Revenue of $2.31B for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026 came in above the analyst estimate of $2.18B at Palantir Technologies (PLTR), according to FMP's earnings line dated Nov. 2, 2026. Management also raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance. The stock trades at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 110.34, so the results sit next to a high valuation. All figures are current as of Nov. 10, 2026 unless stated.
Key facts
- Nov. 2, 2026 earnings line: Diluted EPS was 0.44 against an analyst estimate of 0.4061, a difference of +$0.03, or 8.3%. Revenue was $2.31B against an analyst estimate of $2.18B, a difference of +$136.1M, or 6.3%.
- Growth: Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026 was 95.9% higher than in the year-ago quarter. Net income was 137.2% higher.
- Price: The stock traded at 168.82 USD on the latest quote (Nov. 10, 2026), a change of -0.22% on the day. Its 52-week range is 106.37-212.94 USD, and its market cap is $389.42B.
- Balance sheet as of Sept. 30, 2026: Cash and short-term investments were $10.56B and total debt was $225.3M. FMP reports net debt of $-3.39B.
- Next report: The next earnings date is Feb. 1, 2027, with an EPS estimate of 0.52 and a revenue estimate of $2.67B.
| Metric, Q3 FY2026 | Latest quarter | Year-ago quarter |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.31B | $1.18B |
| Operating income | $1.08B | $393.3M |
| Net income | $1.13B | $475.6M |
| Diluted EPS | 0.44 | 0.19 |
| Commercial revenue | $1.17B | $548.4M |
| Government revenue | $1.15B | $632.7M |
What happened
Palantir sells data-analysis and AI software to governments and companies. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, revenue was $2.31B, operating income was $1.08B and net income was $1.13B. On the call, management said U.S. revenue was $1.937 billion, which Ryan Taylor said was 84% of total revenue.
Both segments were higher than a year earlier. Commercial revenue was $1.17B and the Government Operating Segment brought in $1.15B. On the Nov. 2, 2026 call, management gave more detail on the U.S. side. U.S. commercial revenue grew 148% year over year and 29% from the prior quarter, to $984 million. U.S. government revenue grew 96% year over year, to $953 million. Management tied the government figure to existing programs and new awards, including Maven. It tied the commercial figure to customers moving from pilots to production faster.
CEO Alexander Karp told analysts that demand already exceeds supply. Asked by Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives how its "Sovereign AI" bootcamps turn prospects into customers, he said prospects arrive frustrated with their existing AI results and that the time from first contact to a pilot or production has shortened. Contracts start smaller in length but expand quickly, he said. Management also said net dollar retention, which measures how much existing customers spend compared with a year earlier, rose to 165%.
Guidance. Management raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $8.530 billion and $8.534 billion. For the fourth quarter, it guided revenue to between $2.649 billion and $2.653 billion. Full-year adjusted free cash flow guidance is between $4.8 billion and $5 billion. Management also expects GAAP operating income and net income to be positive in every quarter of 2026.
Five-quarter trend
| Quarter ended | Revenue | Gross margin | Operating margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 30, 2025 | $1.18B | 82.4% | 33.3% | $501.9M |
| Dec. 31, 2025 | $1.41B | 84.6% | 40.9% | $764.0M |
| Mar. 31, 2026 | $1.63B | 86.8% | 46.2% | $891.8M |
| June 30, 2026 | $1.94B | 84.7% | 47.1% | $1.20B |
| Sept. 30, 2026 | $2.31B | 83.4% | 46.9% | $1.20B |
Revenue rose in each of the five quarters. Operating margin, which is the share of revenue left after running costs, climbed from 33.3% to 47.1% and then held near that level in the latest quarter at 46.9%. Gross margin peaked at 86.8% in the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2026 and has been lower in the two quarters since. Free cash flow, the cash left after capital spending, was $1.20B in each of the last two quarters. Buybacks were $19.2M in each of the two quarters ended in 2025, and FMP shows none in the three quarters since. The company pays no dividend.
Why it matters for investors
Valuation is the tension. On a trailing 12-month basis, Palantir has a P/E of 110.34, a price-to-sales ratio of 53.43 and a net margin of 50.3%. Price-to-free-cash-flow is 96.06. The government-services peers FMP lists trade at lower multiples, though they are different businesses with much lower margins:
| Company | P/E | Net margin |
|---|---|---|
| Palantir (PLTR) | 110.34 | 50.3% |
| Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) | 13.51 | 7.1% |
| CACI International (CACI) | 26.42 | 5.5% |
| Cellebrite (CLBT) | 53.70 | 11.4% |
FMP's own discounted cash flow model, which estimates a share's worth from projected future cash, gives a value of 9.54 USD per share as of Nov. 10, 2026. That is a model output with assumptions we cannot see, but it is far below the latest quote.
What analysts say. FMP's consensus rating is "Buy", with 17 buy ratings, 9 hold ratings and 3 sell ratings out of 29. Analyst price targets average 220.50 USD with a median of 235.00 USD. The high target is 265.00 USD and the low is 80.00 USD. That wide range shows analysts disagree sharply about what the shares are worth. Barclays, Rosenblatt, Piper Sandler and Citigroup kept positive ratings after the report. Morgan Stanley and Cantor Fitzgerald kept neutral ones.
Our data. Stock Expert AI's MoonshotScore V2 for Palantir is 95.2. Among the sector-relative pillars, growth scores 97, safety 97, quality 95 and momentum 75. Valuation is the weak area at 18. That matches the picture above: strong growth and profitability, but a price that already reflects a lot.
Financial strength. FMP shows a Piotroski score of 7 on a 0-9 scale, a measure of financial health. Debt-to-equity is 0.02.
What could go wrong
- Pipeline signals were mixed. On the call, management said total remaining deal value in the U.S. commercial business grew only 4% from the prior quarter, though the same figure grew 79% year over year. Remaining performance obligations, which is contracted revenue not yet recognized, were $4.9 billion. They rose 88% year over year but were flat from the prior quarter.
- Shorter contracts. Management said some new contracts are shorter than usual. CFO Dave Glazer said their length and size are expected to increase over time.
- Costs are rising. Adjusted expenses rose 20% from the prior quarter and 53% from a year earlier, which management attributed to AI platform investment and technical hiring.
- International is small and slow. International commercial revenue grew 1% from the prior quarter, to $184 million.
- Strategic contracts are ending, but the amount is immaterial. Strategic commercial contracts brought in approximately $400,000 in the quarter, less than 0.02% of overall revenue. Management expects less than $500,000 in the fourth quarter and no revenue from them after that.
- Competition. Karp described frontier-model labs such as Anthropic as partners for now, calling the relationship "symbiotic", and said "I don't know at what point we become competitive with each other." He said Palantir very rarely tries to take their customers away. Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson noted that about half of Anthropic's customers work directly with Anthropic.
- Insider selling. Among the 30 most recent insider filings, those dated in the last 90 days show 24 sales and no open-market purchases. The filings do not say why insiders sold, and older filings in the window may be missing.
- Political and public scrutiny. Recent headlines from The Motley Fool ask whether a Democratic-led Congress could pose a risk to Palantir. The Guardian reported that Palantir lobbied a U.K. minister about widening the reach of its AI tools to NHS GP records. We have not verified either report.
What to watch next
- Fourth-quarter results on Feb. 1, 2027. The analyst estimates are EPS of 0.52 and revenue of $2.67B. Management's guidance for fourth-quarter revenue is between $2.649 billion and $2.653 billion.
- Contract length and remaining deal value. Management said contract duration should grow. Whether U.S. commercial remaining deal value and total remaining performance obligations pick up will show if that happens.
- Margins. Operating margin was 46.9% in the latest quarter, and gross margin has been lower in the last two quarters than in the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2026. Management has flagged higher spending on AI and hiring.
- International and commercial growth outside the U.S. International commercial revenue was $184 million and international government revenue was $192 million in the latest quarter, against U.S. revenue of $1.937 billion, or 84% of the total.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Did Palantir beat earnings estimates in the third quarter of 2026?
Yes. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, FMP shows diluted EPS of 0.44 against an analyst estimate of 0.4061, a difference of +$0.03, or 8.3%. Revenue was $2.31B against an analyst estimate of $2.18B, a difference of +$136.1M, or 6.3%. The results were dated Nov. 2, 2026.
Q: What guidance did Palantir give after its third-quarter 2026 results?
On the Nov. 2, 2026 call, management raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $8.530 billion and $8.534 billion. It guided fourth-quarter revenue to between $2.649 billion and $2.653 billion. Its full-year adjusted free cash flow guidance is between $4.8 billion and $5 billion.
Q: How is Palantir valued compared with its peers?
On a trailing 12-month basis, Palantir has a P/E of 110.34 and a net margin of 50.3%. Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) has a P/E of 13.51 and a net margin of 7.1%. CACI International (CACI) has a P/E of 26.42 and a net margin of 5.5%. Cellebrite (CLBT) has a P/E of 53.70 and a net margin of 11.4%. Palantir's valuation score in our MoonshotScore is 18, the lowest of its five pillars.
What our data could not verify
We could not verify the reasons for the share price level or for insider selling. The company release was not available to us. The two headlines on politics and NHS data are third-party reports that we did not check.
Sources: Stock Expert AI data: MoonshotScore V2. Financial Modeling Prep: quotes, financial statements, analyst estimates, ratings, insider filings and the Nov. 2, 2026 earnings call transcript. Third-party reports: The Motley Fool and The Guardian headlines, as described above.
This is educational content, not investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.