Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) is one of the most contentious business. More than 10 times TTM revenues, the company's market valuation is now floating at over $20 billion. The business is also notorious for diluting its stock and has never produced a net profit in a single quarter. Palantir has been among the worst-hit equities since the growth catastrophe started last year, which should come as no surprise. The company's share price has started to rebound despite an enormous decline of 70% from peak to trough.
Palantir Financials
Palantir was once the talk of the market when the stock was trading at $20 or $30, but not anymore. After the IPO, the equity was significantly diluted, and stock-based compensation is still under fire today. The market is voting "No" on Palantir because growth and high multiple stocks are less popular now than they were for the most of 2021 and because a potential recession is on the horizon. Palantir is not an exception to the general IPO phenomena of dilution and SBC compensation. Instead of focusing on previous sales, let's consider the company's revenue expansion and earning potential. Let's also think about Palantir's distinct, leading, and dominant market position and how it can affect possible future growth and profitability. Additionally, Palantir has a huge growth runway and a sizable profit margin potential, making the company one of the greatest investments in the long term.
Palantir's dominating position as a government contractor is one of its most distinctive features. Through its Gotham programme, the firm offers software solutions to several governmental organisations. The American military, intelligence community, and police are just a few of Palantir's government customers. More precisely, Palantir's connected databases, data mining tools, analytical software, and much more are used by the FBI, DOD, CIA, NSA, and many other organisations. Palantir also provides services to the FDA, the NHS, and other organisations. Despite actively expanding its corporate division, Palantir nevertheless received 51% of its income from federal contracts in the most recent quarter. Palantir benefits from the government providing a sizable chunk of its earnings because of the government's well-known propensity for extravagant spending.
The growth numbers for Palantir are outstanding. Revenue increased by 30% YoY, commercial revenue increased by 51% YoY, U.S. commercial revenue increased by 131% YoY, and client base increased by 87% YoY. While Palantir's governmental business continues to be its core, we now witness strong commercial business growth. Furthermore, as the business develops, we expect continue to notice strong growth from the company's corporate and government clients. The business forecasts an adjusted operating margin of about 28 percent for the whole 2022 fiscal year and 30 percent yearly growth or more until 2024.
Palantir is a business with rapid growth. Therefore, it is not necessary for it to be profitable at this time. The business must put its efforts on expanding business, gaining market share, and establishing prospects for future success. Palantir should, nevertheless, be incredibly profitable when the time comes. The company's gross profit rose by 31% year over year during the most recent quarter. Palantir's operational costs rose only 2.5 percent YoY at the same period. As a result, the operational loss for the third quarter was substantially smaller than the same period last year—just $38.9 million as opposed to $114 million. Additionally, Palantir's gross margin for the preceding quarter was a staggering 78.7 percent, surpassing the 78.2 percent from a year before. As a result, Palantir is becoming more successful. Operating income, net profit, and EPS will considerably grow if the company's gross profit keeps rising and begins to greatly surpass operating expenditures.
Palantir's share count increased by around 11% YoY, as can be seen. Palantir is still diluting as a result, although far less so than it was when the business first went public. Palantir only issued 476 million shares when it went public. The corporation now has more than 2 billion outstanding shares, nevertheless. However, a large portion of the devaluation took place early, practically directly after the business became public. The corporation had almost 1.8 billion shares after becoming public, which was around six months ago. Since then, SBC expenses have decreased dramatically and are probably going to keep decreasing as the business grows. Furthermore, rising SBC is not a Palantir-exclusive issue but a typical IPO phenomenon.
SBC is down roughly 22% YoY, despite much increasing revenues and profits. This scenario suggests that the downward trend in SBC costs will persist. In addition, if the costs associated with SBC are taken into account, Palantir should become astonishingly lucrative. With SBC excluded, the company's cost of revenue was just roughly $82.7 million, which suggests that Palantir had a gross margin of over 81 percent. Palantir's operational income last quarter would have been around $111 million without SBC, showing an operating margin of about 25.1%.
When SBC charges are factored out, the corporation would have had a little net profit of around $10 million. The firm posted an adjusted EPS of $0.02, demonstrating that it can be profitable right now despite expanding revenues by more than 30% year on year. As a result, we may conclude that Palantir has the potential to grow increasingly lucrative. As the company's revenues and gross profit climb, so should its operational expenditures, yet the SBC continues to fall dramatically in relation to the company's revenues. As a result, Palantir's profitability indicators should increase considerably over the next few years.
There is widespread fear about the impending recession. However, Palantir is in a unique situation because the majority of their revenue comes from government contracts. Palantir's corporate clients are unlikely to diminish their reliance on the business's services, as the company provides important solutions in data analytics, cybersecurity, and other critical areas. As a result, even in a downturn, Palantir's growth should continue, making it one of the strongest long-term investments in the market right now.
Palantir is expected to generate $2.7 billion in revenue next year, putting its forward P/S multiple at around 7. Palantir, on the other hand, is a dominant and high-growth business with exceptional profitability potential. When the stock dropped to $6, it was voted down to a 5x forward sales multiple. Palantir is now selling at roughly 7 times projected sales at $10, but it might trade at a substantially higher sales multiple in the future. Many firms with substantially less potential for growth trade at far greater revenue multiples.
The 6-7 times forward sales multiple predictions are reasonable given Palantir's strong growth and huge profitability potential. Microsoft (MSFT), a software corporation with far slower growth, trades at approximately eight times projected revenues. Nvidia (NVDA), a growth business with substantially slower growth, trades at about 12 times forward sales expectations. Furthermore, many other growing firms are selling at far greater multiples than 10 times revenues. In the future years, Palantir might fetch a P/S multiple of 6-7 or much higher, potentially making the company one of the finest buys for the next decade. As a result, the market will most likely begin assessing the company's shares rather than voting for it in the next years, and Palantir's share price will certainly skyrocket.
They are one of the few publicly listed companies capable of withstanding Geopolitical shocks and will most certainly gain from higher military expenditure by the United Nations and its European allies, as the recent NATO Summit in Madrid demonstrated member states' readiness to significantly expand their defence budgets. Palantir's space and geospatial intelligence capabilities are also likely to gain new clients as a result of its performance on the Ukrainian battlefield.
Comment
Palantir's margins are improving rapidly, which is critical for a software firm. The adjusted gross margin was 81%. The contribution margin was 57%. Adjusted income from operations was $117 million in the first quarter, excluding stock-based compensation and corresponding employer payroll taxes, indicating an adjusted operating margin of 26 percent, above management's earlier expectation of 23 percent.
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