Palantir's U.S. business sales top government sales for first time
Palantir's third-quarter revenue nearly doubled to $2.31 billion, and its U.S. commercial sales passed its U.S. government sales for the first time. The stock still fell before the bell Tuesday on slower growth in new commercial deals.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
Palantir said Monday that its third-quarter revenue rose 96% from a year earlier to $2.313 billion, its first quarter above $2 billion. Sales to U.S. businesses grew 148% to $984 million, passing the company's U.S. government revenue of $953 million for the first time.
In the company's words: "Our U.S. commercial revenue has surpassed our U.S. government revenue for the first time in our company's history," CEO Alex Karp said in the results release.
Scorecard, per Palantir and CNBC: Adjusted earnings were 44 cents a share, versus 41 cents expected by analysts polled by LSEG, and revenue of $2.313 billion beat the $2.18 billion estimate. Net income was $1.128 billion, or 44 cents a share, up from $476 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier. U.S. revenue grew 119% to $1.937 billion, which leaves about $376 million from outside the U.S. Palantir raised its full-year revenue forecast to $8.530 billion to $8.534 billion and guided to $2.649 billion to $2.653 billion for the fourth quarter. It ended the quarter with $10.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury securities.
Why it matters
Palantir built its name on defense and intelligence contracts. A business customer base that now outsells Washington suggests demand for its AI software is spreading well beyond government, which is the core of the bull case behind one of the market's most richly valued tech stocks.
More context
The bull case: Growth is accelerating, not slowing, at a company of this size. "I don't believe anyone's had consistent results like this in the history of software AI, ever," Karp told CNBC. Piper Sandler analysts wrote that demand for Palantir's products "still very much outstrip supply."
The bear case: New business signed is growing far more slowly than sales. Total contract value booked in the quarter rose 6% to $2.918 billion, and U.S. commercial contract value rose 11% to $1.463 billion, CNBC reports. William Blair pointed to that slowdown, and Piper Sandler said investors want evidence that the 11% figure is "a fluke of duration and not something structural." Shares fell about 3% in extended trading Monday and were down 7.8% before the opening bell Tuesday, CNBC reported.
What is still unknown: whether the slower bookings reflect timing of large multiyear deals or a real cooling in new demand, and how Palantir's fourth-quarter contract signings compare.
Bottom line: Palantir's business sales are now its biggest U.S. line, but Wall Street is focused on whether new deals keep up with that pace.
3 listed sources
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Sourcing: Palantir's Nov. 2, 2026 results release for revenue, segment results, profit, contract value and guidance; CNBC for analyst estimates (LSEG), Alex Karp's interview comments and analyst reaction; CNBC's Nov. 3 premarket report for the share move. Guidance figures are company forecasts, not results. The international revenue figure is our subtraction of U.S. revenue from total revenue. Photos are file images.
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