Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR)
Palantir builds complex software platforms that help large organisations and governments make sense of massive amounts of messy data.
Is Palantir Technologies Inc. a good stock for a UK beginner?
The honest version: There's no rating here and nothing for sale. In its favour: Extremely high profit margins on software sales. Worth weighing: Very high valuation multiples compared to typical companies.
Is this normal for this company?
Each figure against the range this same company has produced recently. Neither end of a range is the good end.
Share price divided by the earnings actually reported over the four most recent quarters. The range is the same calculation at each of this company's last few results, so roughly the past year.
Profit as a share of sales, from the company's own quarterly statements. The range covers the 5 quarters we hold, and the figure shown is its most recent one.
How these ranges are built
Every number here is the company's own reported figure, not a comparison with other companies. The ranges come from this company's own results and its share price. Where it reports in a different currency from the one its shares trade in, the price-to-earnings range is left out rather than mixing the two.
What does Palantir Technologies Inc. do?
Palantir creates tools that act like a digital brain, connecting disparate pieces of information so that analysts can spot patterns and make decisions quickly. Most of the takings come from subscriptions to these platforms, sold mainly to government agencies and large corporations. How successfully they can expand their software beyond government contracts into the commercial business world will be decisive.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and quality, and weakest on value.
- !Pays no dividend - the whole return rides on the share price
- ✓Growing - revenue up about 93% over the year
- ✓Very profitable - turns about 49% of sales into profit
- !High P/E of 150 - big growth is already priced in
- ✓Low debt - a sturdier balance sheet
- ✓Strong return on shareholder money (ROE 38%)
- Quality screens high
- Growth screens high
- Value screens low
- Income screens low
Does Palantir Technologies Inc. pay a dividend?
No - Palantir Technologies Inc. doesn't currently pay a dividend, so the whole return would rest on the share price. Plenty of growing companies reinvest their profits instead of paying them out - neither approach is better or worse, they're just different.
Does Palantir Technologies Inc. have more cash or more debt?
It holds about $9.41B in cash against about $211.40M of debt - so it has net cash of about $9.20B. More cash than debt is a cushion: it does not need to borrow just to cover what it owes.
From the latest reported balance sheet. Cash and debt levels change, and some borrowing is normal - this is context, not a judgment.
What do Palantir Technologies Inc.'s numbers mean?
How has it performed?
Growth of £1,000, the worst fall, and year by year
Over about 2 years to 2026-09-11. This is the share price only; any dividends would add to it. And it's the USD return - as a UK investor your actual £ return also moves with the exchange rate. Past performance is not a guide to the future, and it could just as easily have fallen.
How much has Palantir Technologies Inc. actually fallen?
Over the last 2 years of daily prices, Palantir Technologies Inc. fell as much as −48% from a high to a later low. Falls like this are normal when you own a share.
Past falls are not a forecast - it can fall further, or recover.
How has it done year by year?
Calendar-year total return - the share price with dividends reinvested - from adjusted closing prices. The current year is only part-complete. Past returns are not a guide to the future.
A closer look at the numbers
Ownership, earnings history, where the money goes, and the outlook range
Does the share price tell you if it's cheap or expensive?
Who owns Palantir Technologies Inc.?
About 63% of Palantir Technologies Inc., or about 63 in every 100 shares, is held by big institutions such as pension and index funds, and company insiders hold about 3%. The rest, roughly 34%, is held by the public and smaller investors.
What this does and doesn't tell you
This is a recent snapshot of the share register, and it moves. We don't read anything into who owns what - a high institutional share is common for any large listed company and is not a signal about it.
Based on beta - how much the price swings versus the whole market. Bumpier isn't bad; it just means a rougher ride, which matters more the sooner you might need the money.
Prices move on results, news and the mood of the whole market - no single headline explains a day, and a quiet week is usually just noise, not a signal.
How much money does Palantir Technologies Inc. make?
Revenue and profit by quarter, and how much of each sale turns into profit.
Where does each £100 of Palantir Technologies Inc.'s sales go?
A rough split of the latest full-year figures: of every £100 of sales, about £15 covers making the product or service, £36 goes on running costs, tax and interest, and about £49 is left as profit. Margins vary a lot by industry, and one-off items can distort a single year.
When does Palantir Technologies Inc. report earnings, and how did recent quarters go?
Palantir Technologies Inc. is next scheduled to report on about 2026-11-02 - dates can move, and we don't predict results; this just tells you when to look.
‘Beat’ and ‘missed’ are against what analysts expected, not whether the business is doing well.
| Reported | Expected EPS: The earnings per share analysts expected for the quarter - the average of their forecasts. 'Beating' or 'missing' is measured against this number. | Actual EPS | vs expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-03 | $0.35 | $0.41 | Beat +19% |
| 2026-05-04 | $0.28 | $0.33 | Beat +18% |
| 2026-02-02 | $0.23 | $0.25 | Beat +9% |
| 2025-11-03 | $0.17 | $0.21 | Beat +25% |
| 2025-08-04 | $0.14 | $0.16 | Beat +16% |
| 2025-05-05 | $0.13 | $0.13 | Beat +1% |
Across the last 6 quarters here, Palantir Technologies Inc. came in ahead of what analysts expected 6 times. One quarter is noise, not a trend.
See who else reports over the next two weeks →
Where these figures come from
Each quarter a company reports its results against a consensus of analyst forecasts. The figures here are reported versus expected earnings per share from published results; the expectation is that analyst consensus, not our view. Report dates are estimates and can move.
What are the scenarios for Palantir Technologies Inc.?
An illustrative range for the year ahead — not a prediction or a price target.
What are the pros, cons and common questions?
The case each way, and the questions people ask
Palantir becomes the standard for enterprise data management
Increased competition eroding profit margins
What are the pros and cons of Palantir Technologies Inc.?
A balance check, not a score or verdict.
- Extremely high profit margins on software sales
- Strong track record of securing long-term government contracts
- Significant growth in both revenue and earnings
- Very high valuation multiples compared to typical companies
- No dividend payments for shareholders
- Share price is prone to high volatility
- Heavy reliance on a limited number of large government clients
- Intense competition from other tech giants in the data space
- Potential for regulatory scrutiny regarding data privacy
The write-up's own warning lights — if these start happening, the case above changes.
- A sustained drop in revenue growth rates
- Loss of major government contracts
Common questions about Palantir Technologies Inc.
Does Palantir Technologies Inc. pay a dividend?
No - Palantir Technologies Inc. does not currently pay a dividend, so the return would rest on the share price. Many growing companies reinvest profits instead of paying them out.
When does Palantir Technologies Inc. report earnings next?
Palantir Technologies Inc. is next scheduled to report results on about 2026-11-02. Report dates are estimates and can move; this is a diary note for when to look, not a forecast of the outcome.
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This plain-English summary was auto-generated on 2026-08-02 from public data and checked for an education-only, no-advice tone (the figures above carry their own, usually fresher, 'as of' date). It's information, never a recommendation.