This week, Palantir announced earnings that surpassed expectations for the third quarter. In his post-announcement remarks, CEO Alex Karp offered insight into the principles guiding him and his organization, asserting their importance above external distractions.
TL;DR
- Palantir CEO Alex Karp lauded the company's "anti-woke" and "cultus" strategy following strong third-quarter earnings.
- Despite beating expectations, Palantir's stock dropped, with analysts questioning its valuation despite a 154% year-to-date surge.
- Karp credits U.S. government partnerships and AI-driven platforms for growth, supporting "the American worker."
- Palantir's work with U.S. agencies and Israel's Ministry of Defense has drawn criticism and scrutiny.
The software platform reported $1.18 billion in earnings for the third quarter, which narrowly beat analysts’ forecasts. Even though the earnings report and a fourth-quarter forecast surpassed Wall Street's expectations, Palantir's stock price dropped fell 7.95% on Tuesday, negating an initial 7% surge that occurred after the announcement. Concerns were voiced by analysts that the tech giant's performance and outlook fail to support its current valuation.
However, the valuation is quite something. Despite Tuesday’s sell-off, Palantir shares are up a whopping 154% year-to-date. Karp credits his company's ongoing expansion to a robust partnership with the U.S. A business and the government that supports “the American worker that we helped make rich.”
Palantir “was really the first company to be completely anti-woke,” Karp told investors on the earnings call after market close on Monday. The technology behemoth has developed a close relationship with President Donald Trump's administration, dispatching its Chief Technology Officer, Shyam Sankar, to the White House dinner for a gathering of Silicon Valley tech executives in September. In an earnings call last year, Karp said wokeness was a “central risk” to Palantir, the U.S., and the world, and labeled it “a regressive way of thinking that is corrupting and corroding our institutions.”
Karp previously served as a significant donor for the 2024 presidential campaign of former president Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Last year, he also said that Peter Thiel, a fellow cofounder of Palantir alongside Karp, backing Trump created obstacles for the company's progress.
In July of last year, Karp said that he was “not thrilled” with the direction of the Democratic Party, but that he would be “voting against Trump.”
Still, he said wokeness is “actually a form of a thin pagan religion,” on the May 2024 earnings call.
In sharp contrast, on Monday Karp described his efforts to keep his company as “cultus”— a system of religious worship— and “unique” as it was when it started over 20 years ago. He stated that one way to proceed is to continue supporting “making the American warfighter fight the way the American warfighter is born to fight,”, though he didn't elaborate on his meaning.
U.S. Operations account for nearly 50% of Palantir's achievements. Government revenue has increased by 52% compared to last year and 14% from the second quarter, reaching $486 million. Robust sales are also a result of the demand for its AI-driven platforms and improved operating leverage, which has led to deeper margins, even with significant investments in research and hiring.
Right-wing figures like Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes have been criticized Palantir, while the company also faces scrutiny for its covert government agreements, which intensified during the Trump administration democratic lawmakers expanded.
However, notwithstanding widely discussed ethical issues regarding the company's status as a significant U.S. CEO Karp of the tech company, which is involved with a defense contractor, expressed his confusion regarding the significant negative attention his company receives concerning its access to Americans' personal data. The company backed by Peter Thiel derives its name from Lord of the Rings, a practice shared by at least two other businesses linked to Thiel. In those books, a “palantir” functioned as a profoundly insightful crystal ball, serving as either an inspiring or foreboding moniker, contingent upon individual viewpoints.
We're confronting all adversaries, including China. "We're at ICE and we've supported Israel," Karp stated during Monday's earnings call. “I don’t know why this is all controversial, but many people find that controversial.”
Last January, Palantir inked a strategic partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Defense to supply data analytics and AI technology for the country’s ongoing military operations, including the war in Gaza. This support has drawn criticism and calls for investigations into whether Palantir’s tools are being used in ways that may violate international law in conflict zones.
In April, the technology firm secured a $30 million agreement to develop “ImmigrationOS,”, a software designed to offer almost immediate data concerning individuals who self-deport.
Palantir has agreements with several U.S. Federal bodies such as the Department of Defense and the U.S. The Army, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The company's financial disclosures indicate that it generated nearly $1.3 billion in government revenue during the initial three quarters of 2025.
Palantir didn't immediately reply to Fortune's request for a statement, but Karp informed investors on Monday that he believes they are "contending for the correct aspect of what ought to succeed in this nation: a meritocracy, lethal Technology, in contrast to adversaries," and products that distribute GDP to the working class.
He’s previously called AI an “agency enhancing revolution” that has helped some Americans without a college education create greater value using Palantir’s products than users with degrees in higher education. According to Karp, Palantir offers a dual benefit to the average American worker, with investors in the technology firm also seeing positive returns.
“It was the American worker that we supported and the American worker that we helped make rich,” Karp said on Monday’s earnings call.
Karp viewed the reported earnings differently.
“Get some popcorn,” Karp told investors on the call. “They’re crying,” he said of those that haven’t invested in the company.