Palantir CFO Sells $7 Million Stock Amid Valuation Drop

Diving summary:

• Palantir Technologies CFO David Glazer recently sold 96,273 shares of the company’s common stock, representing an added market value of approximately $7.2 million, according to a recent securities filing.
• The sale, which coincides with those of other directors and executives at the company, comes amid a debate over Palantir’s share price, with Morgan Stanley analysts led by Sanjit Singh giving the stock an underweight rating and signaling possible setbacks for the company in 2025.
• Palantir is well positioned to benefit from the increase in investment in generative artificial intelligenceBut “while we recognize this positive inflection and are looking for ways to be more constructive with (the) stock, the lack of visibility on material estimate revisions leaves Palantir trading too far ahead of the company’s intrinsic value to justify a rating improvement”. Singh and his team said in their note, according to a recent report by The Street.

Diving information:

The sale still leaves Glazer, an 11-year veteran of the Denver, Colorado-based data analytics firm, as a large shareholder, according to the January 2 presentation. Glazer has served as the company’s chief financial officer since July 2020, just before the company’s initial public offering in September, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to joining Palantir, he served as a corporate securities attorney for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

In 2020, the CFO received a pre-listing stock grant of 4,030,000 Class A common shares, according to company proxy statement for the year filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, delayed with a higher percentage to vest in 2023. Glazer received no shares in 2023, and his total compensation for the year reached $474,755, according to the company’s latest proxy statement. the company. As of December 31, 2023, the number of Glazer shares acquired at the time of acquisition reached 1,504,760, with a realized value at the time of acquisition of approximately 21 billion dollars, according to the company’s latest proxy.

“The vesting of the remainder of Mr. Glazer’s 2020 RSU award is delayed, so a larger portion was vested in 2023 compared to 2020, 2021 and 2022, to encourage his retention and the successful execution of our growth plan.” strategic. Palantir said of Glazer’s compensation in its most recent proxy.

Attention to Palantir, co-founder of one of the favorites of Big Tech by Peter Thiel, PayPal Alumnus – has become more acute over the past year as the data analytics company continues to experience rapid growth. Amid rumors about the potential of AI, the company’s share price rose 340% last year, according to The Street.

The company, which takes its name from the “seeing stones” in JRR Tolkien’s book the lord of the rings series – aims to position itself as a dominant player in the growing generative AI industry, according to company filings.

“We completely gutted this quarter, driven by relentless demand for AI that will not slow down,” Palantir CEO and co-founder Alexander Karp said in a statement included in the company’s most recent quarterly earnings report. “The world will be divided between those who have and those who have not AI. At Palantir we plan to boost the winners,” he said.

For the company’s most recent quarter ending September 30, Palantir reported a 30% year-over-year increase in Total revenue will reach $726 million.according to its results report. The company expects to post revenue of between $2.805 billion and $2.809 billion for the full year, according to its earnings results.

However, Singh maintains that the 340% increase in value Palantir experienced last year was “almost entirely driven by multiple expansion,” according to The Street, and the analyst also pointed to slower revenue growth for the company. company this year compared to 2024.

The company also faces stiff competition when it comes to claiming a crown (and investors’ attention) in the growing generative AI industry. A recent comparison of Palantir with technology company Nvidia, for example, pointed to the latter company as a better investmentciting Palantir’s past challenges with Nvidia’s “consistent profitability” and “stronger market position.”

Palantir did not immediately respond to requests for comment.