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Palantir closes at new all-time high after receiving upgrade
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

Palantir hits record closing high after analyst upgrade

The gains over the last year are nearing 500%.

Matt Phillips

Shares of retail favorite Palantir closed Friday at a new record high after the highly valued defense, data, and AI software company received a bullish initiation from analysts at Piper Sandler.

“No doubt, PLTR carries a rich valuation premium and remains a high-risk investment, but it also has a one-of-a-kind growth+margin model,” wrote analysts at the Minneapolis-based investment bank and brokerage. They continued:

“We see PLTR as an AI secular winner and initiate at Overweight with a $170 PT. Given shares are hyper-volatile with a dozen 20-29% drawdowns, we recommend investors be patient and take a buy on a drawdown approach to build new positions.”

While there’s an element of euphoria surrounding the stock, which for years has been championed by a group of passionate retail shareholders known as Palantirians, Piper Sandler argues there is a fundamental basis for the excitement.

“PLTR is expensive by all measures but remains the only public AI platform that could sustain 30%+ growth and a 40%+ [operating margin] model,” they wrote.

Theory would suggest that maintaining such levels of growth and profitability should be extremely difficult, as Palantir’s success inevitably invites competitors to try to get a piece of the action. The company’s recent run of earnings has bought it a lot of credibility with investors. But its sky-high valuations — its forward price-to-earnings ratio is almost 240x — suggest expectations are just as high, with the company’s next quarterly report due August 4.

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Lululemon’s stretch getting tested: Stock plunges after after outlook is cut

Lululemon shares are down double digits in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, overshadowing a Q1 beat and raising fresh concerns about the brand’s turnaround efforts.

The company now expects fiscal 2026 revenue to be flat to down 1%, compared with its prior forecast for 2% to 4% growth. Guidance for full-year diluted earnings per share was dragged down to a range of $10.95 to $11.15, below the company’s previous guidance of $12.10 to $12.30 and well below Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26.

Key numbers for Q1:

  • EPS of $1.69 vs. the $1.68 expected.

  • Revenue of $2.47 billion vs. the $2.43 billion expected.

The modest top-line beat masked a widening divergence between Lululemons geographic markets. While international revenue rose 22% overall with a 30% increase in Mainland China, the bigger problem remains North America, where revenue fell 5%.

Interim co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank acknowledged during the earnings call that recent product rollouts underperformed. A highly anticipated yoga campaign failed to generate its expected halo effect across broader product lines.

Profitability metrics took a major hit, with gross margins contracting by 410 basis points to 54.2% due to mounting tariff costs and promotional markdowns. Operating income consequently fell 37% year over year to $276.9 million.

“We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top-line performance,” Frank said during the earnings call. “And second, not all of our product launches have met our expectations. While we have had several successful launches so far this year, we have seen others as we start Q2 not generate the anticipated guest response.”

Lululemons valuation has already been steadily compressing for years. While it was once one of retails richly valued stocks, investors have been questioning whether the company can return to the double-digit growth era.

The results also arrive during a leadership transition. Lululemon announced back in April that former Nike executive Heidi ONeill is set to take over as CEO in September, with investors looking to her to revive growth in North America and restore the brands growth.

As Lululemon faces both macroeconomic pressure and brand-specific challenges, its stock has dropped around 40% year to date.

markets

US job growth skyrocketed in May, blasting past expectations

The US economy added 172,000 jobs in the month of May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending 10-year Treasury yields higher.

The strong May job market surprised economists. Experts had predicted only 85,000 new jobs — just half the reported number. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

The job growth story is a hopeful spot for the economy as consumers continue to feel inflationary pressure from the Iran war.

Job gains were buoyed by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 70,000 jobs, as well as local government, healthcare, and education.

Both the March and April jobs reports were revised upward, making them collectively 93,000 higher than previously reported.

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