Palantir’s biggest bull drops stock update after CEO joins Trump for Saudi visit | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Stephen Guilfoyle is not one to brag.

Oh, hell, who are we kidding? Of course, he is, and given the success of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) , you can’t really blame him.

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The big data analytics company’s stock has surged 71% since January and skyrocketed nearly 500% from a year ago. Palantir’s shares were also up 340% in 2024.

“Both years, I gave you PLTR as my ‘stock of the year’ for the coming year in late December, the first time in my career that I had ever named the same stock as my stock for the coming year for two years in a row,” Guilfoyle said in his recent TheStreet Pro column.

Palantir stock closed at an all-time high of $130.18 on May 14, on day after hitting a record high of $128.10.

In the words of the veteran trader, “this stock is hot as a pistol.”

Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp was one several executives who accompanied President Donald Trump on his tour of the Middle East.

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies praised Saudi engineers while taking a swipe at Europe.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Palantir CEO accompanies Trump to Mideast

The guest list included such tech A-listers as Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Amazon (AMZN) president and CEO Andy Jassy, and of course Tesla (TSLA) CEO and top Trump campaign donor, Elon Musk.

“The real action on Tuesday was in and across the generative AI space,” Guilfoyle said. “Artificial Intelligence is what the Middle East is interested in right now and what the nations of that region are willing to spend on right now.”

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Palantir gets about 55% of its revenue from government agencies, a hefty chunk of which comes from contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, particularly the Army, for its data analytics and software solutions.

During the Saudi-U.S. investment forum on May 13th, Karp praised Saudi engineers for their meritocracy and patriotism, according to Business Insider.

“You’re seeing a receptivity in this region, especially in the Kingdom,” he said. “But the receptivity is on the back of people who have a deep tradition in engineering excellence and quite frankly believe in their own future.”

Karp also didn’t a pass up a chance to stick it to Europe.

“Obviously, the great contradistinction here is Europe, where, you know, it’s like people have given up,” he said. “I really hope that turns around in Europe.”

In all fairness, Karp isn’t the only one carping about Europe’s lack of AI readiness.

In February, French President Emmanuel Macron raised concerns about Europe’s AI prospects.

“We are not in the race today,” French President Emmanuel Macron told CNN. “We are lagging behind. We need an AI agenda because we have to bridge the gap with the United States and China on AI.”

Lex Coors, president of the European Data Center Association, warned in March that Europe was at risk of falling irreversibly behind in the global AI race unless the European Commission takes urgent action to scale digital infrastructure.

Palantir’s stock took a five-star shellacking back in February on reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered Pentagon officials to cut the U.S. defense budget by 8% annually for the next five years.

Veteran trader: Palantir is largest holding

News that Karp planned to sell off a large number of shares may have been a contributing factor.

But the stock bounced back, sparked by such factors as strong demand from both government and commercial clients for Palantir’s AI-powered analytics platform, and the recent easing of Trump’s tariffs.

And Palantir’s deal with NATO last month demonstrates the company’s continued strength in defense-related markets.

Bank of America raised the firm’s price target on Palantir to $150 from $125 on May 12 and kept a Buy rating on the shares.

Companies continue to announce AI initiatives, product developments, and integrations, but “underneath the marketing and fanfare,” the AI tools are “often ChatGPT-wrappers,” firm said, referring to OpenAI’s chatbot.

Conversely, Palantir’s value is creating “outcome-focused bespoke AI-enabled products, at scale,” BofA said.

The firm noted that the speed and scale at which Palantir can deploy products and convert customers is growing.

BofA said it views Defense and Commercial markets as both in the “infancy of unlocking real-value via AI.”

Guilfoyle, whose career dates back to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1980s, reminded readers of his own investments in Palantir.

“Unlike many of your pals on TV, I have skin in this game and PLTR has been my largest holding throughout,” said the stock trader, who was a sergeant in the reserve components of the U.S. Marine Corps and the Army.

“Not trying to be cocky (of course I’m cocky… I’m infantry), but I really want to know: Has any other financial pundit/guru/spokesperson, or adviser ever come close to doing anything like that for you? “

“I don’t like to brag (Ok, that is a lie), but PLTR has been a 22-run homer for us, so far. Aaron Judge has never hit one of those,” Guilfoyle said, referring to the New York Yankees outfielder.