Palantir Technologies, the data-analytics firm whose biggest client is the U.S. government, can shoot much higher, according to Wedbush analysts led by Dan Ives.
Coming into Thursday’s session, Palantir stock had gained 64% this year, helped by optimism about artificial intelligence.
Palantir closed up 1.5% on Thursday, closing at $28.64 and snapping a two-day losing streak, while the S&P 500 fell 0.8%. Shares traded as high as $29.83 intraday, up 5.7% and its highest intraday level since it hit $30.19 on Feb. 22, 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The stock is up 13.1% this month and 66.8% so far this year.
While Palantir stock got caught up in the broad technology selloff Wednesday, Wedbush maintained an Outperform rating and $35 price target. Its bull-case scenario sees shares rising to $50 as companies ramp up spending on more AI services.
“Palantir is well-positioned to continue capitalizing on this $1 trillion AI spending wave with more use cases coming forward to address critical problems across industries and empower data-driven decision-making,” Wedbush said in a note. “This story remains very undervalued and misunderstood.”
Not all Wall Street analysts are that bullish. On Monday, Mizuho analysts led by Gregg Moskowitz downgraded the Palantir stock to Underperform from Neutral, arguing that shares have risen too high to justify the current price.