Stocks fall from records amid Iran war escalations

Palantir reported Q1 sales and EPS that topped Wall Street’s consensus expectations and boosted its revenue and profit guidance. The defense, intelligence and AI software company reported:

• Adjusted Q1 earnings per share of $0.33 vs. Wall Street expectations for $0.28, according to FactSet.

• Q1 sales of $1.63 billion vs. an expected $1.54 billion, per FactSet.

• Q1 sales growth of 85% year over year vs. a 74.5% Wall Street expectation.

Looking forward, Palantir forecast:

• Q2 2026 revenue in the range of $1.797 billion to $1.801 billion, vs. Wall Street expectations for $1.68 billion.

• Q2 2026 adjusted operating income between $1.063 billion to $1.067 billion, vs. an expectation for $873.6 million.

• Full-year 2026 revenue in the range of $7.65 billion to $7.662 billion, vs. its previous estimate of between $7.182 billion and $7.198 billion and Wall Street expectations for $7.24 billion.

• Full-year 2026 adjusted operating income between $4.440 billion and $4.452 billion, vs. previous estimate of between $4.136 billion and $4.142 billion and analyst expectations for $4.19 billion, according to FactSet.  

Shares were roughly flat shortly after the report.

A retail favorite since at least 2024, Palantir’s shares have struggled early in 2026, falling about 18% through Monday’s close. The problem isn’t with the fundamentals, as Palantir’s results have repeatedly trounced expectations for profitability and growth.

It’s just that the market has given Palantir lots of credit over the last three years, during which time its shares soared roughly 1,900%. In the market’s view, perhaps Palantir’s sterling performance merely represents the company keeping its end of the bargain.

Pinterest's nascent comeback gained traction on Monday as the company reported better than expected Q1 results.

After sinking double digits following each of its past three earnings reports, the social media company looks poised to snap that inauspicious streak with shares jumping 20% in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q1 numbers: 

• Revenue of $1.01 billion (versus a consensus estimate of $965.7 million and guidance for $958 million to $978 million).

• Adjusted EBITDA of $206.5 million (estimate: $176.7 million, guidance for $163 million to $183 million)

• Monthly active users of 631 million (estimate: 630.5 million)

Guidance for Q2 was modestly ahead of estimates:

• Revenue in a range of $1.13 billion to $1.15 billion (estimate: $1.12 billion)

• Adjusted EBITDA in a range of $256 million to $276 million (estimate: $264.8 million)

The stock had lost 40% of its value over the past six months as investors scrutinized the headwinds from tariffs and chatbots — worries that are seemingly being assuaged by these results.

Considering the vibe-curation company's recent track record, the bar had been slightly lowered for Q1: In their guidance for the first quarter of the year, the company said it expected Pinterest to grow 11% - 14% year over year, already a few ticks downward from the 16% growth the company saw in 2025. 

In the first part of the year, Pinterest actually saw enjoyed revenue growth of nearly 18%, its strongest pace since Q2 2024.

“As we continue building an AI-powered ads platform that delivers performance for advertisers, we remain focused on ensuring monetization more fully reflects the strength of our engagement,” said CEO Bill Ready.

The company’s attempted open-source AI pivot may be starting to show signs of paying oft for investors. 

Paramount delivered its first-quarter results after the bell on Monday. Shares of the entertainment company rose about 5% in after hours trading.

For Q1, Paramount reported:

• Adjusted earnings of $0.23 per share, compared to Wall Street estimates of $0.15 per share from analysts polled by FactSet.

• Revenue of $7.35 billion, compared to a $7.28 billion estimate.

• 79.6 million Paramount+ subscribers, compared to the 79.9 million consensus.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects Q2 revenue of between $6.75 billion and $7.95 billion, compared with the $7.07 billion Wall Street consensus. The company maintained its full-year revenue guidance of $30 billion.

Q1 marks the company’s first earnings report since winning the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery in late February. As of Monday afternoon Eastern time, prediction markets speculating on which company will ultimately come out on top of the bidding war have Paramount at a 77% chance, compared to 17% for “none.”

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

The megadeal still faces some hurdles, including significant opposition from notable entertainment workers and potential antitrust challenges on the federal or state level. Last week, a group of subscribers sued to block the deal on antitrust grounds.

“Grand Theft Auto VI,” Take-Two’s hotly anticipated sixth installment in its “Grand Theft Auto” franchise, will likely release at an $80 price point, according to a new Bank of America note.

After attending the Entertainment Software Association’s iicon event last month, BofA wrote, “What we heard leads us to believe GTA 6 will cost $80, rather than our previously assumed $70 per unit.”

Shares of Take-Two are up about 4% on Monday, good enough for one of its biggest trading days of 2026. The stock is still down about 12% year to date.

An $80 price for the year’s biggest game would further usher in the higher industry price ceiling, which climbed to $70 around 2020 following roughly 15 years at the $60 level. Nintendo’s “Mario Kart World” was the first to test the $80 price tag last year, though its effectiveness as a trial might be limited since the game was bundled with the Switch 2 console.

Given the demand for “GTA 6,” a follow-up 13 years in the making, industry rumors have speculated that its launch price could be as high as $100.

Investors will be closely watching Take-Two’s earnings call later this month for any official “GTA” pricing information and confirmation of its November release date.

GameStop shareholder Michael Burry has some thoughts about the retailer’s offer to buy eBay for $55.5 billion.

But the tweet and opening line of the latest article from the hedge fund manager of “The Big Short” fame turned Substacker may muddle his overall message:

*BURRY SAYS GAMESTOP BID FOR EBAY ‘MAKES PERFECT SENSE’

From our perch, Burry’s headlined comment that the bid “makes perfect sense” seems to be imbued with a hefty dose of sarcasm, and comes in a piece that’s full of skepticism about how the financials would work. The more important thing to highlight is that he’s decided to “certainly sell to an extent, perhaps all or some” of his GameStop position this week.

Consider the context of the “perfect sense” remark:

“Still, at the end of the day, this play for eBay makes perfect sense.

Wall Street does indeed mistake debt for creativity, and does so constantly.

I of all people should have known.

Charlie Munger once said, ‘When a manager with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact’.”

Burry appears to be saying this “makes perfect sense” because folks in financial circles will think it is smart, not because it actually is.

To be fair, Burry also wrote, “I do support the effort,” but also offers a lot of negative commentary about the bid.

For instance:

“Neither does this seem revolutionary or ground-breaking in nature. More dilution, or more debt — really, the capital markets strategy here could not be more pedestrian.”

“If Ryan really wanted to compete with Amazon, he would have acquired Wayfair (70% of its own last mile deliveries and warehouses all over) along with a cash flow machine and a bunch of float. I heard someone was peddling such a deal back in early February.”

“If GameStop wants to do it [editor’s note: dominate collectibles and used goods] with billions of interest expense and all manner of covenants restricting its movements, it will not be breaking new ground. It will be trotting in well-worn ruts on the road to capitalist Hell.

No new ground has been broken yet. To truly break new ground, Ryan has to execute and succeed in this transformation from this starting position, saddled with debt.”

Burry would have preferred if GameStop elected to buy a position in or bid for a company that he highlighted as a more appropriate target, including the aforementioned Wayfair.

Later Monday, Burry said on Substack that he had indeed sold his entire position in GameStop, writing,

Any which way I sliced it, the Instant Berkshire thesis was never compatible with >5x Debt/EBITDA, never ok with interest coverage under 4.0x...
As a result, GME is the first sale since I started this Substack.