Hey, Sarge, what's the story?
Veteran trader Stephen "Sarge" Guilfoyle has never been one to hold back: If you want to know what the veteran trader is thinking, he won't hesitate to tell you.
Related: Analyst revamps Palantir stock price target on earnings, Microsoft deal
Guilfoyle recently took a fresh look three companies that he's been bullish on — Palantir Technologies (PLTR) , Rocket Lab (RKLB) and SoFi Technologies (SOFI) .
The companies are former "Stocks Under $10" names that he's been long on and that have been "moving in the right direction of late," he said on Aug. 19.
Guilfoyle notes Palantir's recent deal
Guilfoyle, who reiterated his $36 price target for Palantir, said the shares "had traded inside of an ascending price channel since early May 2023."
Earlier this month the data-analytics company posted record second-quarter profit of 6 cents a share, with sales rising 27% to $678 million, thanks in part to surging demand for its AIP Logic platform, which tests and improves AI-related strategies.
Related: Analyst ignites coverage of Rocket Lab stock after satellite launch
"I don't see how an analyst, who most of whom you and I have simply obliterated performance-wise in this name, could take in the quarter, the guidance, and the fundamentals and find anything negative," Guilfoyle said.
Palantir's sales are driven largely by helping the U.S. government with its counterterrorism efforts. But the company, co-founded by the billionaire investor Peter Thiel, has also pushed more deeply into managing, interpreting and reporting data for large firms.
Guilfoyle wrote about Palantir's recent agreement with Surf Air Mobility SRFM. The companies formed a venture, Surf Technologies, to develop and market AI-powered software tools and create a system for the advanced air mobility industry.
The company said that Palantir will power Surf Technologies' core platform, SurfOS.
"Surf Air, already built upon the Palantir Foundry platform, will develop and sell SurfOS, as the operating system for the air mobility industry," Guilfoyle wrote. "Now, Palantir will aid Surf Air expand and sell its tools to multiple brands beyond the air mobility market."
Surf Air, Los Angeles, is developing a regional airline using electric aircraft.
In addition, Palantir recently announced a partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) to sell secure cloud, analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities.
Rocket Labs 'resumed northerly march'
Guilfoyle turned his attention to the aerospace company Rocket Labs USA (RKLB) , as he reiterated his $7.50 price target for the shares.
"The stock faltered along with the broader marketplace in early August and then resumed its northerly march with some increased urgency as the firm announced its intention to send two spacecraft to Mars in short order," he wrote.
Related: Veteran Wall Street trader reacts to SoFi second-quarter earnings
The two spacecraft for the Escape and Plasma Acceleration were designed, built, integrated and tested by Rocket Lab for the University of California-Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory and NASA.
Rocket Labs also recently said it had successfully hot-fired its new rocket engine, Archimedes, for the first time, reaching a “technical milestone toward the first launch of the company's new medium-lift rocket, Neutron.”
Rocket Lab said its engineers completed the hot fire test at the company's Engine Test Complex within NASA's Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., this month.
On Aug. 9, when Rocket Labs reported its second-quarter results, Guilfoyle cited CEO Peter Beck's comments that the company can build and launch its own spacecraft at cost "so the firm can meet the growing demand for space-driven data and space services at much lower cost."
"The growth in sales is impressive," Guilfoyle wrote at the time. "The short-term guidance is conservative, but the long-term vision is exciting. Current cash flows, like profitability, are still in the future, but the balance sheet is strong, in fact, very strong."
Rocket Labs has "a clean balance sheet," he added, with "enough cash on hand to take care of the entire debt load."
SoFi 'slow to see victory'
Guilfoyle also reiterated his $9.50 stock price target for SoFi Technologies.
"Victory," he said, "has been a little slower to come in this name of late, as we have experienced in the above two, but I still feel that a bullish move is building."
He wrote in July about the company's second-quarter earnings beat in a column entitled "SoFi's Slam Dunk." There he said he was probably biased toward the company, adding that he had a lot of faith in former Army Linebacker and SOFI CEO Anthony Noto.
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Guilfoyle, a trader and economist, said Noto “has been buying shares for his personal account since he got here” and “has been in the trenches with the investors.”
"This morning, SoFi Technologies posted a solid second quarter and raised forward looking guidance," he said. "Huzzah! What's not to like?"
Guilfoyle said that the financial-services provider beat expectations, while posting a third consecutive profitable quarter." Growth "is stable to strong to very strong across all metrics.”
"That includes membership, products and segments," he said. "Even more impressive than the results is the guidance. The current (3rd) quarter is projected to be strong, while the year in full just keeps improving."
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