Palantir's stock surges toward 17-month high after company gets U.S. Special Ops contract valued at up to $463 million

By Tomi Kilgore

William Blair analyst sees contract is for 5 years, but doesn't believe it moves the revenue needle for the company

Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. headed toward a 17-month high Monday, after the software company said it was awarded a multiyear contract worth up to $463 million from the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

Palantir (PLTR) said the contract follows more than a decade of work between the company and Americas warfighters, including USSOCOM. The contract award will help USSOCOM parse petabytes of data to enable decision-making.

"We look forward to helping the command maintain its decision advantage into the next era of competition, and are deeply appreciative of the opportunity to continue serving this critical community," said Akash Jain, president of Palantir USG.

Palantir, which has seen its stock get a recent boost from the artificial-intelligence craze, has made advancements in large language models (LLMs) and edge AI to reduce cognitive load on warfighters and commanders.

The stock rallied 4.5% in afternoon trading, putting it on track to close at the highest level since Jan. 14, 2022.

Analyst Louie DiPalma at William Blair said the award was a renewal of an existing contract, but believes it was at a higher revenue run-rate.

Based on conversations within the industry, DiPalma believes the period of performance is five years. He also believes the revenue run-rate is in the mid-$80 million range, compared with the prior revenue run-rate of $65 million.

"As a result, there is a net increase of roughly $20 million for the annual revenue run-rate," DiPalma wrote in a note to clients. "Based on Palantir's $2.2 billion annual revenue run-rate, this renewal does not move the needle."

Palantir's stock has rocketed 136.6% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Software & Services exchange-traded fund (XSW) has climbed 17.5% and the S&P 500 index has advanced 11.2%.

-Tomi Kilgore

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-05-23 1449ET

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.