Palantir Technologies will get a boost from a new $250 million U.S. Army contract involving artificial intelligence awarded on Tuesday, says an analyst who rates PLTR stock underperform. Palantir stock surged on the news Wednesday.
"While this contract adds fuel to the argument that Palantir is more like a government service provider, this contract bodes well for Palantir's fourth-quarter and 2024 revenue," William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma said in a note to clients.
The U.S. Army research and development services contract is for three years.
On the stock market today, PLTR stock jumped 6.4% to close at 14.85.
PLTR Stock: U.K. Contract Up For Grabs
Meanwhile, PLTR stock could get a further boost if the company wins a new contract from the United Kingdom's National Health System. The NHS used Palantir during the coronavirus emergency. A bigger contract worth roughly $595 million is now up for grabs. A decision is expected in 2023.
With government customers, Palantir has used AI tools for intelligence gathering, counterterrorism and military purposes. Also, those AI tools relied upon pattern recognition to create predictive models.
Palantir now is integrating generative AI into its software platform.
Generative AI models process "prompts," such as internet search queries, that describe what a user wants to get. Generative AI technologies create text, images, video and computer programming code on their own.
Palantir Stock: New AI Platform
In addition, Palantir aims to sell generative AI products into commercial markets such as health care.
Palantir announced its newest offering, the "Artificial Intelligence Platform," early this year. As of mid-September, Palantir says the AIP now has 150 users, up 50% within the last month.
Further, Palantir has not disclosed pricing for generative AI products. So the potential revenue boost from the AIP is unclear, analysts say.
PLTR stock hit a 52-week intraday high of 20.24 on Aug. 1 as AI stocks continued to rally. But as of Sept. 27, PLTR stock has pulled back from that 52-week high. Still, Palantir stock now has advanced 124% in 2023.
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