Palantir’s ‘anti-woke’ playbook and ‘cultus’ winning strategy, after yet another earnings beat

The software platform reported earnings of $1.18 billion for the third quarter, narrowly beating analysts’ expectations. Despite the earnings announcement and fourth-quarter forecasts that also beat Wall Street expectations, Palantir shares fell 7.95% on Tuesday, erasing an initial 7% rise following the report. Analysts have expressed concerns that the tech giant’s performance and guidance do not justify its valuation.

But what a review, though. Despite Tuesday’s sell-off, Palantir shares are up a whopping 154% year to date. Karp attributes his company’s continued growth to a strong alliance with the U.S. government and businesses that support “the American worker we helped make rich.”

Palantir “was really the first company that was completely anti-woke,” Karp told investors on an earnings call after the market closed on Monday. The tech giant approached President Donald Trump’s administration, sending its chief technology officer Shyam Sankar to a White House dinner that hosted Silicon Valley tech leaders in September. On an earnings call last year, Karp said awareness was a “central risk” to Palantir, the United States and the world, calling it “a reactionary way of thinking that corrupts and erodes our institutions.”

Karp was previously a major donor to former President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign. He also said last year that when Peter Thiel, one of Karp’s fellow Palantir co-founders, endorsed Trump, it made it harder for the company to get things done.

In July of last year, Karp said that he was “not happy” with the trends of the Democratic Party, but that he would “vote against Trump.”

However, he said that mindfulness is “actually a form of gentle pagan religion,” in a May 2024 earnings call.

In sharp contrast, Karp on Monday described his efforts to keep his company as “a system of religious worship” and as “unique” as it was when he started more than 20 years ago. One way, he said, is to continue to support “making the American fighter fight the way the American fighter was born to fight,” without clarifying what he meant by that.

Nearly half of Palantir’s success comes from U.S. government revenue, which was up 52% ​​from a year ago and 14% from the second quarter at $486 million. Demand for its AI-driven platforms and deeper margins through improved operating leverage despite heavy investment in research and hiring also contributed to its strong sales.

Palantir has been criticized by right-wing influencers such as Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes, as well as Democratic lawmakers over its secret contracts with the government, which have expanded under Trump.

But despite the highly publicized ethical concerns about the company being a major U.S. defense contractor and about the tech company’s access to Americans’ personal data, CEO Karp says he doesn’t understand why the work his company does has attracted so much negative attention. The company backed by Peter Thiel has a name taken from… Lord of the Ringslike at least two other companies linked to Thiel. The Palantir was a crystal ball that penetrated and saw everything in those books, its namesake either inspiring or ominous, depending on one’s perspective.

“We are on the front line of all adversaries, including China. And we support — we are at ICE and we have supported Israel,” Karp said on an earnings call Monday. “I don’t know why this is all so controversial, but a lot of people find it controversial.”

Last January, Palantir signed a strategic partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to provide data analytics and artificial intelligence technology for the country’s ongoing military operations, including the war in Gaza. This support has drawn criticism and calls for investigations into whether Palantir tools are being used in ways that may violate international law in conflict zones.​

The tech company also received a $30 million contract in April to build ImmigrationOS, software that provides near real-time data on people self-deporting.

Palantir contracts with a number of US government agencies including the Department of Defense, US Army, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the first three quarters of 2025, it received nearly $1.3 billion in revenue from the government, according to the company’s financial disclosures.

Palantir did not immediately respond luckHe asked for comment, but Karp told investors Monday that he believes they are “fighting for the right side of what should work in this country: meritocracy, killer technology, versus adversaries,” and products that spread GDP among the working class.

He has previously described AI as an “agency-enhancing revolution” that has helped some Americans without a college education create more value using Palantir products than users with higher education degrees. Karp says Palantir’s value to working-class Americans is two-fold, and that investors in the technology company are stepping up as well.

“It was the American worker that we supported and the American worker that we helped make rich,” Karp said on Monday’s earnings call.

Karp had a different take on the reported earnings.

“Get some popcorn,” Karp told investors on the call. “They’re crying,” he said of those who haven’t invested in the company.