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☕️ Palantir: Most investors will miss the real lesson - again

Aug 04, 2026

Howdy! 👋

I hope your day is off to an amazing start like mine is.

Great earnings have a way of setting the tone.

Not that this is a surprise, mind you.

I told you three things very specifically yesterday (See #2):

That I expected fabulous results
That CEO Alex Karp would issue a blistering letter
And to watch Palantir’s Rule of 40 score

And yes, as I noted yesterday to the fabulous Stuart Varney ahead of the opening bell, that “I hope I’m smart enough to buy a lot more shares!” (Watch)

Seems I might have been on to something. 😀

Even so and as jaw-dropping as the results were, let’s put ‘em aside temporarily.

Scores of investors have a serious problem when it comes to companies like Palantir.

They swear up, down and sideways that they won’t miss the next big winners but as predictably as the sun comes up each day, that’s what they wind up doing time and again.

Many if not most think they’re being smart by going to the sidelines or trying to time the markets using whatever gee-whiz super-secret squirrel cage Area 51 system they’ve come up with or bought from some furu hawking heck knows what. Others let their emotions get the better of ‘em. Either way, they find themselves on the sidelines when the real moves happen.

Palantir is a great example.

I first began speaking about Palantir at around $7-10 a share on national TV and much of Wall Street’s response was “Pala-what??!!” Some very prominent names have since publicly recognized that I was right on the money – pun absolutely intended.

My research suggested it would run to progressively higher price targets… $25, $50, $75 and when it hit $100, I put $200+ on the table.

People fought me for a variety of reasons ranging from valuations to price to their badly flawed insistence that it was vaporware. The trolls were, of course, relentless and in many cases downright nasty.

When it hit $190 and moved up to $200, I suggested investors consider a little trimming to reduce risk and take profits if they hadn’t already been doing so using the FreeTrade, a tactic I introduced to the investing public more than two decades ago. They fought me again, only this time for different reasons.

I don’t blame ‘em but I wish to heck they’d take a hard look in the mirror.

Ignorance is expensive.

The short-term gang does a terrible job distinguishing between market noise and long-term profit potential. Which, when you think about it, means they can’t possibly get “value” correct so their odds of making money decrease radically with every market squiggle.

Especially when it comes to a stock like Palantir.

I constantly urge investors to remember that they’ve got to make at least a modicum of effort to understand what they’re buying – not the price they’re paying, mind you. What they’re buying.

Price is what the market charges, nothing more.

That’s why, when you see a company like Palantir, it’s VERY important to concentrate on the profit potential it’s creating over time. Not what the go-fast crew or the clown car wants to charge you at moments in time.

Long-term value and profit potential are a function of what a company is worth… to its customers, to its vendors, to you as an investor. Not headlines. In some cases, that’s readily apparent while in others you may need to look down the road a piece to see it.

I encourage investors to think like owners because – ta da – when you buy shares that’s what you are… an owner.

Warren Buffett once quipped that, “if you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”

I agree.

My experience is that you buy the best, ignore the rest®.

And on a closely related thought, you ignore the short-term goon squad as long as the reasons for which you bought shares in the first place continue to exist.

Palantir is one of those super rare companies that, I submit, fits the bill. (Read)

Revenue of $1.94B, +93% YoY
U.S. commercial revenue grew 149% YoY
US government revenue grew +90% YoY
US commercial customer count +35% YoY
Profit: $1.1 billion in the quarter — more profit in one quarter than the company generated in total revenue in the same period last year
GAAP net income of $1.062B, +225% YoY
Rule of 40 score of 155% — The highest ever for Palantir and the top 1% of all companies over the last 5-10 years in any industry
$9.2B in cash and equivalents
Raised FY guide to $8.15B, +82% YoY

Which brings me to the real point in all this.

The problem with investing isn’t finding great companies like most people think. It’s that investors give up for whatever reason before they’ve owned shares long enough to see ‘em pay off.

That’s the lesson most investors are going to miss when it comes to Palantir’s latest earnings report.

Click to enlarge.

At the end of the day, investing comes down to a very simple principle.

You can have results or you can have excuses. Not both.

Understand the difference and – I submit – you will have a far more pleasant, far more profitable and far more consistent journey over time.

One more thing.

My research suggests that there are 10-15 “Palantirs” out there right now in various stages of maturity which means you have a choice. You can continue to fight for Wall Street’s table scraps or you make a change because you’re ready.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, investing is about focus not noise. That’s why when the headlines scream panic, hype and hooey, lean into discipline, not drama.

Have a plan
Execute
Adjust
Repeat

I’ll be here either way.

Sharing the strategies, tactics and stocks that have helped investors and traders go from zero to millions, perhaps even billions. All in plain English that beginners will understand and experts will appreciate.

Btw, I continue to believe that Palantir is a $500 stock in the making, an observation to which Wall Street is once again catching up. Perhaps by the end of the decade but maybe a whole lot sooner with more reports like the one Team Karp dropped last night.

Meanwhile and in other news in case this is appealing…