Palantir, the software and artificial intelligence company, reported better-than-expected earnings, causing its stock to surge nearly 20% in after-hours trading. The company reported revenue of $608.4 million, surpassing analyst expectations of $602.4 million. The strong performance was attributed to the company’s growth in U.S. commercial revenue, which increased by 70% year-over-year. Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, stated that the company’s ongoing transformation has positioned it as a fundamentally new software business. The company expects to generate at least $2.6 billion in revenue in 2024. Analyst Dan Ives called Palantir the Messi of AI and increased his price target to $30 from $25.
In other tech news, Tesla’s stock continued to face downward pressure, falling more than 3.5% on Monday. The decline was attributed to a heavy price cut by Piper Sandler, which also expressed concerns about Tesla’s aging product lineup. Additionally, German software corporation SAP announced that it would no longer purchase company cars from Tesla. Piper Sandler lowered its price target for Tesla to $225 from $295 and projected that the company would deliver only 1.93 million vehicles in 2024, below Tesla’s own expectations of at least 2.2 million sales.
Looking ahead, Snap is set to report its earnings after the bell on Tuesday, followed by Disney, Uber, and Roblox on Wednesday, and Cloudflare on Thursday. The trial for the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Google is scheduled to begin on September 9, 2024. The lawsuit alleges that Google illegally monopolized digital advertising products. The European Union’s 27 member states recently endorsed the EU’s AI Act, which includes transparency requirements for AI models and greater requirements for more powerful models. The act is expected to be formally adopted in April.
Overall, Palantir’s strong earnings, Tesla’s ongoing struggles, and upcoming tech earnings reports are all shaping the current landscape of the tech industry.
