Palantir Earnings: Q3 Revenue Jumps 96%, Outlook Raised

Last updated: Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, 4:25 p.m. ET. Palantir's earnings call starts at 5 p.m. ET; we'll add anything material from it.

Palantir walked into Monday's report with a lot to prove. The stock had dropped 6.3% on Friday as AI names sold off, and with a valuation far richer than most of tech, there wasn't much room for a merely good quarter.

It didn't post a merely good quarter. Revenue nearly doubled from a year ago, profit came in ahead of forecasts, and management raised its outlook for the rest of 2026 by roughly $380 million.

Palantir earnings: the Q3 2026 numbers

Here's what the Miami-based company reported in its press release for the quarter that ended Sept. 30:

The consensus figures come from Benzinga and MarketBeat. Palantir's own forecast for the quarter had been $2.160 billion to $2.164 billion, so it beat that by about $150 million.

A year ago, the same quarter brought in $1.18 billion. Palantir crossed $2 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and sales grew 20% from the second quarter alone.

Where the growth came from

The U.S. did most of the work. Domestic revenue rose 119% to $1.937 billion. Inside that, U.S. commercial sales, meaning private companies rather than agencies, jumped 148% to $984 million. U.S. government revenue climbed 96% to $953 million.

That makes this the first quarter in Palantir's history where U.S. businesses spent more with it than the U.S. government did. For a company long seen as a defense and intelligence contractor, that's a real shift in who its customers are.

Deal counts back it up. Palantir said it closed 212 deals worth at least $1 million, 64 of them worth $10 million or more.

Palantir raises its 2026 revenue guidance

The forecast matters more than the beat for a stock priced like this one, and Palantir moved every major number higher:

• Full-year revenue: $8.530 billion to $8.534 billion, up from $8.150 billion to $8.158 billion. The company puts that at about 91% growth.
• U.S. commercial revenue: more than $3.559 billion, up from at least $3.424 billion. That's growth of at least 143%.
• Adjusted free cash flow: $4.8 billion to $5.0 billion, up from $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion.
• Fourth quarter: revenue of $2.649 billion to $2.653 billion, and adjusted operating income of $1.640 billion to $1.644 billion.

If Palantir hits the middle of that Q4 range, it would add about $340 million in quarterly revenue on top of the $2.313 billion it just reported.

What Alex Karp said

CEO Alex Karp leaned into the theme he's been pushing all year: that AI is splitting institutions into winners and losers.

"The Sovereign AI movement is imposing the most dramatic dichotomy between haves and have nots that I have witnessed in 30 years of business," Karp said in the release. He added that "our U.S. commercial revenue has surpassed our U.S. government revenue for the first time in our company's history."

On the 5 p.m. ET call, analysts are likely to press for detail on how long the commercial surge can last and how much of the government business depends on a handful of large contracts.

PLTR stock: why the reaction is hard to call

Beating estimates doesn't guarantee a rally, especially for Palantir. Coming into the report, revenue expectations sat less than 1% above the company's own guidance, so investors were watching the outlook more than the quarter itself.

The backdrop is shaky, too. Tech and AI stocks took a beating late last week, which we covered in our look at why tech stocks are down and what's ahead this week. Palantir shares fell 6.3% to $184.11 on Friday, according to Benzinga, and were lower again in Monday's regular session before the release.

Analysts had been leaning bullish into the print. In the past few weeks, JPMorgan started coverage at Overweight with a $262 price target, and Citigroup raised its target to $250, Benzinga reported. Price targets are opinions, not forecasts you can bank on, and they tend to move after a report like this one.

We aren't quoting an after-hours price here because early extended-hours trading is thin and can swing hard in the first hour. Check a live quote before reading much into any single move.

The cash pile

Palantir isn't a cash-burning AI startup. It generated $1.205 billion in operating cash flow in the quarter and $1.216 billion in adjusted free cash flow. It ended September with $10.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury securities.

GAAP operating income was $1.085 billion, a 47% margin. That's the figure without the company's adjustments for stock-based pay, and it's the one skeptics usually point to. This quarter it was strong on both measures.

What comes next for Palantir

The next scheduled checkpoint is the fourth-quarter report, which Palantir typically releases in early February. Between now and then, the U.S. commercial line is the number to watch. It's now the company's biggest single business, and the raised forecast implies it keeps growing fast through December.

Apple also reported after the bell today, so it's a busy night for big tech results. Our Apple Q4 earnings preview has what Wall Street wanted from that report.