Palantir's revenue soars 96% to $2.3 billion in Q3

Palantir Technologies reported Monday that third-quarter revenue rose 96% year over year to $2.3 billion — nearly double the pace of last year's third quarter, when the company grew 63% on $1.2 billion in revenue. The company raised its full-year revenue forecast to between $8.53 billion and $8.534 billion, roughly 91% growth, up from a ceiling of $8.2 billion a quarter ago. Shares climbed about 1.5% in after-hours trading immediately after the figures dropped.

Both the top and bottom lines beat Wall Street. Palantir posted adjusted and GAAP earnings per share of 44 cents, versus 21 cents adjusted and 18 cents GAAP in the third quarter of 2025. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.18 billion and adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share. The company had itself guided to roughly $2.16 billion to $2.164 billion.

CEO Alex Karp didn't hold back in his quarterly letter to investors. "It would be an understatement" to say Palantir's Q3 results "were extraordinary," Karp wrote, calling the 96% growth rate "absolutely striking." The quarterly release, like last quarter's, said results were "crushing consensus expectations."

Why this quarter mattered beyond Palantir

The results landed days after a brutal stretch for tech stocks, and traders read them as a temperature check on the entire AI trade. Alphabet suffered its worst one-day drop in its 22-year history as a public company after its own third-quarter figures, losing $505 billion in market value. Intel's stock fell about 29% last week, and disappointing receptions to Amazon and Intel deepened worries that AI spending — approaching $2 trillion over two years, according to S&P Global research — is outrunning investor returns. The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 1% Monday and sits down 4% over five days.

Karp, for his part, sees a sweeping reset coming. "Every industry in the world — from banks to insurers to hospitals and even once-storied law firms — will either be remade or set briskly aside," he wrote.

What does this change for AI buyers and investors?

The number practitioners watch is U.S. commercial revenue — proof that corporations, not just government agencies, will pay for AI software. That segment grew 148% to $984 million, up from $397 million a year ago. And for the first time, U.S. commercial revenue outpaced U.S. government revenue: $984 million against $953 million. Government sales still grew sharply, rising 96% from $486 million.

Contract bookings tell a slower story, though. Total contract value rose just 6% to $2.9 billion, and U.S. commercial contract value grew 11% to $1.5 billion — a signal that new commitments aren't scaling as fast as recognized revenue.

The guidance that sets the bar

For the current quarter, Palantir guided revenue to roughly $2.64 billion to $2.65 billion, about 88% growth at the midpoint — well above the roughly $2.46 billion analysts expected. Full-year guidance implies 91% growth, with U.S. commercial revenue guidance raised to 143%.

The backdrop has shifted since Palantir's second-quarter report in August, even if Karp's tone hasn't. This time, the $430 billion company delivered its blowout into a market actively questioning AI valuations rather than rewarding them indiscriminately. If Palantir keeps converting enterprise demand at this pace, it remains the strongest public-market evidence that AI software spending is turning into real revenue — and the quarter everyone will watch is whether those slower contract values catch up.