Stock Market Today, March 24: Palantir Falls on Tech Weakness Despite New Government Contract Wins
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR), a data integration and analytics platform provider, closed Tuesday at $154.78, down 3.77%. The stock moved lower during the regular session as tech-sector weakness and valuation concerns outweighed recent government-contract wins. Investors are also watching how durable demand for its AI-driven government work remains.
Trading volume reached 54.3 million shares, coming in nearly 13% above its three-month average of 47.9 million shares. Palantir Technologies IPO'd in 2020 and has grown 1,529% since going public.
How the markets moved today
S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) slipped 0.36% to finish Tuesday at 6,557, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) fell 0.84% to close at 21,762. Among leading technology names, industry peers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) closed at $372.74 (-2.68%) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) finished at $290.44 (-3.85%), reflecting broader pressure on high-valuation software stocks.
What this means for investors
Palantir stock dropped with general tech weakness today, but there were also optimistic signs for the company’s continued strong growth. Valuation has always been a concern with Palantir stock, as it still trades for a future price-to-sales ratio of about 50 despite soaring revenue.
Its government and military contract business continues to be a focus. Most recently it’s Maven Smart AI System was designated a “program of record” by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Investors will want to continue to see announcements like that for the company to realize growth close to the 66% increase in U.S. government revenue Palantir reported in Q4.
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Howard Smith has positions in Alphabet and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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