The numbers are astonishing. The market values Palantir at more than $400 billion – a sum that dwarfs these conventional military contractors despite generating far higher revenues. For example, Lockheed Martin is worth about 75 percent less than Palantir in the eyes of the stock market — even though Lockheed, a global giant in the manufacture of airplanes, rockets, helicopters and spacecraft, earned about 19 times Palantir's revenue in its most recent fiscal years, according to FactSet, a financial data company.
There is no question that Palantir is playing a growing and important role in national security operations. In its early days, the company was supported by a venture capital firm founded by the Central Intelligence Agency. It made headlines this year by helping the Trump administration collect and compile personal information on millions of Americans. It has gained attention through its work for U.S. military and intelligence agencies, police forces, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and many corporations and allied governments. Palantir executives proudly say they are committed to ensuring the military supremacy of U.S., British, Israeli, Ukrainian and other friendly militaries.
But Palantir has also made headlines for reasons that its executives decidedly dislike. Skeptical investors, including Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager portrayed in the film “The Big Short,” have been betting that while Palantir is making huge profits, it is still heavily overvalued by the market and its shares will soon fall.
Mr Burry is winding up his hedge fund and returning money to investors because he says his views on pricing are radically different from those of the market. He made a similarly negative bet against Nvidia, which makes many of the advanced chips that power AI. Nvidia has been the main beneficiary of the AI boom, with a market valuation that recently briefly topped $5 trillion. Nvidia has not responded publicly.
Not like that, Palantir. In a recent interview on CNBC, Chief Executive Alex Karp described Mr. Burry's bets against Palantir as “completely crazy.”