00:00 Speaker A
Palantir’s results are out. What do you make of this report?
00:04 Dan Ives
It’s a blowout across the board. I mean, look, that’s why they’re the Messi of AI, right? I mean, it just speaks to, this is transformational, the type of growth they’re seeing. And you combine that with what we saw last week from the hyperscalers. That that just shows us this AI revolution, it’s just started in terms of the next stage of growth. Huge, huge step forward for Palantir.
00:38 Speaker A
Carp telling me, Dan, Alex Carp, CEO said to him, there is no one in software even remotely close to the numbers at our scale, he was saying. Listen, you cover a lot of tech names, you cover a lot of software names. You agree with that?
00:56 Dan Ives
There’s nowhere close. I mean if you look what they’re doing. I mean, look, I’ve covered tech 25 years. This is unprecedented territory. It speaks to our view. It’s a trillion dollar market cap in the next two to three years. I mean, they are, look, godfather of AI, Jensen and Nvidia. Microsoft, you look at all the, you look at, you know, obviously everyone that we see in terms of big tech, Palantir is right there.
01:33 Speaker A
Let me ask you, Dan, you know, heading into this print, this stock was up 560% over the past 12 months. Okay, just a rocket ship. And there are some analysts on the street and smart guys like yourself who’ve been doing this a long time like yourself, who will say, listen, I like the company, I like the tech, the fundamentals look solid, but they don’t recommend the stock to clients. Then you’ve seen this because it’s the valuation. They’ll call it in their words an irrational valuation. What is your response to that?
02:12 Dan Ives
They hated at 15, despised at 50, screaming from the mountain tops at 100, and I think at 200, they’ll be doing the same. Look, Josh, we’ve talked about. If you focus just on valuation over the next year, you missed every transformational tech stock the last 20 years. And Palantir, that I put in the same category.
02:53 Speaker A
Let me ask you, Dan, if it’s not valuation then, and you’re bulled up on Palantir, you’ve been right for a long time on this name, but the clients must ask you, Dan, okay, it’s not valuation. What are the downside risks that I need to consider? Would it be competition, Dan? Is it product fit? What what would the risks be?
03:22 Dan Ives
Look, it’s, I mean, you could say valuation macro, you know, I mean, there’s obviously, you know, other issues that we could see come through. But the reality is that it’s still early days in terms of where they’re going. I mean, my view, they’re basically creating a whole another business in terms of the commercial business. Then you look on government, they’re gaining more and more share in government. It’s kind of a one-two punch. I think Carp’s just playing a different game, right? I mean, I think he understands on par with Jensen and Nadella in terms of where this is all heading.
04:25 Speaker A
I see some analysts on the street and they do their checks with retail investors on this name, and they say they hear more interest about two issues with Palantir. They’re hearing chatter, more interest in potential stock split and capital return. And I’m just curious what you make of those dynamics.
04:54 Dan Ives
Capital return, I don’t think so much, Josh, because you’re at the end of the day, you’re focused more. This is growth mode. In terms of stock split, I think that could clearly happen, right? I mean, just given what we see, especially today and where this is going forward. And they are in a massive position of strength. And it goes back to like the last few years, institutionally, this has been one of the most hated names I’ve covered in 25 years, but they just continue to execute. And I put it in a rare category, almost a Mount Rushmore in terms of where I see them going.
05:49 Speaker A
In terms of the rare category, Dan, though, as you try to look across the competitive landscape, who would you consider competition? Who would you consider rivals or even potential rivals down the line?
06:00 Dan Ives
Look, Snowflake’s competition, you get our Oracle, Microsoft competition, but to some extent, they’re partnering with them. But there will be competitors. This is not, I mean, they’re not the only game in town, but they’re just miles ahead from a technology perspective and what I hear from customers.
06:42 Speaker A
What do you hear from customers when you ask them? What do they tell you?
06:48 Dan Ives
So unlike anything they’ve ever seen in terms of use cases and what Palantir can do relative to all these other companies. And remember, they hardly, they hardly basically have a direct sales force. I mean, that actually just makes this that much more pretty unbelievable in terms of these numbers.
07:14 Speaker A
How much credit, Dan, at the end of the day, do you give the C Suite here? Do you give to Carp?
07:23 Dan Ives
It’s gold standard. I mean, what Carp’s done is it’s a Hall of Fame performance. I think if you look what he’s done and how he’s built this company.
07:47 Speaker A
Do you see any evidence of these numbers? I mean, listen, I just see a lot of beats across the board. Do you see any evidence of these numbers, Dan, of any kind of macro or even downstream tariff related impact?
08:04 Dan Ives
I mean, look, this is, these are numbers. Of course, you always could they have beaten by more? Could they have raised that? Josh, these are A-plus quarter. I mean, in terms of what the street was expecting, beyond bull case. So there’s nothing here that makes you any less bullish. You’re more bullish relative to the numbers.
