Palantir Believes College May Not Be Worth It, So It's Recruiting High School Graduates.
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Nov 02 2025
0mins
Should l Buy PLTR?
Source: WSJ
Fellowship Opportunity: Matteo Zanini initially found the idea of skipping college for a fellowship at Palantir Technologies surprising but became intrigued by the opportunity.
Critique of College System: A Palantir post criticized the college admissions process, claiming it is based on flawed criteria and that educational institutions no longer prioritize meritocracy and excellence.
Path for High School Students: The fellowship provides a unique opportunity for high school students to work full-time at Palantir, offering an alternative to traditional college education.
Changing Perspectives: The discussion reflects a growing sentiment among some young people that traditional college may not be the best path for everyone, prompting them to consider alternative career routes.
Trade with 70% Backtested Accuracy
Stop guessing "Should I Buy PLTR?" and start using high-conviction signals backed by rigorous historical data.
Sign up today to access powerful investing tools and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Analyst Views on PLTR
Wall Street analysts forecast PLTR stock price to rise
17 Analyst Rating
5 Buy
10 Hold
2 Sell
Hold
Current: 146.490
Low
50.00
Averages
192.88
High
255.00
Current: 146.490
Low
50.00
Averages
192.88
High
255.00
About PLTR
Palantir Technologies Inc. is engaged in building software to assist in counterterrorism investigations and operations. The Company has built four principal software platforms, including Palantir Gotham (Gotham), Palantir Foundry (Foundry), Palantir Apollo (Apollo), and Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP). Apollo is a cloud-agnostic, single control layer that coordinates ongoing delivery of new features, security updates, and platform configurations, helping to ensure the continuous operation of critical systems. Gotham enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants. Foundry transforms the ways organizations operate by creating a central operating system for their data. AIP enables responsible artificial intelligence (AI)-advantage across the enterprise by using primary, core components built to effectively activate large language models and other AI within any organization.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Palantir's AI Platform Drives Earnings Growth
- Earnings Growth Forecast: Analysts project Palantir's non-GAAP earnings per share to rise from $1.32 in fiscal 2026 to approximately $6.25 by fiscal 2030, indicating strong growth potential in the AI sector and reinforcing its market position.
- Valuation Normalization: Although Palantir's current forward P/E ratio stands at 77.3x, analysts expect it to normalize to an average of 54.4x over the next five years, reflecting growing market confidence in its long-term profitability.
- Significant Price Potential: Should the earnings forecasts hold, Palantir's stock could reach around $340 per share in the next five years, implying more than a 2.3 times increase from its recent closing price, showcasing investor optimism about its future growth.
- Regular Investment Benefits: Investing $100 monthly over five years totals $6,000, and with an assumed annual return of 18.9%, the total portfolio value could reach approximately $10,389, illustrating the compounding effect of consistent investing.
See More
Palantir Secures Military Funding with New Designation
- Government Business Stability: Palantir's government segment saw a 53% revenue growth in 2025, with $2.4 billion coming from government clients, indicating strong performance in defense and potential for future contracts.
- Maven System Formalization: The Pentagon's designation of Palantir's Maven Smart System as an official program of record means the military is integrating it into ongoing operations, providing long-term contract security for Palantir.
- Contract Value Enhancement: The U.S. Army awarded Palantir an enterprise agreement worth up to $10 billion last year, and with Maven's formal designation, Palantir is more likely to realize the high end of that contract's value, strengthening its competitive position for future contracts.
- Market Valuation Volatility: Despite a 30% drop in Palantir's stock amid recent market volatility, its price-to-earnings ratio remains at 82 times, reflecting investor confidence in future growth while also indicating potential market risks.
See More
Palantir's AI Moat Strengthens Competitive Edge
- Semantic Layer Advantage: UBS analyst Karl Keirstead highlights that Palantir's ontology layer transcends a mere thin data semantic layer, transforming raw enterprise data into actionable objects, thereby enhancing data trustworthiness and reusability, which boosts customer decision-making capabilities.
- Significant Competitive Barrier: Palantir's Foundry platform excels in metadata graphing and mapping, defining relationships between data and connecting it to relevant customer operations and systems, creating a competitive edge that is difficult to replicate.
- Positive Customer Feedback: Keirstead notes that Palantir's customers have not cited any viable alternatives, indicating the company's unique market position, with no evidence suggesting a threat to its market share.
- Optimistic Future Outlook: UBS maintains a Buy rating on Palantir with a price target of $200, asserting that while AI models have made strides in certain data engineering tasks, the likelihood of disruption to Palantir remains low, underscoring its sophisticated data mapping and decision-making capabilities.
See More
Palantir Technologies Valuation Analysis
- Valuation Controversy: Palantir Technologies trades at a staggering 226 times earnings, widely regarded as extremely expensive, yet its PEG ratio of 0.964 suggests it may be undervalued, reflecting differing market perceptions of its future growth.
- Significant Earnings Growth: The company's earnings per share grew by 232% year-over-year in 2025, indicating substantial progress in profitability, although profit margins reached a new high of 43% in Q4 2025, up from 10% in Q4 2024, showcasing remarkable improvement.
- Cautious Market Response: Despite the PEG ratio indicating some undervaluation potential, the market remains cautious about Palantir's high valuation, and the investor's risk tolerance will directly influence their investment decisions regarding the stock.
- Sustainability of Profitability: While Palantir may continue to enhance its margins, the quadrupling of profit margins is unlikely to be sustainable, suggesting that future earnings growth may face challenges, prompting investors to monitor the stability of its long-term profitability.
See More
Analysis of Software Stocks: Values or Traps?
- ServiceNow Stock Performance: ServiceNow's shares have dropped 34% over the past year and 32% year-to-date, although analysts have raised earnings estimates three times in the last 60 days for 2026, indicating a bullish outlook for the company.
- Salesforce Valuation Analysis: Salesforce's stock has decreased by 12% over the last five years and 29.5% year-to-date, with a forward P/E of 14.1, which is considered a value indicator, and earnings are expected to rise by 4.6% in fiscal 2027.
- Palantir Stock Dynamics: Palantir has surged 528% in the last five years but has seen a 17.7% decline year-to-date in 2026, with a forward P/E of 104.9 indicating it is still perceived as overvalued, despite expected earnings growth of 74.7% in 2026.
- Adobe Price Trends: Adobe's shares have fallen 49% over the past five years and 31% year-to-date, currently trading at a forward P/E of 10.3, with earnings expected to rise by 12.3% in 2026, highlighting its attractiveness in the current market environment.
See More
S&P 500 Faces Volatility and Potential Recovery
- Increased Market Volatility: The S&P 500 declined by 5% and 4.6% over the past month and quarter, respectively, reflecting heightened investor uncertainty regarding AI-driven growth and the future of the war in Iran, leading to increased market fear.
- Historical Performance Review: Despite recent downturns, the S&P 500 has surged 78% over the past three years, showcasing strong growth in technology stocks, particularly in AI and quantum computing, which have attracted significant investor interest.
- Optimistic Q2 Outlook: Historical data indicates that the S&P 500 has risen in five of the last six second quarters, suggesting that this period may present favorable opportunities for investors, especially following market turmoil.
- Geopolitical Uncertainty Eases: President Trump indicated that U.S. military forces are expected to exit Iran within two to three weeks, reducing market uncertainty and potentially supporting a rebound in the S&P 500, thereby boosting long-term investor confidence.
See More
Palantir's AI Platform Drives Earnings Growth
- Earnings Growth Forecast: Analysts project Palantir's non-GAAP earnings per share to rise from $1.32 in fiscal 2026 to approximately $6.25 by fiscal 2030, indicating strong growth potential in the AI sector and reinforcing its market position.
- Valuation Normalization: Although Palantir's current forward P/E ratio stands at 77.3x, analysts expect it to normalize to an average of 54.4x over the next five years, reflecting growing market confidence in its long-term profitability.
- Significant Price Potential: Should the earnings forecasts hold, Palantir's stock could reach around $340 per share in the next five years, implying more than a 2.3 times increase from its recent closing price, showcasing investor optimism about its future growth.
- Regular Investment Benefits: Investing $100 monthly over five years totals $6,000, and with an assumed annual return of 18.9%, the total portfolio value could reach approximately $10,389, illustrating the compounding effect of consistent investing.
See More
Palantir Secures Military Funding with New Designation
- Government Business Stability: Palantir's government segment saw a 53% revenue growth in 2025, with $2.4 billion coming from government clients, indicating strong performance in defense and potential for future contracts.
- Maven System Formalization: The Pentagon's designation of Palantir's Maven Smart System as an official program of record means the military is integrating it into ongoing operations, providing long-term contract security for Palantir.
- Contract Value Enhancement: The U.S. Army awarded Palantir an enterprise agreement worth up to $10 billion last year, and with Maven's formal designation, Palantir is more likely to realize the high end of that contract's value, strengthening its competitive position for future contracts.
- Market Valuation Volatility: Despite a 30% drop in Palantir's stock amid recent market volatility, its price-to-earnings ratio remains at 82 times, reflecting investor confidence in future growth while also indicating potential market risks.
See More
Palantir's AI Moat Strengthens Competitive Edge
- Semantic Layer Advantage: UBS analyst Karl Keirstead highlights that Palantir's ontology layer transcends a mere thin data semantic layer, transforming raw enterprise data into actionable objects, thereby enhancing data trustworthiness and reusability, which boosts customer decision-making capabilities.
- Significant Competitive Barrier: Palantir's Foundry platform excels in metadata graphing and mapping, defining relationships between data and connecting it to relevant customer operations and systems, creating a competitive edge that is difficult to replicate.
- Positive Customer Feedback: Keirstead notes that Palantir's customers have not cited any viable alternatives, indicating the company's unique market position, with no evidence suggesting a threat to its market share.
- Optimistic Future Outlook: UBS maintains a Buy rating on Palantir with a price target of $200, asserting that while AI models have made strides in certain data engineering tasks, the likelihood of disruption to Palantir remains low, underscoring its sophisticated data mapping and decision-making capabilities.
See More
Palantir Technologies Valuation Analysis
- Valuation Controversy: Palantir Technologies trades at a staggering 226 times earnings, widely regarded as extremely expensive, yet its PEG ratio of 0.964 suggests it may be undervalued, reflecting differing market perceptions of its future growth.
- Significant Earnings Growth: The company's earnings per share grew by 232% year-over-year in 2025, indicating substantial progress in profitability, although profit margins reached a new high of 43% in Q4 2025, up from 10% in Q4 2024, showcasing remarkable improvement.
- Cautious Market Response: Despite the PEG ratio indicating some undervaluation potential, the market remains cautious about Palantir's high valuation, and the investor's risk tolerance will directly influence their investment decisions regarding the stock.
- Sustainability of Profitability: While Palantir may continue to enhance its margins, the quadrupling of profit margins is unlikely to be sustainable, suggesting that future earnings growth may face challenges, prompting investors to monitor the stability of its long-term profitability.
See More
Analysis of Software Stocks: Values or Traps?
- ServiceNow Stock Performance: ServiceNow's shares have dropped 34% over the past year and 32% year-to-date, although analysts have raised earnings estimates three times in the last 60 days for 2026, indicating a bullish outlook for the company.
- Salesforce Valuation Analysis: Salesforce's stock has decreased by 12% over the last five years and 29.5% year-to-date, with a forward P/E of 14.1, which is considered a value indicator, and earnings are expected to rise by 4.6% in fiscal 2027.
- Palantir Stock Dynamics: Palantir has surged 528% in the last five years but has seen a 17.7% decline year-to-date in 2026, with a forward P/E of 104.9 indicating it is still perceived as overvalued, despite expected earnings growth of 74.7% in 2026.
- Adobe Price Trends: Adobe's shares have fallen 49% over the past five years and 31% year-to-date, currently trading at a forward P/E of 10.3, with earnings expected to rise by 12.3% in 2026, highlighting its attractiveness in the current market environment.
See More
S&P 500 Faces Volatility and Potential Recovery
- Increased Market Volatility: The S&P 500 declined by 5% and 4.6% over the past month and quarter, respectively, reflecting heightened investor uncertainty regarding AI-driven growth and the future of the war in Iran, leading to increased market fear.
- Historical Performance Review: Despite recent downturns, the S&P 500 has surged 78% over the past three years, showcasing strong growth in technology stocks, particularly in AI and quantum computing, which have attracted significant investor interest.
- Optimistic Q2 Outlook: Historical data indicates that the S&P 500 has risen in five of the last six second quarters, suggesting that this period may present favorable opportunities for investors, especially following market turmoil.
- Geopolitical Uncertainty Eases: President Trump indicated that U.S. military forces are expected to exit Iran within two to three weeks, reducing market uncertainty and potentially supporting a rebound in the S&P 500, thereby boosting long-term investor confidence.
See More
