Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares jumped about 8% on Friday, extending the strong move that followed the company’s second-quarter results earlier this week. Short covering appears to be contributing to the advance after short sellers suffered substantial losses in the post-earnings surge, while strength in the broader tech sector is providing another tailwind.
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Learn why XOVR invested in Kalshi and the investment thesis behind one of its newest private holdings.Bank of America analyst Mariana Perez Mora certainly sees plenty to like, arguing that the company’s recent performance reflects “a successful AI strategy” built around helping customers generate meaningful results from the technology.
For Perez Mora, Palantir’s advantage goes well beyond having desirable AI software. While technologies similar to its Forward Deployed Engineers and Ontologies are becoming more common among software providers, the analyst argues that Palantir has something harder to replicate.
“Palantir’s secret sauce starts with their deep partnerships with customers,” Perez Mora explains, adding that the advantage extends to pricing solutions around “measurable outcomes and value generation.” In her view, that approach separates Palantir from software companies that rely heavily on consumption-based pricing without necessarily demonstrating the same customer value.
Another important piece of her thesis is sovereign AI. Businesses want access to sophisticated AI capabilities without handing valuable data and accumulated institutional knowledge to outside model providers. Perez Mora believes Palantir’s decades of experience with national security and highly regulated missions leave it particularly well positioned to meet that requirement.
The BofA analyst sees Palantir providing what she calls “the right control layer,” allowing businesses to retain greater authority over their data, permissions, cybersecurity, and workflows. Perez Mora argues that having greater control over their models and tailoring them to actual applications can improve AI effectiveness while preserving security and flexibility. That approach focuses on solving genuine business problems rather than optimizing models around what she describes as “obscure benchmarks.”
Then there is the U.S. commercial opportunity. Customer relationships are becoming broader and deeper, larger contracts are becoming more common, and spending among existing customers continues to rise. For Perez Mora, those trends suggest there is considerably more room for expansion.
The analyst consequently raised her 2026 and longer-term estimates, primarily to reflect her stronger expectations for the U.S. commercial operation. And her assessment of the opportunity leaves little ambiguity about why she remains bullish: Palantir’s U.S. commercial business still has “a world to win.”
To this end, Perez Mora assigns PLTR shares a Buy rating alongside a $255 price target, which implies about 51% upside from current levels. (To watch Perez Mora’s track record, click here)
The rest of Wall Street is bullish on Palantir as well, although the consensus is less enthusiastic than Perez Mora’s call. PLTR holds a Moderate Buy consensus rating, based on 16 Buys, 4 Holds, and 2 Sells. The average price target of $197.21 implies about 16% upside from current levels. (See PLTR stock forecast)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.