Palantir beats fourth-quarter estimates on the energy of AI and protection demand


Palantir Applied sciences CEO Alex Karp attends the 56th annual World Financial Discussion board (WEF) assembly in Davos, Switzerland, January 20, 2026.

Denis Balibouse | Reuters

Palantir topped Wall Avenue’s fourth-quarter estimates as extra companies and the U.S. authorities race to purchase its synthetic intelligence instruments.

Shares rose about 7%.

This is how the corporate did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 25 cents adjusted vs. 23 cents anticipated
  • Income: $1.41 billion vs. $1.33 billion anticipated

Income grew 70% from $827.5 million within the year-ago interval. For the fiscal yr, gross sales on the Denver-based agency totaled $4.48 billion

U.S. income for the federal government and business sectors rose to $570 million and $507 million, respectively. These outcomes steadily beat estimates from analysts polled by FactSet.

CEO Alex Karp known as the earnings “indisputably the most effective outcomes that I am conscious of in tech within the final decade” throughout an interview with CNBC’s Morgan Brennan.

“If you happen to’re not spending it on this, you are not spending on one thing that’s a part of maintaining with momentum,” he added.

Trying ahead, the AI-powered software program supplier mentioned it expects $1.532 billion to $1.536 billion in income for the primary quarter, nicely above the $1.32 billion projected by FactSet. For fiscal 2026, the corporate guided to a variety of $7.182 billion to $7.198 billion in income, beating the FactSet expectation of $6.22 billion.

Palantir, which creates software program and knowledge instruments bought to companies and authorities businesses such because the Division of Protection, the Inside Income Service and the Division of Homeland Safety, has seen a lift from skyrocketing demand for AI techniques and broad retail investor enthusiasm.

Karp famous the continued adoption of its instruments by the U.S. authorities, a section that noticed 66% progress.

“America has turn out to be extra deadly, extra assured, extra divergent from our adversaries, and, fairly frankly, from our allies,” he mentioned.

Karp mentioned demand is so robust for its merchandise, and Palantir has turn out to be “so engaged within the U.S.” that it has held off on promoting new merchandise to allies.

Palantir will maintain an earnings name with analysts at 5 p.m. ET.

A lot of that demand has come from the Division of Protection, Karp mentioned. This previous summer season, the corporate signed an as much as $10 billion contract with the U.S. Military to assist its software program and knowledge wants.

In current weeks, Palantir has confronted backlash over its work with the Division of Homeland Safety, and, extra particularly, its work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal brokers fatally shot two protestors in Minneapolis.

“If you’re important of ICE, try to be on the market protesting for extra Palantir,” he informed CNBC. “Our product, truly, in its core, requires folks to adapt with Fourth Modification knowledge protections.”

Palantir’s U.S. business revenues greater than doubled from final yr, whereas the remaining U.S. business deal worth rose 145% yr over yr to $4.38 billion. In the course of the interval, Palantir introduced a partnership with main AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Internet earnings totaled $608 million, or 24 cents per share. The corporate reported web earnings of $79 million, or 3 cents per share, a yr in the past.

Buyers had excessive expectations for Palantir heading into the earnings report. The beloved inventory amongst retail buyers has rallied 81% over the past yr. However some Wall Avenue analysts have raised considerations in regards to the inventory’s lofty a number of, with shares down about 15% in 2026.

In November, quick vendor Michael Burry revealed a guess in opposition to the software program analytics agency and chipmaker Nvidia. On the time, Karp informed CNBC that the transfer was “bats— loopy” and known as out “market manipulation.”

Then, the inventory wrapped its worst month in two years as buyers pivoted away from AI shares as a consequence of valuation considerations and worries of a bubble.

In a letter to shareholders, Karp known as Palantir’s revenue “pure and uncontrived” regardless of rising strain for AI corporations to deal with fundamentals.

The corporate’s business section has benefitted from the necessity for software program to offer construction to giant language fashions, he added.

“Something missing a zealous deal with the worth being created by these technical techniques, the mice that the cat truly catches, will finally fade to gray and be forgotten,” Karp wrote.