A new high (Nicolas Economou/Getty Images)

Palantir shares reach new all-time high

Excitement over CEO Alex Karp’s proximity to President Trump and the flurry of deal announcements in the Middle East seem to be playing a role for one of the top Trump trades.

Matt Phillips

5/14/25 12:26PM

Palantir shares closed at a new record high of $128.10 on Tuesday and continued to gain altitude Wednesday as the data, surveillance, and AI software firm basks the reflected glory of a series of market-moving deal announcements accompanying President Trump’s trek to the Middle East.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp is among the coterie of American tech and finance executives trailing after the president on his travels to the wealthy authoritarian petro kingdoms that dominate the region.

According to Business Insider, Karp — known for his bombast — praised Saudi computer engineering talent and took a swipe at Europe, saying it has “given up” on AI in a speech Tuesday. (The European Union has taken a more stringent regulatory approach to the technology.)

Palantir hasn’t yet been mentioned publicly in deals that are being announced as part of the trip, such as the $20 billion deal Super Micro Computer signed with Data Volt, a Saudi data center operator; Nvidia’s AI partnership with the Kingdom; or Qatar’s giant purchase of jets from Boeing. But it seems that just being in orbit of the billions of dollars being doled out is having a favorable impact on the stock.

“The tone in Riyadh has been about the bright green light on the massive AI buildout in Saudi and this could open up a huge opportunity and [total addressable market] for Nvidia, Palantir, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla and many other well positioned chip/software names over the coming years,” Wedbush Securities analyst and well-established tech bull Dan Ives wrote in a note Wednesday.

Palantir’s proximity to Trump’s trip, which blends corporate business with diplomatic relations to an usual degree, seems to shed some light on why Palantir soared in the aftermath of the election, becoming one of the cornerstones of the so-called Trump trades.

The rationale for the run-up was always somewhat murky, but political, and potentially lucrative political connections to the administration — such as those on display as part of Trump’s Middle East trip — were clearly part of what the market was pricing in. That’s especially important for Palantir, as its largest customer remains the US government.

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Ross Stores surges as Q1 results beat expectations, full-year guidance raised

Ross shares are rising after the company delivered strong Q1 results, with sales topping Wall Street’s projections.

The stock soared 6.3% just after the open.

Key numbers:

Earnings per share of $2.02 vs. $1.47 year over year (estimate: $1.72).
Sales of $6.01 billion, up 21% year over year (estimate: $5.61 billion).
Comparable sales growth of 17% (estimate: 8.58%).

CEO Jim Conroy attributed the results to better traffic in stores. “Customer traffic was the primary driver of the strong sales trend as compelling merchandise assortments, higher customer acquisition and engagement from our ongoing marketing initiatives, and an improved in‑store experience are resonating with shoppers.”

The company also noted that transaction volume grew across all key demographics, including “income levels, ethnicities, and age groups, including younger customers.” Sales were also likely buoyed by standard seasonal tailwinds, including consumer spending from tax refunds.

Backed by the strong quarter, the company lifted its full-year targets. Ross now projects same-store sales growth of 6% to 7%, up from the prior forecast of 3% to 4%, topping Wall Street’s estimate of 4.64%. It boosted its annual EPS guidance to a range of $7.50 to $7.74, versus the prior outlook of $7.02 to $7.36.

Ross Stores has been one of the retail sector’s standout performers this year, rising around 20% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

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Imax surges on report it’s approached entertainment companies for a sale

Imax is on pace for its best trading day since 2021 following a Wall Street Journal report that it’s exploring a sale. Shares are up more than 15% in premarket trading on Friday.

The premium screen company has reportedly approached entertainment companies for a deal, though talks are early and may not come to fruition. Imax has been boosted in recent years by its higher ticket prices — a K-shaped trend in movie theaters — and last year accounted for more than 5% of domestic box office sales.

Theatrical release windows have become a large debate in Hollywood this year, amid the bidding war between Paramount and Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s unclear if an entertainment buyer would favor its own films for Imax over a rival’s.

In the first quarter, Imax booked $81.4 million in sales, beating Wall Street expectations but down about 6.5% from last year, when China’s “Ne Zha 2” smashed records.

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AMD rises as CEO forecasts massive 5-year CPU demand growth

AMD’s shares are rising in premarket trading after CEO Lisa Su delivered an optimistic demand forecast, predicting that the global market for CPUs will grow by more than 35% annually over the next five years, according to Nikkei Asia.

“About six months ago or 12 months ago, nobody was talking about CPU shortages,” Su said at an event in Taipei. “But as [AI] inferencing and agentic AI have really started to ramp up, the CPU market [will] continue to grow very much. Over the next five years, we see the CPU market growing at over 35% each year, and this is an area where we’re seeing very strong demand.”

The comments come as the computing demands of AI agents (in particular, the so-called “orchestration” of tasks) increase the need for CPUs in running models.

AMD also said this week it plans to invest more than $10 billion into Taiwan’s AI ecosystem alongside supply chain partners as it ramps production capacity for next-generation AI infrastructure. This investment will support the manufacturing ramp of AMD’s sixth-generation EPYC CPUs, code-named “Venice.”

Su added that CPU supply is now “tight” as inference demand accelerates, while bottlenecks are emerging across memory, power availability, and advanced packaging.

AMD shares have climbed sharply this year amid broader enthusiasm around AI infrastructure spending. The stock has risen more than 100% year to date. During AMD’s last earnings call, management told investors it now sees the server CPU total addressable market reaching $120 billion or more by 2030, according to Yahoo Finance.