Palantir soars on earnings beat and prediction of full-year profitability

Shares of Palantir rose as much as 28% in extended trading Monday after the company released first-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and said it expects to be profitable through the end of the year.

Here’s how the company did:

• EPS:  5 cents adjusted vs. 4 cents expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv
• Revenue: $525 million vs. $506 million expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv

Palantir’s revenue for the quarter increased 18% year over year, and its U.S. commercial revenue grew 26%. The software company, which is known for its work with the government, said its U.S. commercial customer count increased 50% year over year, growing from 103 customers to 155.

The company reported its second-ever quarter of positive net income on a GAAP basis, at $17 million, and in a letter to shareholders, CEO Alex Karp said the company expects to remain profitable “each quarter through the end of the year.”

Last quarter, Palantir marked its first-ever quarter of positive net income on a GAAP basis, at $31 million. “This is a significant moment for us and our supporters,” Karp said in a release at the time.

Palantir said it expects to report between $528 million and $532 million in revenue during its second quarter and between $2.19 billion and $2.24 billion for the full year.

Karp also said the demand for Palantir’s new artificial intelligence platform is “without precedent.” The company’s AI platform allows commercial and government sectors to use large language models based on their own private data sets, and it will be available to “select customers” this month.

“We have already had hundreds of conversations with potential customers about deploying the software and are currently negotiating terms and pricing for access to the components of the platform,” he wrote.

Karp said that because artificial intelligence presents “real” risks Palantir’s software is designed with human involvement and oversight in mind. In other words, AI will not be able to independently carry out targeting operations in a military context.

“The machine must remain subordinate to its creator,” he said.

The company will hold its quarterly call with investors Monday at 5 p.m. ET.