Palantir To Join the Nasdaq 100: Retail Stays Loyal—What’s Next for the High-Flying Stock?

Wedbush's Daniel Ives sees Palantir as the most underappreciated tech name in his coverage universe, while others on the sell side are uneasy over valuation.

Data analytics company Palantir Technologies, Inc. ($PLTR) is set to join the Nasdaq 100 Index, less than three months after it was added to the broader S&P 500 Index.

Late Friday, Nasdaq announced that Palantir, along with MicroStrategy, Inc. ($MSTR) and Axon Enterprises, Inc. ($AXON), will be added to the Nasdaq 100 Index, before the market opens on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024.

These companies will replace Illumina, Inc. ($ILMN), Super Micro Computer, Inc. ($SMCI) and Moderna, Inc. ($MRNA) in the index as part of its annual reconstitution. 

Parabolic Run

Palantir, which has exposure to the hot-and-happening artificial intelligence (AI) tech, has seen its stock swell this year. It is the best-performing S&P 500 stock by virtue of its 343% year-to-date gain. 

After moving roughly sideways till August, the stock began to pick up pace following the release of its second-quarter results. The run-up continued amid the S&P 500 inclusion. The Nov. 5 election provided further impetus to the stock, as the market perceived the incoming administration under President-elect Donald Trump as positive for tech stocks. 

Since November 5, the stock has gained about 49%. 

Palantir now has a market capitalization of $173.289 billion.

The sell-side, however, isn’t as optimistic. The average analysts’ price target of $41.92 for Palantir suggests a potential 45% downside from current levels.

Last week, TheFly reported that Baird and Mizuho expressed uneasiness about Palantir's bloated valuation despite their confidence in the company’s fundamentals. Mizuho’s Gregg Moskowitz raised the price target for the stock from $37 to $44 while staying at ‘Underperform.’ Baird initiated the stock with a ‘Neutral’ rating and $70 price target.

Wedbush’s Daniel Ives, while issuing his tech predictions for 2025, said Palantir is well positioned for another year of outperformance.

“We believe the most underappreciated tech name in our universe still continues to be Palantir,” he said.

The analyst expects 2025 to be another breakout year as its flagship AIP product transforms AI use cases within enterprises, potentially making the Messi of AI the next Oracle.

Retail Stays Bullish 

On Stocktwits, sentiment toward Palantir stock remained ‘bullish’ (59/100) although message activity remained ‘low.’’

While conceding the stock's P/E ratio is high, a Stocktwits user touted Palantir as a valuable company.

Another called Palantir as the ‘Apple’ of the current generation, based on its ability to create wealth.

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