Palantir now the 2nd-best performer in the S&P 500 this year
Eat dust, Nvidia.
S&P 500 newcomer Palantir Technologies, which joined the index in September, has elbowed its way into the top tier of performers this year, even overtaking Nvidia, to claim the No. 2 spot in the blue-chip index.
The stock was up big for most of the year, even before an explosion over the last few months. It’s up more 100% in the past three months.
Some of the excitement over the company reflects that its business seems to be gaining traction. Palantir recently reported its highest-ever profit.
But there’s also clearly a large amount of optimism embedded in the shares far in excess of improving fundamentals.
In fact, Palantir is the single most expensive stock in the S&P 500, at least according to its price-to-sales ratio — a metric some analysts prefer to keep track of growth companies, rather than companies with more well-established track records of profitability.
As I said yesterday, valuations are nuts at the moment as sentiment has entered a postelection manic phase. That doesn’t mean a sell-off is imminent. Silly season can get much sillier, and incredibly expensive stocks can get even more expensive, before things calm down.
