Latest news with #MavenSmartSystem
Euronews
2 days ago
- Business
- Euronews
Who are the four tech executives joining the US Army?
The US military created a new army reserve body earlier this month that included four players from the biggest tech companies in the world. The Army's new initiative – Detachment 201, called the Executive Innovation Corps to Drive Tech Transformation, will see senior tech executives serve as advisors to the military to 'help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems,' the army's website reads. 'By bringing private sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts … to make the force leaner, smarter and more lethal'. (The US Army has issued an interest form since the four tech executives joined in the hopes of recruiting more tech executives to the detachment.) The first four reserve members are Shyam Sankar, Palantir's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, Meta's chief technology officer, Kevin Weil, OpenAI's chief product officer, and Bob McGrew, advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former chief research officer at OpenAI. All four have been given the title of Lieutenant Colonel, a senior officer rank that often oversees battalions of between 300 to 1,000 people. Shyam Sankar Shyam Sankar claims he joined Palantir Technologies, an American company that trades in software platforms for big data analytics as 'employee #13'. He said he brought the forward deployed engineer role to the company, a software engineer who works directly with clients to embed Palantir's technology into its weapons. Sankar holds a bachelor's in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University and a master's degree in management science and engineering from Stanford University. In 2024, Sankar wrote the 'Defence Reformation,' a 4000-word 'treatise' that lays out how he believes the US should reform its military, including ways to introduce more competition into a defence tech industry that he believes has been consolidated. 'We are in [a] state of undeclared emergency,' he wrote. 'For more than three decades, we've accepted a stagnant Defence Industrial Base … with no great power competition. 'Change is now possible because we all realise there is something worse than change: irrelevance,' he said. Sankar's swearing in to the military comes a few weeks after Palantir won a $795 million (€678.5 million) contract for its Maven Smart System software licenses. Earlier this year, the company also provided the US military with its first Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) systems, the first AI-powered mobile ground station to help soldiers with warfare strategy. Andrew Bosworth Bosworth, known in the tech community as 'Boz,' joined Meta in 2006 when Mark Zuckerberg was ramping up the social media platform Facebook. Initially, Bosworth was Zuckerberg's teaching assistant in an artificial intelligence (AI) class at Harvard in 2004. Despite rarely coming to his class, Facebook recruiters called Bosworth while he was working at Microsoft in Seattle, and the rest is history. The company credits Bosworth with creating the News Feed, where users often see recent posts from their friends and family, along with early 'anti-abuse systems' that are still in place on the network. In 2017, Bosworth created the company's first virtual reality (VR) division called Reality Labs, which he still leads. He also leads the company's artificial intelligence (AI) efforts, called Meta AI, and Meta's smart glasses technology. He said on X that he was 'honoured' to join the US military because he is 'deeply invested in helping advance American technological innovation'. Bosworth's swearing in comes less than a month after Meta and US-based defence tech company Anduril announced a partnership to integrate extended reality (XR) products into American warfighters, giving them 'enhanced perception … and intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield'. In an interview with CNBC, Bosworth said his decision to serve is separate from defence deals that Meta has made. Kevin Weil and Bob McGrew McGrew, OpenAI's former chief researcher, is now an advisor to Thinking Labs. The new AI start-up, founded by ex-OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, is now worth an estimated $10 billion (€8.53 billion), six months after launch. McGrew shared on X that he left OpenAI last September, describing his eight years at the company as a 'humbling and awe-inspiring journey'. In the message, he shares that he was a part of pioneering large language models (LLMs) at the company as well as building some of the first multimodal models of the popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT. He also launched ChatGPT's o1 series that reasons through complex tasks such as science, coding and math. Weil is a recent recruit to OpenAI, having joined the company in 2024 as chief product officer. He's leading a team 'focused on applying our research to products and services that benefit consumers, developers and businesses,' according to the company. Before joining OpenAI, Weil has had stints at many of the dominant social media companies, starting at Twitter, now known as X. As the social network's head of product, he claims he scaled the company from 40 to 4,000 employees and from $0 to $2 billion (€1.7 billion) in annual revenue. Weil also worked as vice-president of product at Instagram and kept that same job after Meta's acquisition of the social media site until 2021. At Instagram, he's credited with launching 'Instagram Stories,' a part of the app where users share up-to-date images or videos of what they are up to. Weil also serves on a variety of boards, like Cisco, the US Nature Conservancy and is listed as 'Operator in Residence' at his wife Elizabeth Weil's venture capital firm, Scribble Ventures. His LinkedIn profile says he graduated from Harvard University in 2005 with a bachelor's in physics and mathematics and a master's degree from Stanford University in physics. OpenAI was awarded a $200 million (€170.7 million) US defence contract to 'develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,' three days after Weil was named to the US Army.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Veteran trader boosts Palantir price target on defense-spending outlook
TheStreet Pro's Stephen Guilfoyle is thinking of a company. This group has a large and growing position in defense contracting as well as plenty of corporate clients. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter And the company's shares were climbing recently even as other names in the Dow Jones U.S. Defense Index, such as Kratos (KTOS) , Northrop Grumman (NOC) , L3Harris (LHX) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) , were falling. "They don't sell hardware," the veteran trader said in his recent column. "They don't sell things that go 'boom.' They don't sell flying machines, machines that swim or tracked vehicles. They sell intelligence. They sell gig-data driven, AI-supported, game-changing analysis." Related: As Palantir stock soars, veteran trader makes surprising call Which company are we talking about here? "I speak, of course, of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) ," Guilfoyle said, referring to the data-analytics software producer. "In this environment, it has become possibly America's most important defense contractor." Image source:Guilfoyle, whose career dates back to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1980s, noted that at the recent NATO summit, leaders of the security alliance committed to invest 5% of GDP annually on defense and security-related matters by 2035. Spain reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from the spending target and will spend 2.1% of GDP. More Palantir Veteran fund manager reboots Palantir stock price targetAs Palantir stock soars, veteran trader makes surprising callPalantir reacts to controversial New York Times allegations "It was a little less than eight years ago that President Trump could not get the majority of these nations to pay their fair share," Guilfoyle said. "Whatever actually comes out of this summit, on top of the increase in spending on defense, I am sure there will be some increased orders for the industrial hardware of conventional warfare." While those outlays will buy tanks, artillery, aircraft, naval craft, missiles and missile defense technology, he said, "this plays straight into the hands of a firm like Palantir." "For nations strapped fiscally, looking for the most bang for their buck, or euro, the purchase of software-driven big-data platforms capable of providing accurate analysis and actionable intelligence may just be the best way to upspend on defense," Guilfoyle said. Several tech companies have benefited from the Trump administration's return, as it has committed to promoting technological advancement, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence and digital assets, Shares of Palantir have nearly doubled this year and have soared nearly six times from a year ago. The Denver group has been on the receiving end of lucrative defense contracts. These include a recently expanded $1.3 billion deal with the U.S. Defense Department for the company's Maven Smart System and a controversial software contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Palantir, which has been an ICE contractor for more than a decade, was recently awarded $30 million to provide the agency with "near real-time visibility" on people self-deporting from the U.S., Wired reported. In addition, a report by the Project on Government Oversight said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller owned between $100,001 and $250,000 of Palantir stock, raising "conflict of interest concerns." Related: Veteran fund manager reboots Palantir stock price target Meanwhile, a coalition of Democratic Party lawmakers wrote to Palantir CEO Alex Karp after reports said the company was helping the IRS build a searchable, governmentwide megadatabase to house Americans' sensitive information. In a response to a New York Times story about its Foundry product being added to four federal agencies, the company said, "Palantir never collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans, and our Foundry platform employs granular security protections." Palantir is also expanding its corporate client base, bringing in such diverse names as Heineken (HEINY) , Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and AT&T (T) "Intelligence is a corporate affair, too," said Guilfoyle, who raised his price target on Palantir shares to $181 from $156. "The commercial side of what Palantir provides has been growing more quickly than the government side, by a 71% to 45% score." He does add that Palantir's valuation "is absurd unless an actual tsunami of investment growth continues to be made in this kind of analysis and resultant intelligence is made by governments and businesses that consider it a nonnegotiable 'must-have.'" Guilfoyle said. Yahoo Finance pegs PLTR's forward price-to-earnings multiple at 263. "Then, at what price, survival? The threat - and it will come - to Palantir's valuation will come from competitive pressure, but that day, in my opinion, is not yet upon us." Related: Fund-management veteran skips emotion in investment strategy The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
C3.ai Ramps Up Partner-Led Sales Model: Can It Drive Scalable Growth?
Inc. AI is doubling down on a go-to-market strategy centered around its rapidly expanding partner ecosystem. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, the company secured 73% of its agreements in collaboration with strategic partners like Microsoft, AWS and Google Cloud. In fiscal 2025, it signed 193 deals through the partner ecosystem, reflecting a rise of 68% from the prior year. In the fiscal fourth quarter, AI reported a 419% surge in partner-supported bookings, with 59 agreements closed through strategic the fiscal fourth quarter, closed 59 partner-led deals. The company's deepened alliance with Microsoft is noteworthy. Its applications are listed in Azure's sales catalog, with commissions being paid to Microsoft's global salesforce for successful closes. In the quarter, the company inked 28 joint deals with Microsoft, emphasizing manufacturing and support this channel-centric push, has invested heavily in demo licenses and enablement tools. These demo licenses — used by partners and strategic customers alike — made up nearly 30% of the company's fiscal fourth-quarter is now jointly targeting over 600 accounts with Microsoft alone, and is pursuing similar scaling with AWS, Google Cloud and newly formed alliances like PwC and McKinsey QuantumBlack. The management is optimistic and anticipates the consulting partners to unlock new levels of scalability and market penetration in the upcoming periods. Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR continues to pursue a more vertically integrated model, emphasizing direct engagement with clients over an external partner-led sales approach. Palantir does collaborate with key institutions, such as R1 RCM in healthcare automation and NATO for mission-critical AI deployments. Its Maven Smart System and AIP platform are deployed directly with defense agencies and commercial clients through proprietary programs. Palantir's partnerships are strategic in nature but limited in scale compared to the broad commercial enablement seen at Inc. SNOW, in contrast, is building a hybrid model that blends direct go-to-market with strong platform partnerships. In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Snowflake highlighted expanded collaboration with Microsoft, enabling customers to host OpenAI models via Azure and integrate Snowflake's Cortex AI products into Office Copilot. The company leverages technology from its Datavolo acquisition to improve data connectivity with partners like Google Drive, Workday, Slack and the public sector, Snowflake launched Snowflake Public Sector Inc. and secured Department of Defense provisional authorization, boosting offerings to the government and national security. Its model emphasizes data ecosystem interoperability, supporting structured and unstructured data across platforms and creating opportunities for seamless collaboration. While not as externally distributed as Snowflake's partner strategy is essential for expanding AI use cases and integrations across verticals. Shares of have gained 0.5% in the past three months compared with the industry's growth of 0.3%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research From a valuation standpoint, AI trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 6.50X, significantly below the industry's average of 18.47X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AI's fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year uptick of 9.8% and 56.9%, respectively. The EPS estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have increased in the past 30 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research AI stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Inc. (AI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Snowflake Inc. (SNOW) : Free Stock Analysis Report Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Palantir Stock Poised to Surge Amidst the Israel-Iran Conflict?
Tensions flared across the Middle East in June 2025 as Israel launched a series of strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, igniting fears of a broader regional war. Oil (CLN25) prices spiked, global markets quivered, and defense stocks roared to life as uncertainty rippled through investor sentiment. The specter of all-out conflict looms, with geopolitical fault lines growing sharper by the day. Amid this chaos, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has emerged as a unique investment opportunity. Known for advanced data analytics, it's been quietly powering intelligence and battlefield logistics. Since October, it has supplied battlefield-grade AI tools through a strategic partnership with Israel's Ministry of Defense - technology that's now center stage amid escalating conflict. Palantir's data fusion platforms help governments act on chaos, making it a critical asset in physical warfare and digital disruption. Trump Is Giving Tesla's Robotaxis a Leg Up Ahead of June 22. Should You Buy TSLA Stock Now? Dear Nvidia Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for July 16 The Trump Family Is Betting Big on Mobile Phones. Should Apple Stock Investors Be Worried? Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. Back in the U.S., Palantir hit a defense jackpot, with the Department of Defense expanding its Maven Smart System contract ceiling from $480 million to $1.275 billion, while NATO's adoption of Maven gave the stock another jolt. As defense spending climbs amid escalating conflicts and AI tools gain traction, PLTR surged to earn the top S&P 500 Index ($SPX) slot. But can this high-flying rocket keep soaring, or is turbulence waiting just ahead? Founded in 2003, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has evolved into a commanding presence in the AI and data integration domain. What began as a mission to aid counterterrorism now spans cutting-edge platforms - Gotham for governments, Foundry for enterprises, and the rapidly ascending Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), launched in 2023. These tools empower institutions to harness vast data troves with surgical precision. Operating across four continents, Palantir does not just process information; it weaponizes it for clarity, compliance, and strategic dominance in an increasingly complex world. Valued at a market cap of $333.7 billion, PLTR stock is a software titan in the large-cap arena. The stock has been tearing through resistance, skyrocketing nearly 83% on a YTD basis. The stock first touched the $140 mark on June 11 and has since surged to new highs above $144. But zoom out, and the story gets even more interesting. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock surged 452%, and after stretching that lens, PLTR climbed a stunning 747% across two years, and an exceptional 1,567.5% surge over the past three years. Even with PLTR stock tearing through new highs, its valuation is hitting nosebleed territory. A forward adjusted price-earnings ratio of 243x and a price-sales ratio of 85.9x are exorbitant, even for a hypergrowth software company. Palantir reported impressive first-quarter 2025 earnings on May 5. The company's revenue surged 39% year over year to $884 million, edging past Wall Street's estimates, and momentum showed no signs of slowing. Meanwhile, adjusted EPS climbed by 62.5% annually to $0.13. Palantir's AIP is what is fueling this rocket, catching fire across both government and commercial sectors. The government segment generated $487 million in revenue, up 45% annually, with U.S. government revenue accounting for $373 million, also growing 45%. At the heart of this surge was deepening ties with the Department of Defense. In the U.S., total revenue spiked 55% year over year to $628 million. But the real head-turner was U.S. commercial revenue, which pulled $255 million, up a staggering 71% annually. Bookings surged 183%, hitting $810 million - the strongest total contract value (TCV) Palantir has ever recorded in its commercial U.S. operations. Customer growth has followed suit, now at 769 total customers, up 39% year over year. And these are not casual contracts. Average revenue from its top 20 clients rose 26% to $70 million. On the government side, Palantir secured $1.5 billion in TCV, including a new NATO partnership and deeper inroads in the U.K.'s healthcare and defense sectors. Plus, the company wrapped the quarter with $5.4 billion in cash and zero debt. And with a quarter that strong, of course, guidance had to rise. Palantir now expects full-year revenue between $3.89 billion and $3.902 billion, marking nearly 36% annual growth. U.S. commercial alone is anticipated to top $1.178 billion, up at least 68%. With 2025 free cash flow projected between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion, and Q2 revenue poised to be between $934 million and $938 million, Palantir might just be getting started. Analysts tracking Palantir expect 2025 profit to reach $0.37 per share, up 362.5% year-over-year, and rise another 18.9% to $0.44 per share in fiscal 2026. Last week, Loop Capital turned up the volume on PLTR stock, hiking its price target to $155 from $130 and doubling down on its 'Buy' rating. Loop called Palantir an 'early software leader' in enterprise AI. The analyst was impressed with AIP, booming AI trends, and the company's edge in a rapidly scaling market. Wall Street's sentiment on PLTR stock is clearly split - bulls see promise, skeptics preach caution. The stock has a consensus 'Hold' overall. Of the 20 analysts offering recommendations, three advise a 'Strong Buy,' 12 analysts play it safe with a 'Hold,' one suggests a 'Moderate Sell,' and the remaining four maintain a 'Strong Sell.' Although the stock is trading at a premium to its average analyst price target of $104.94, the Street-high target of $155 signals that PLTR can still climb as much as 12% from current levels. On the date of publication, Sristi Suman Jayaswal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marjorie Taylor Greene Just Loaded Up on This Monster Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock That Continues to Crush the Market
Public records show that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (or a family member) recently bought shares in data analytics darling Palantir Technologies. Palantir stock has crushed the market this year, thanks in large part to major contract wins and its ability to outmaneuver new tariff policies. While following the momentum in Palantir stock can be tempting, the company's current valuation trends look unsustainable. 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies › U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, recently disclosed some buys in red-hot artificial intelligence (AI) stock Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), according to data compiled by Capitol Trades, which follows the trading activity of politicians. According to the disclosures, the purchases ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 occurred on April 7 and 8. Of note, this activity follows an initial purchase of Palantir stock in mid-February. As of closing bell on May 29, the stock had climbed 62% this year, completely overshadowing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, each of which is breakeven on the year. We don't know why Greene bought the stock, and following the stock moves of any person without thought makes no sense, but that doesn't mean investors should ignore Palantir. Far from it. Like many of its peers in the AI realm, Palantir stock has exhibited the characteristics of a roller coaster throughout 2025. In February, shares experienced a sharp downturn immediately following news of President Donald Trump's orders to reduce spending at the Pentagon. As the chart above shows, this panic-induced selling was fleeting. Perhaps one reason is that despite budget cuts at the Department of Defense (DOD) as well as other government agencies tied to cuts from the efficiency initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency, Palantir has managed to continue winning business in the public sector. For example, earlier this year, it won a notable contract with NATO. Although that organization is not a singular government agency, my outlook is that working more closely with the U.S. and its military partners could lead to expansion opportunities for Palantir as it relates to cross-border deals. It also recently won a $795 million expansion opportunity with the Army for its Maven Smart System (MSS). Another reason investors may be flocking to Palantir stock is because unlike many of its peers in the technology sector, the software darling is relatively immune from ongoing tariff concerns. In fact, I think the introduction of new tariffs is actually an opportunity to jump-start its business in the commercial sector. Following President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in early April, Palantir released a new module whereby it can analyze real-time data to help retailers assess how tariffs are affecting their operations. The chart below benchmarks Palantir against a cohort of other leading AI software growth stocks as measured by the price-to-sales ratio (P/S). Palantir's P/S multiple of 102 is a clear outlier among its software peers. But even so, the disparity between Palantir and its competition doesn't tell investors a whole lot. To get a better sense of whether the stock might be overvalued, consider this: During the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, companies such as Cisco and Amazon experienced peak P/S multiples in the range of 30 to 40. Not only is Palantir's P/S multiple considerably higher than that bubble territory, but the trends above also indicate that its valuation is continuing to expand! I'll admit that Palantir's ability to outmaneuver multiple drawdowns across the broader markets this year is impressive. But just because a stock goes up for a period of time doesn't make it a good buy. Given the context explored above, I think the stock is due for a pullback. While I remain bullish on the company's long-run prospects, I do think the valuation multiples need to normalize sooner rather than later. I see Palantir stock as overbought, but would consider buying the dip at some point down the road. Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $657,385!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $842,015!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 987% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adam Spatacco has positions in Amazon and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Cisco Systems, Datadog, MongoDB, Palantir Technologies, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Marjorie Taylor Greene Just Loaded Up on This Monster Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock That Continues to Crush the Market was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
