Palantir pops back on list of top retail stocks

Palantir has returned to the radar screens of active retail traders over the last week or so, with the defense contractor and AI software company showing up on JPMorgan’s rankings of stocks with the biggest buying interest from the unwashed masses.

It’s the first time Palantir — which was the best performer in the S&P 500 last year with a 340% gain — made the list of top buys since early mid-March.

JPMorgan analysts estimate retail accounted for roughly 16% of net buying for the four-session stretch between April 9 and April 15. The return of retail activity corresponded with some favorable headlines for the company regarding a new contract with NATO, which helped the shares shake off more general slump for Big Tech recently. The Nasdaq 100 is down over 5% in April, while Palantir is up about 10%.

In fact, among JPM’s listing of the top recent retail buys — led by Tesla and Amazon — Palantir was the only stock that was actually up over the period analysts examined.