PLTR

What is Palantir Technologies (PLTR) and what do they do?

This will either intrigue you or get your tinfoil hat out. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) is an American software company that specialises in the development, build and deployment of platforms that allow deep data analysis.

Founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Nathan Gettings, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen and CEO Alex Karp, Palantir creates “products for human-driven analysis of real-world data” so “people and institutions today can still solve hard problems and change the world for the better.”

The Colorado based company’s technology played a crucial factor in the location of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

What is Palantir used for?

Palantir offers three main platforms which also serve as its main revenue streams: Gotham, Foundry and Apollo. What Palantir is used for depends on the client and which of these platforms they’re using.

Gotham

Gotham is primarily used to process real-time information by the United States Intelligence Community including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Central Intelligence Agency. Gotham presents complex critical data in such a way that tough decisions can be made more easily. While Gotham has military applications, it is also used for law enforcement, disaster response and counter-terrorism.

Foundry

Foundry is used by commercial clients such as Amazon (AMZN), Airbus, IBM (IBM) , Morgan Stanley (MS) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to build and deploy AI-powered decision-making applications. Foundry has also been used by NHS England to collect, process and visualise data to help manage and minimise the spread of Covid-19 in England.

Apollo

Apollo is the system that helps manage Gotham and Foundry’s software. Cloud-agnostic, it operates in a single control layer to help coordinate the deployment of security updates, additional features and configurations. In short, Apollo keeps Gotham and Foundry running smoothly.

Is Palantir profitable?

Palantir remains an unprofitable company even though revenue has gradually increased over 3 years from US$595m (FY 2018) to over US$1.5b (FY2021). 

Its operating income has been negative for the last 4 years. For FY2021, operating income sat at negative US$411m.

Some investors are expecting Palantir to break even in the next few years due to the upward trend of its financials.

Does PLTR pay dividends?

No, Palantir does not pay dividends at this time.

Is Palantir a reference to The Lord of the Rings?

Yes, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels “The Lord of the Rings,” Palantirs are spherical stone objects used by various characters to communicate throughout Middle-earth. The evil wizard Saruman used a Palantir to surveil his enemies and make plans against them.

Founder Peter Thiel chose the name Palantir as The Lord of the Rings was one of his favourite books as a teenager. 

What type of stock is PLTR?

PLTR is a technology stock. 

The company focuses on building software platforms that help their clients get answers to extremely complicated questions by processing mass amounts of data quickly.

Is PLTR a good buy as a long term investment?

While Palantir isn’t profitable at this time, its financials continue to trend upwards, in particular revenue.

Many investors believe the demand for big data, and the management of this data through AI-driven software, will be all pervasive in the future.

The PLTR stock price has recently faced volatility, falling almost 70% since January 2021 from its high of over US$35 to under US$12.