TLDR
- Palantir stock fell as much as 5.8% Wednesday, continuing a volatile stretch after a 6.7% rise Monday
- The Pentagon is set to designate Palantir’s Maven Smart System as an official “program of record,” opening the door to wider military adoption
- The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority awarded Palantir a three-month trial contract to help investigate fraud and money laundering across 42,000+ financial firms
- Wedbush has an Outperform rating with a $230 price target, calling the Maven deal “another significant milestone”
- PLTR is down nearly 10% year-to-date despite gaining 135% in 2025 and 340% in 2024
Palantir Technologies stock dropped sharply Wednesday even as two new deals landed in its corner. The moves highlight just how much the market is wrestling with the stock right now.
Palantir Technologies Inc., PLTR
As of mid-morning Wednesday, PLTR was down around 4.1% to $153.03. The stock had rallied 6.7% on Monday to $160.84, only to fall 5.1% on Tuesday — and now it’s sliding again.
The broader tech selloff appears to be the main driver, not anything specific to Palantir itself. Macroeconomic and geopolitical pressure has been weighing on the sector all week.
Palantir has been stuck in a tight range for most of March, trading around its 50-day moving average of $150.50. It briefly challenged the 200-day moving average at $163.30 on Monday but couldn’t hold above it — the same ceiling that’s blocked the stock since late January.
Year-to-date, PLTR is down nearly 10%. That’s a sharp contrast to the last three years: 135% in 2025, 340% in 2024, and 167% in 2023. The stock’s current price sits in a 52-week range of $66.12 to $207.52.
Pentagon’s Maven Smart System Upgrade
Over the weekend, Reuters reported that the U.S. Department of Defense plans to make Palantir’s Maven digital battle-management system an official “program of record.” That’s a formal military classification that locks in long-term funding and opens use across all branches of the armed forces.
In a letter to military commanders, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said the system would give warfighters “the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains.”
The move comes less than a year after Palantir won the Maven Smart System contract in May 2025 — a deal worth around $1.3 billion. Palantir also picked up a contract worth up to $10 billion with the U.S. Army last year, plus a $448 million Navy deal.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the Maven program-of-record designation “another significant milestone,” saying it positions Palantir as one of the main beneficiaries of the Trump administration’s AI spending push. Wedbush holds an Outperform rating and a $230 price target on the stock.
UK Financial Regulator Signs On
On the civilian side, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority handed Palantir a three-month trial contract to help investigate fraud, money laundering, and insider trading. The Guardian first reported the deal.
The trial will pull in data from more than 42,000 financial services firms, including crypto exchanges and major banks. A successful run could lead to full procurement of Palantir’s AI platform by the FCA.
Palantir’s Q4 numbers offer some context for why these deals keep coming. Revenue hit $1.4 billion — up 70% year over year — marking the company’s 10th straight quarter of accelerating growth. Adjusted EPS jumped 79% to $0.25. U.S. commercial revenue surged 137% year over year.
At 245 times earnings, the valuation is hard to ignore. But the growth rate is equally hard to dismiss.
Palantir referred Barron’s to the Defense Department for comment on the Maven report. The Defense Department declined to comment.
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