Palantir Technologies Inc. beat expectations for the latest quarter, as the software company said Monday that its artificial intelligence story continues to unfold and its shares rose nearly 20% in extended trading.
The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $608 million, up 20% from a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $603 million.
Although Palantir PLTR,
followed consensus opinion with its top-line expectations for the first quarter – management models $612 million to $616 million, while analysts were looking for $617 million – the company beat forecasts with its outlook for the whole year. The company expects revenue of $2.652 billion to $2.668 billion in 2024, while the FactSet consensus was for $2.644 billion.
“We are focused on continuing to build on the success of U.S. advertising,” Chief Financial Officer David Glazer told MarketWatch. The company is rebuilding itself “around those successes” with “a tremendous amount of progress,” he said.
The stock rose more than 19% in after-hours trading Monday.
In the fourth quarter, Palantir’s US business operations saw 70% revenue growth to $131 million.
“The demand for large language models from salespeople
institutions in the United States continue to be relentless,” CEO Alex Karp said in a letter to shareholders. Palantir’s “momentum with AIP is now significantly contributing to new revenue and new customers.”
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The company noted that while it conducted fewer than 100 commercial pilots during 2022, it had nearly 600 pilots and bootcamps in 2023 with its AI platform alone.
Customers see “hundreds of use cases” for AIP, Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor told MarketWatch. He said the company has “barely scratched the surface” in terms of customer momentum.
The company expects to see an increase of $640 million in U.S. commercial revenue for 2024, up at least 40%.
Palantir reported its fifth consecutive quarter of GAAP profitability in the just-ended period, with net income of $93 million, or 4 cents per share, up from $33 million, or 1 cent per share, in the quarter ‘last year.
Analysts had expected 3 cents per share in earnings.
Palantir met expectations with its adjusted earnings per share, which came in at 8 cents.
It expects to report GAAP net income in each quarter of 2024.
Glazer pointed to the company’s “strong” 34% margin on adjusted operating profit for the fourth quarter, while stressing that Palantir will “really invest this year” in pursuing AI opportunities.
While the company’s overall commercial assets grew 32% in the fourth quarter to $284 million, government assets grew more slowly, at 11%, to $324 million. Analysts expected $271 million in commercial revenue and $333 million in government revenue.
Palantir shares have doubled in the past 12 months, as the S&P 500 SPX index has advanced 20%.
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