TLDR
- Palantir stock fell around 3.5% to 4.6% on Tuesday, pulling back from its 2026 closing high of $186.38
- ARK Invest sold approximately 139,456 PLTR shares worth $26 million on August 31
- Q2 earnings were strong, with revenue up 92.8% year over year and EPS of $0.41 vs. estimates of $0.34
- The stock trades at roughly 154 times earnings, a valuation analysts continue to flag as a key risk
- Palantir won a U.S. Army TITAN ground station production contract on September 1, but it wasn’t enough to stop the slide
Palantir (PLTR) dropped between 3.5% and 4.6% on Tuesday, hitting as low as $179.75 before settling near $179.92. That’s a notable retreat from the 2026 closing high of $186.38 reached just two sessions earlier.
Palantir Technologies Inc., PLTR
The stock has been on a wild ride. PLTR surged roughly 48% from its pre-earnings level in early August after a blowout Q2 report. Revenue came in at $1.94 billion, up 92.8% year over year, comfortably beating analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. EPS of $0.41 topped the $0.34 consensus by $0.07.
The 52-week high sits at $207.52, which means even after recent gains, the stock has come off its peak.
Trading volume on Tuesday was 47% below the average session level, suggesting the selling wasn’t panic-driven but more orderly profit-taking.
ARK Invest Keeps Trimming
The clearest near-term pressure on PLTR is ARK Invest. Cathie Wood’s firm sold around 139,456 Palantir shares on August 31, worth approximately $26 million. This was the latest in a pattern of reductions throughout August, with ARK redirecting capital into Block and Rocket Lab.
ARK has been trimming into every rally since the earnings pop. That pattern hasn’t gone unnoticed by the market.
Insider selling has also been consistent. Over the past 90 days, insiders sold a total of 720,166 shares worth roughly $116.8 million. Insider Shyam Sankar sold 35,000 shares at $155.70 on August 6, and Jeffrey Buckley sold 1,250 shares at $174.29 on August 21. Both were executed under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
Valuation Still a Sticking Point
At roughly 154 to 155 times earnings, the valuation is hard to ignore. Analysts have a consensus price target of $192.19 and a “Moderate Buy” rating. Needham has a $215 target, Northland Securities set $200, and Phillip Securities raised theirs to $202.
But the stock’s extreme multiple means any softening in sentiment can produce outsized moves to the downside.
On the positive side, Palantir’s customer base grew 24% to 1,049. Commercial revenue is now only about $45 million behind government revenue and could overtake it within a quarter.
Recent Contract Win
Palantir did get some good news on September 1. The company won a U.S. Army TITAN ground station production contract, moving from prototype to production phase. It wasn’t enough to offset the selling pressure, but it adds to an already strong government pipeline.
Pentagon demand is approaching a $1 billion annual run rate. Baird reaffirmed an Outperform rating, and Zacks recently upgraded PLTR to a “Strong Buy.”
The broader market wasn’t the issue on Tuesday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both modestly green, making PLTR’s drop clearly stock-specific.
The stock’s 50-day moving average sits at $145.10 and its 200-day at $142.38, both well below current prices.
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