts at Argus Research say the rally pushed the stock too high given current financials and growth expectations. Analysts still have a long-term buy rating on the stock, and said in a report last week that the company had an “excellent” quarter, but lowered their 12-month recommendation to hold.
The stock “may be ahead of what the company's fundamentals can support,” the analysts wrote.
