Can Palantir Stock Keep Climbing After Its "Otherworldly" Earnings?

Palantir Technologies' (NASDAQ: PLTR) share price soared after the company delivered another quarter of exceptional revenue growth and continued improvements in profitability. CEO Alex Karp described the quarter as "otherworldly" in the company's earnings release, and investors sent the stock higher on the news.

There's no doubt that Palantir has produced phenomenal financial results, helping drive its valuation higher. However, investing is far more focused on what's ahead for a company. Palantir will have to continue delivering very strong quarterly earnings reports to keep pushing the stock higher from here.

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What will it take for Palantir stock to keep climbing?

As Karp put it in his letter to shareholders, "Our business is compounding at a rate and scale that we have never before witnessed." Indeed, Palantir's 93% revenue growth was bolstered by even better growth among U.S. commercial customers (149% growth) and strong U.S. government sales (90%). Just as important, adjusted operating margin expanded to 62% from 60% in the prior quarter, indicating there's still plenty of leverage in scaling the business.

Palantir also increased its full-year guidance, with revenue expected at $8.154 billion at the midpoint. That's up from the $7.656 billion management previously guided for. The confidence to raise guidance may come from strong net revenue retention, which came in at 157%, up from 150% in the first quarter. That signals that existing customers continue to spend more each quarter, which can drive significant revenue growth at Palantir's scale.

There's little doubt Palantir will continue to produce excellent operational results. The problem is, everyone already knows this. As a result, the stock trades for a very lofty valuation. The company's enterprise value is more than 45 times management's revenue guidance for 2026. Its forward price-to-earnings ratio sits around 100.

Those multiples will have to compress over time as growth eventually slows down. Management is already forecasting a slowdown in revenue growth in the back half of the year. Palantir's Rule of 40 score of 155 from the past quarter may represent its peak going forward.

Expectations are high for Palantir. That doesn't mean the SaaS stock can't meet those expectations. But for Palantir to deliver market-beating results over the next few years, it will have to exceed expectations. That's especially true given that its lofty valuation also means any disappointment in the company's future results could lead to a massive adjustment lower in the share price.

After the recent increase in price, there's even less room for error. I'd wait for another pullback in the stock before buying it.

Adam Levy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.