By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shares of Palantir Technologies fell 15.1% on Tuesday in their biggest daily percentage drop since May 2022, a day after the data analytics company gave a revenue forecast that disappointed.
The stock closed at $21.40, while on Wall Street, action was more subdued, with the S&P 500 ending slightly higher and the Nasdaq down a bit.
Late on Monday, the company raised its annual revenue forecast amid strong demand for its services that help businesses deploy artificial intelligence applications, but the forecast missed Wall Street’s lofty expectations.
Still, several brokerages raised their price targets following the report, including D.A. Davidson, which raised its target to $24 from $19.
“While guidance for FY2024 was increased, it was lighter than expected,” D.A. Davidson analysts wrote in their research note, adding that management had noted “they’re seeing unavoidable headwinds in Europe.”
But they wrote that overall the company results for the first quarter were “solid … driven by further operating margin expansion and growth within U.S. Commercial revenue.” D.A. Davidson is keeping its “neutral” rating on the stock.
Jefferies analysts wrote that investors may be focused on high multiples for the stock.
Including the session move, the stock is up 25% for the year so far.
The day’s trading volume in Palantir was more than three times the 10-day moving average volume.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Daniel Wallis)
