Analysis
Palantir reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.3 billion on Monday, November 2, up 96% year over year -- the fastest growth rate in the company's history, according to Fortune. CFO David Glazer called it the "highest-ever" reported year-over-year growth rate, and the company's sequential growth of 20% was also a record, with quarterly revenue topping the $2 billion mark for the first time ever.
What Palantir does
Palantir Technologies was founded in 2003 in Palo Alto, California, and moved its headquarters to Denver in 2020, by Alex Karp, Peter Thiel and a group of co-founders, according to CB Insights. The company built its name on Foundry and Gotham, data-integration platforms originally sold to US intelligence and defense agencies, before launching its Artificial Intelligence Platform, AIP, to pitch the same operating model to commercial customers. Pulse has previously covered Palantir's expansion into defense-adjacent venture bets, including Aldaron's $885 million debut fund and CEO Karp personally backing a Ukraine defense startup.
How Palantir's growth has accelerated since its AIP push
Palantir's quarterly growth has accelerated steadily since it introduced AIP "bootcamps" to get enterprise customers running pilots within days rather than months. In the second quarter of 2026, the company reported 149% US commercial growth and 93% total revenue growth, and raised its guidance then too. Monday's report topped that.
“In the second quarter of 2026, the company reported 149% US commercial growth and 93% total revenue growth, and raised its guidance then too.”
- Prior full-year guidance -- as high as $8.2 billion, set last quarter.
- New full-year guidance -- $8.53 billion to $8.534 billion, about 91% growth.
- Fourth-quarter outlook -- $2.64 billion to $2.65 billion, roughly 88% growth at the midpoint, ahead of the roughly $2.46 billion Wall Street had modeled.
Commercial revenue overtakes government for the first time
The quarter's clearest shift: Palantir's US commercial segment overtook its US government segment for the first time ever.
- US commercial revenue -- up 148% year over year to $984 million, from $397 million a year earlier.
- US government revenue -- up 96% year over year to $953 million, from $486 million a year earlier.
- Total contract value -- up 6% to $2.9 billion, with US commercial contract value up 11% to $1.5 billion.
- Earnings per share -- 44 cents adjusted and GAAP, versus 21 cents adjusted and 18 cents GAAP a year earlier, beating the roughly 41-cent adjusted estimate analysts had modeled.
How Palantir stacks up against AI-software peers
Palantir's results landed alongside a broader pullback in AI-adjacent software stocks, as investors weighed whether enterprise AI spending is translating into durable revenue or short-lived pilot budgets. Rivals that also sell AI-ready data infrastructure to large enterprises have not matched anything close to Palantir's reported growth rate this year, underscoring how unusual a 96% figure is for a company already generating billions in quarterly revenue rather than a smaller challenger easing off a low base.
The counterweight: a stock that couldn't hold its gain
Shares rose about 1.5% in after-hours trading immediately after the release, then reversed and fell 3.6%; however, even a record quarter isn't automatically rewarded when a stock already prices in years of future growth. The reversal came two trading days after Alphabet posted its worst one-day stock drop on record, and the broader Nasdaq Composite fell more than 1% the same Monday -- a reminder that the AI-software trade remains volatile even for companies beating every number investors asked for. CEO Alex Karp called the results "extraordinary" and the 96% growth "absolutely striking," telling investors the company's earnings calls have become "the focal point of tech, society, and general trends" in a market he described as "a very different jam."
What to watch next
The open question for Palantir, as for every AI-software name trading at a premium multiple, is durability: whether the current wave of government and commercial AI deployments converts into multi-year contracts at the same pace once the current cohort renews. Total contract value grew just 6%, slower than the headline revenue growth rate, which suggests some of this quarter's recognized revenue came from deals signed earlier rather than fresh bookings -- worth watching heading into Q4's test of that $2.64 billion guidance floor.