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Palantir: Great Company, Risky Investment

Summary Palantir holds a unique place in the market and has a significant moat around this business

Palantir: Great Company, Risky Investment

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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rachhy
·2021-07-02
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·2021-07-02
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(PLTR) is, by many accounts, an outstanding company. We believe that Palantir occupies a niche spot in the market, and has built a moat around its business thanks to its technology and workforce.\nWe have derived a valuation for Palantir using trend analysis and comparables, with a 2030 horizon, where we tackle mainly profitability and equity dilution. Although our target price for that year is nearly $42 per share, this only represents a 4.6% annual growth rate from the current price.\nUltimately, though Palantir is a great business, the current price does not offer investors attractive returns.\nWhat makes Palantir special?\nPalantir seems to be one of the most popular stocks to talk about in the last few months. The company, which has been around since 2003, but IPO'd only eight and a half months ago, is followed closely by both hawkish bears and delighted bulls. But why? What exactly makes Palantir so special?\nThe bears would point out nothing, and while I do agree that, oftentimes, unwarranted hype is created around buzzwords like \"data\", I will argue here that Palantir is special. This is important because it puts Palantir in a great situation in terms of the competitive landscape and growth opportunities. However, it also creates a very particular set of \"risks\" and challenges for the company.\nOn the most superficial level, Palantir is a \"data analytics company\", which has found itself a nice spot on the list of government contractors, both domestic and abroad. This already makes the company more interesting than many others. There is nothing today growing faster than data, and at close second we could put government spending. However, this misses the point of what actually makes the company special, or, more specifically, what has allowed the company to gain so much favour with public institutions, and now private clients.\nIf we could put it into one sentence, we would say the following: Palantir walks a fine line between data analytics and consulting. Indeed, the company has some very powerful proprietary software, which we might as well call an AI, but it also has one of the most talented workforces in the world, with specific task forces being created to address the needs of each client/contract.\nThink about it like a mix between McKinsey and International Business Machines (IBM). In practice, it's not enough to have a powerful computer that can find great insights. First, it has to be led in the right direction, and then those insights have to be implemented properly. And of course, once you implement new measures, these create a whole new set of variables and data, so you can rinse and repeat indefinitely.\nThis is what a lot of people miss about this company. Some think it just has great software, which it does, but its biggest asset, we would argue, is its \"business model\" which is powered by its workforce. Furthermore, many of those who do acknowledge the fact that Palantir relies heavily on using specialized employees to address their clients' needs point this out as a weakness rather than the great strength that it is. They would argue that Palantir has to spend a lot of money on employing people to help their clients use their product, which makes it less \"profitable\", but this is a very rudimentary understanding of the situation. It's true that it might not achieve such high margins as a traditional SaaS, but it definitely doesn't mean the company is unprofitable. Consulting firms, like McKinsey or Accenture plc (ACN), do just this, employ people to help out their clients, and they certainly don't seem to struggle to make a profit. Ultimately, a cost is justified as long as it brings sufficient value.\nDoes Palantir have a \"moat\"?\nBut even if Palantir is special; does this matter? How does this set it apart from its competitors? In this regard, Palantir faces three different sets of competitors:\nFirstly, Palantir is competing with traditional consulting firms. Ultimately, this is what the company does, since it is working hand-in-hand with its clients to improve their operations. Consulting firms like Accenture and McKinsey do this to a certain degree, but at the moment, they lack the technical requirements and niche focus that Palantir has.\nFrom a data analytics sector perspective, Palantir could be put into the same category as companies like IBM or SAP SE (SAP). These companies do indeed have the necessary resources to compete with Palantir in terms of services, but not on price. These companies have been around for too long and are way too big to be able to compete in price with Palantir. They simply cannot scale down efficiently enough.\nLastly, the company competes head-to-head with other defence contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH) and SAIC. The problem these firms have competing with Palantir is that they are not specialized enough within their offerings.\nTo sum up, we would argue that Palantir's moat comes, firstly, from its business proposition. Palantir was created with a very clear idea behind it, which allowed it to be a niche company. This specialization also allows it to be more efficient, and offer clients more competitive prices.\nIt is true that this business model can be copied. There is nothing stopping new companies from doing what Palantir is doing and there are some startups attempting to do this, such as&nbsp;Digital Reasoning, but bear in mind this company has only ever received $134 million in funding. What does set Palantir apart from its competitors and is something that they can't easily replicate is its workforce. Palantir spends a lot of money to find and keep the best talent in the industry. A big part of this is done through stock-based compensation, which is a hot topic&nbsp;I discussed here. In any case, Palantir has the advantage of being \"the place to be\" right now, within the industry. This popularity and recognition has increased even more since its IPO and is a key factor in attracting and retaining young talent. This talent is, ultimately, the company's biggest strength.\nAddressable Market &amp; Growth Opportunities\nWith that said, let's proceed towards analysing Palantir's TAM and Growth outlook.\nIn the sections above, we mentioned how Palantir is in a unique situation, because it is both a consulting firm and a data analytics firm, and it also has significant government contracts. Therefore, we could look at TAM from these three perspectives:\nStarting with consulting, this is perhaps the least exciting of the three areas where Palantir can grow. According to research, the \"Management Consulting Services\" industry will grow at a CAGR of 8% through 2025, which would put the industry at a size of $1201.06 billion. Granted, this is not impressive growth but it is a remarkable size. In this sense, Palantir could actually attack much of this market, which is now dominated by \"the big four\".\nFrom the point of view of data analytics, we have a market that, in this case, is growing very fast. According to Quince Market Insights, this segment will grow at a&nbsp;CAGR of 25% in the next 10 years. Furthermore, studies have also found that, currently, companies only analyze around&nbsp;12% of their data.This creates a massive opportunity for a company like Palantir to come in, and show these companies exactly how and why they need to analyze their data.\nLastly, since Palantir works closely with the government, it is only reasonable to believe that the more it spends, the more Palantir will make.The CBO projects&nbsp;average yearly deficits of $1.2 trillion from 2022 to 2030. This is in line with the current tendency of continued increase in public spending, but what is most encouraging is where this spending will take place:\n<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/8330575726862d333c1cfabc18987a50\" tg-width=\"1280\" tg-height=\"626\">Source:CBO.gov\nBy 2030, the biggest item on the Federal government's expense sheet will be Major Health Care Programs, which will be equivalent to 9% of GDP. Data from the NHE also suggest that by 2028 healthcare will be a&nbsp;$6.2 trillion business.Again, this is great news for Palantir, since data analytics within the healthcare industry is a high growth area. Palantir already has clients in this area, including the&nbsp;UK's National Health System[NHS].\nAll in all, Palantir has the benefit of working within a fast-growing sector, data, but with the ability of being able to deploy their technology and workforce to solve niche applications. Given that the data analytics industry is projected to grow at 25% and that Palantir has strong government connections, we believe the company could easily achieve analysts' goal of 30% CAGR over the next 5 years.\nProfitability Analysis\nProfitability is expected to grow as revenues reach higher levels. The question that any investor would like answered is not only if this is going to be the case, but by how much. Our aim here is to make a forecast of Palantir revenues and earnings until 2030 so that we can later make a sound valuation of the stock through earnings multiples. The method used here is a combination of trendline analysis of existing financials, performances by most comparable competitors, and estimates by analysts and the company itself.\nWe have already talked about the addressable market and growth prospects, now it is time to quantify the expected revenue path for Palantir. Since companies rarely sustain such high growth rates in the long run, we find that a second order polynomial trendline is often the best method to calculate this. This type of equation delivers a flatter curve than an exponential trendline, which assumes a constant growth rate. For Palantir's quarterly revenue, it is also a very good fit as you can see below. You can see the trendline along the actual revenue recorded in the last nine quarters, and a projection until 2030 Q4.\n<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/acada8ddc443d930e8cb4e3929b42015\" tg-width=\"515\" tg-height=\"341\">Source: Author's work based on financial records. Revenue in $million. Quarters are numbered from 1 (Q1 2019) to 48 (Q4 2030)\nIf you apply the function above you get a forecasted yearly revenue of 11.9 billion for 2030, including $3.1 billion in Q4 of that year. This is not far from the consensus estimate for 2030 you can find on Seeking Alpha, which is $12.42 billion. According to the latest earnings call, management expects to deliver 30%+ growth at least in the next four years. To put this into perspective, a CAGR of 30% until 2030 would give a revenue of $11.5 billion. Taking the three into account, we will keep our trendline estimate of 11.9, which lies between the other two figures.\nGross margins have been improving gradually according to GAAP figures over the last nine quarters, from nearly 68% in the first quarter of 2019 to over 78% in the latest quarter. Except for an unusually bad figure in Q3 2020, which has been taken out of the equation for a smoother analysis, the gross margin as a function of revenue shows a predictable path of improvement through a linear trend, as you can see in this chart.\n<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/9094dcdd5ddbc9df1499318bf694ad7a\" tg-width=\"481\" tg-height=\"289\">Source: Author's work based on financial records. Items in $million\nData excludes a figure of (289,140) from Q3 2020.\nThe linear equation above, with a 0.9 slope, generates a forecast where the gross margin should tend towards 90% of revenue. Applying this formula to the forecasted revenue of $11.9 billion predicts a gross margin figure of $10.6 billion for 2030.\nIn order to transform gross margins into net income, so that we can make a valuation based on an earnings multiple, we will look at one of Palantir's comparables, discussed&nbsp;in a previous article, Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH). The reason for using Cognizant is that not only is the activity they carry out similar but it is also an example of a profitable pier with a fairly consistent earnings margin, and with debt and gross margin volumes comparable to the ones we are predicting for Palantir.\n<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/7effd28b7de277b78a107d14608164ff\" tg-width=\"481\" tg-height=\"289\">Source: Author's work.\nWith gross margins stable at around 6 billion in recent years, CTSH has maintained a healthy level of net income, ranging from 22% to 35% of gross profits. To make a fair estimate, we will assume the average percentage through the 10-year period, which is 30.61% of gross profit. We will also assume that Palantir achieves that level in 2030, with a gradual increase of the percentage until then.\nThis completes our revenue and earnings estimates for Palantir in 2030, reaching 11.9 billion revenue, $10.6 billion gross margin, and $3.3 billion net income.\n<table>\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <td>Year</td>\n <td>2021</td>\n <td>2022</td>\n <td>2023</td>\n <td>2024</td>\n <td>2025</td>\n <td>2026</td>\n <td>2027</td>\n <td>2028</td>\n <td>2029</td>\n <td>2030</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Reven.</td>\n <td>1,581</td>\n <td>2,196</td>\n <td>2,942</td>\n <td>3,820</td>\n <td>4,830</td>\n <td>5,972</td>\n <td>7,245</td>\n <td>8,650</td>\n <td>10,188</td>\n <td>11,856</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Gross Profit</td>\n <td>1,382</td>\n <td>1,936</td>\n <td>2,608</td>\n <td>3,399</td>\n <td>4,309</td>\n <td>5,338</td>\n <td>6,485</td>\n <td>7,751</td>\n <td>9,136</td>\n <td>10,639</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Net Income</td>\n <td>42</td>\n <td>119</td>\n <td>240</td>\n <td>416</td>\n <td>660</td>\n <td>980</td>\n <td>1,390</td>\n <td>1,898</td>\n <td>2,517</td>\n <td>3,257</td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n</table>\nSource: Author's work. Items in $millions.\nValuation\nHaving forecasted revenues and earnings, we are prepared to estimate a path for Palantir's stock price. In order to do this, we need to also look into financing through equity and how the dilution will affect share prices. We are going to continue using the 2030 horizon as the timeframe.\nFirst, we will create an estimate for market capitalization based on the current sector median earnings multiple, and then we will make a forecast for the dilution. The current GAAP TTM Price/earnings ratio for the sector is 33.94. The assumption here is that as Palantir becomes profitable, its valuation should approach this multiple and be fairly valued for its earnings. Based on the earnings we forecasted and the 33.94 PE ratio, we get the following estimated market capitalizations:\n<table>\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <td>Year</td>\n <td>2021</td>\n <td>2022</td>\n <td>2023</td>\n <td>2024</td>\n <td>2025</td>\n <td>2026</td>\n <td>2027</td>\n <td>2028</td>\n <td>2029</td>\n <td>2030</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Net Inc.</td>\n <td>42</td>\n <td>119</td>\n <td>240</td>\n <td>416</td>\n <td>660</td>\n <td>980</td>\n <td>1,390</td>\n <td>1,898</td>\n <td>2,517</td>\n <td>3,257</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Mkt. Cap [PE]</td>\n <td>1,436</td>\n <td>4,023</td>\n <td>8,129</td>\n <td>14,126</td>\n <td>22,384</td>\n <td>33,272</td>\n <td>47,160</td>\n <td>64,420</td>\n <td>85,421</td>\n <td>110,532</td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n</table>\nSource: Author's work. Items in $millions.\nAs you can see, the current market capitalization of slightly over $50 billion wouldn't be justified by earnings until after 2027, reaching a level of $111 billion by 2030. This represents a CAGR of just 8.57%, before we take dilution into account.\nIn order to predict how the number of common shares is likely to evolve over these years, we have made a forecast of the book value based on revenue, assuming the balance sheet maintains a similar structure relative to the volume of operations. If we look at the last four quarters, we have a fairly consistent linear pattern of how book value has increased with quarterly revenue, as you can see below.\n<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/9066505bd8b5fce4ebf0d4f538a4bafe\" tg-width=\"481\" tg-height=\"289\">Source: Author's work based on financial records. Items in $million\nApplying this equation, with a revenue of $3.1 billion in Q4 2030, as per our previous forecast, the book value should rise to $34.2 billion. If we take into account the current book value of 1.8 billion and the accumulated net income we have already forecasted for the whole period, which is $11.5 billion, we estimate that an additional $20.9 billion of funding through new equity will be required. At the current share price of $27.37, this would mean 739 million additional common shares by the end of 2030. Added to the current 1.8 billion outstanding, the total is 2.6 billion common shares. Applying the $111 billion market capitalization we have forecasted, the resulting target price for the end of 2030 is $41.87. You can see a summary of these figures below.\n<table>\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <td>Concept</td>\n <td>Amount</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Revenue Q4 2030</td>\n <td>3,128</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Book Value Q4 2030</td>\n <td>34,212</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Book Value Q1 2021</td>\n <td>1,806</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Acc. Net Income Q2 2021-Q4 2030</td>\n <td>11,517</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Financing from new equity</td>\n <td>20,889</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Current Share Price</td>\n <td>$ 27.37</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>New shares required</td>\n <td>763</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Market cap 2030 Q4</td>\n <td>110,532</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Nº Shares 2030 Q4 (millions)</td>\n <td>2,640</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>Target Price 2030 Q4</td>\n <td>$ 41.87</td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <td>CAGR</td>\n <td>4.58%</td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n</table>\nSource: Author's work. Monetary items in $millions, except per share items, nº of shares in millions.\nAs you can see, the expected CAGR for Palantir's stock price as per our forecasted fair value at the end of 2030 is just 4.58%. If we were to require, say, a 10% return, which is more reasonable for a growth stock, the fair price today would be $16.93, 38% lower than the current price.\nRisks\nHaving said all this, we also have to mention some particular challenges that a company like Palantir faces. The most significant of these would relate to how the company has to manage its image in a world where privacy is becoming \"taboo\".\nPalantir is a company that, on many levels, has a lot of power, which can be both a blessing and a curse. The company has to be very careful with its data to avoid any events that could damage its reputation, which it needs in order to survive. Think, for example, Edward Snowden, who before becoming one of the most wanted men in the world was working for Booz Allen. What would happen if the next whistleblower came from within Palantir's ranks?\nOn top of that, Palantir is also facing resistance from organizations abroad. For example, there is currently a campaign in the UK trying to stop Palantir fromworking with the NHS. It's understandable that some people may not want their medical data to be handled by a foreign company, even if it is from an allied country.\nUltimately, these are very particular challenges that Palantir faces. Its growth could be hampered if people or even the government start to think the company is \"too powerful\". Furthermore, if anything happened to damage the company's reputation, Palantir could be finished overnight. Of course, this is why the company invests so heavily in its workforce. But will it be enough?\nTakeaway\nIn conclusion, we believe Palantir is qualitatively a great company. They operate in a niche market with a lot of growth potential. On top of that, Palantir has one of the best technologies and workforces in the market right now, but this is not enough. Even with double-digit growth and assuming a steady path towards profitability, Palantir seems way too expensive today to provide investors with good returns. A great company doesn't always make a great investment, and we feel this is the case with Palantir.","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Palantir: Great Company, Risky Investment</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nPalantir: Great Company, Risky Investment\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n2021-07-02 16:31 GMT+8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=https://seekingalpha.com/article/4437458-palantir-great-company-bad-investment>seekingalpha</a>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<div>\nSummary\n\nPalantir holds a unique place in the market and has a significant moat around this business.\nHaving said this, even under optimistic assumptions, Palantir looks overvalued.\nFurthermore, ...\n\n<a href=\"https://seekingalpha.com/article/4437458-palantir-great-company-bad-investment\">Web Link</a>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"","relate_stocks":{"PLTR":"Palantir Technologies Inc."},"source_url":"https://seekingalpha.com/article/4437458-palantir-great-company-bad-investment","is_english":true,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"1115821085","content_text":"Summary\n\nPalantir holds a unique place in the market and has a significant moat around this business.\nHaving said this, even under optimistic assumptions, Palantir looks overvalued.\nFurthermore, Palantir faces a unique and hard to control set of challenges.\n\nMaria Marganingsih/iStock via Getty Images\nThesis Summary\nPalantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) is, by many accounts, an outstanding company. We believe that Palantir occupies a niche spot in the market, and has built a moat around its business thanks to its technology and workforce.\nWe have derived a valuation for Palantir using trend analysis and comparables, with a 2030 horizon, where we tackle mainly profitability and equity dilution. Although our target price for that year is nearly $42 per share, this only represents a 4.6% annual growth rate from the current price.\nUltimately, though Palantir is a great business, the current price does not offer investors attractive returns.\nWhat makes Palantir special?\nPalantir seems to be one of the most popular stocks to talk about in the last few months. The company, which has been around since 2003, but IPO'd only eight and a half months ago, is followed closely by both hawkish bears and delighted bulls. But why? What exactly makes Palantir so special?\nThe bears would point out nothing, and while I do agree that, oftentimes, unwarranted hype is created around buzzwords like \"data\", I will argue here that Palantir is special. This is important because it puts Palantir in a great situation in terms of the competitive landscape and growth opportunities. However, it also creates a very particular set of \"risks\" and challenges for the company.\nOn the most superficial level, Palantir is a \"data analytics company\", which has found itself a nice spot on the list of government contractors, both domestic and abroad. This already makes the company more interesting than many others. There is nothing today growing faster than data, and at close second we could put government spending. However, this misses the point of what actually makes the company special, or, more specifically, what has allowed the company to gain so much favour with public institutions, and now private clients.\nIf we could put it into one sentence, we would say the following: Palantir walks a fine line between data analytics and consulting. Indeed, the company has some very powerful proprietary software, which we might as well call an AI, but it also has one of the most talented workforces in the world, with specific task forces being created to address the needs of each client/contract.\nThink about it like a mix between McKinsey and International Business Machines (IBM). In practice, it's not enough to have a powerful computer that can find great insights. First, it has to be led in the right direction, and then those insights have to be implemented properly. And of course, once you implement new measures, these create a whole new set of variables and data, so you can rinse and repeat indefinitely.\nThis is what a lot of people miss about this company. Some think it just has great software, which it does, but its biggest asset, we would argue, is its \"business model\" which is powered by its workforce. Furthermore, many of those who do acknowledge the fact that Palantir relies heavily on using specialized employees to address their clients' needs point this out as a weakness rather than the great strength that it is. They would argue that Palantir has to spend a lot of money on employing people to help their clients use their product, which makes it less \"profitable\", but this is a very rudimentary understanding of the situation. It's true that it might not achieve such high margins as a traditional SaaS, but it definitely doesn't mean the company is unprofitable. Consulting firms, like McKinsey or Accenture plc (ACN), do just this, employ people to help out their clients, and they certainly don't seem to struggle to make a profit. Ultimately, a cost is justified as long as it brings sufficient value.\nDoes Palantir have a \"moat\"?\nBut even if Palantir is special; does this matter? How does this set it apart from its competitors? In this regard, Palantir faces three different sets of competitors:\nFirstly, Palantir is competing with traditional consulting firms. Ultimately, this is what the company does, since it is working hand-in-hand with its clients to improve their operations. Consulting firms like Accenture and McKinsey do this to a certain degree, but at the moment, they lack the technical requirements and niche focus that Palantir has.\nFrom a data analytics sector perspective, Palantir could be put into the same category as companies like IBM or SAP SE (SAP). These companies do indeed have the necessary resources to compete with Palantir in terms of services, but not on price. These companies have been around for too long and are way too big to be able to compete in price with Palantir. They simply cannot scale down efficiently enough.\nLastly, the company competes head-to-head with other defence contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH) and SAIC. The problem these firms have competing with Palantir is that they are not specialized enough within their offerings.\nTo sum up, we would argue that Palantir's moat comes, firstly, from its business proposition. Palantir was created with a very clear idea behind it, which allowed it to be a niche company. This specialization also allows it to be more efficient, and offer clients more competitive prices.\nIt is true that this business model can be copied. There is nothing stopping new companies from doing what Palantir is doing and there are some startups attempting to do this, such as Digital Reasoning, but bear in mind this company has only ever received $134 million in funding. What does set Palantir apart from its competitors and is something that they can't easily replicate is its workforce. Palantir spends a lot of money to find and keep the best talent in the industry. A big part of this is done through stock-based compensation, which is a hot topic I discussed here. In any case, Palantir has the advantage of being \"the place to be\" right now, within the industry. This popularity and recognition has increased even more since its IPO and is a key factor in attracting and retaining young talent. This talent is, ultimately, the company's biggest strength.\nAddressable Market & Growth Opportunities\nWith that said, let's proceed towards analysing Palantir's TAM and Growth outlook.\nIn the sections above, we mentioned how Palantir is in a unique situation, because it is both a consulting firm and a data analytics firm, and it also has significant government contracts. Therefore, we could look at TAM from these three perspectives:\nStarting with consulting, this is perhaps the least exciting of the three areas where Palantir can grow. According to research, the \"Management Consulting Services\" industry will grow at a CAGR of 8% through 2025, which would put the industry at a size of $1201.06 billion. Granted, this is not impressive growth but it is a remarkable size. In this sense, Palantir could actually attack much of this market, which is now dominated by \"the big four\".\nFrom the point of view of data analytics, we have a market that, in this case, is growing very fast. According to Quince Market Insights, this segment will grow at a CAGR of 25% in the next 10 years. Furthermore, studies have also found that, currently, companies only analyze around 12% of their data.This creates a massive opportunity for a company like Palantir to come in, and show these companies exactly how and why they need to analyze their data.\nLastly, since Palantir works closely with the government, it is only reasonable to believe that the more it spends, the more Palantir will make.The CBO projects average yearly deficits of $1.2 trillion from 2022 to 2030. This is in line with the current tendency of continued increase in public spending, but what is most encouraging is where this spending will take place:\nSource:CBO.gov\nBy 2030, the biggest item on the Federal government's expense sheet will be Major Health Care Programs, which will be equivalent to 9% of GDP. Data from the NHE also suggest that by 2028 healthcare will be a $6.2 trillion business.Again, this is great news for Palantir, since data analytics within the healthcare industry is a high growth area. Palantir already has clients in this area, including the UK's National Health System[NHS].\nAll in all, Palantir has the benefit of working within a fast-growing sector, data, but with the ability of being able to deploy their technology and workforce to solve niche applications. Given that the data analytics industry is projected to grow at 25% and that Palantir has strong government connections, we believe the company could easily achieve analysts' goal of 30% CAGR over the next 5 years.\nProfitability Analysis\nProfitability is expected to grow as revenues reach higher levels. The question that any investor would like answered is not only if this is going to be the case, but by how much. Our aim here is to make a forecast of Palantir revenues and earnings until 2030 so that we can later make a sound valuation of the stock through earnings multiples. The method used here is a combination of trendline analysis of existing financials, performances by most comparable competitors, and estimates by analysts and the company itself.\nWe have already talked about the addressable market and growth prospects, now it is time to quantify the expected revenue path for Palantir. Since companies rarely sustain such high growth rates in the long run, we find that a second order polynomial trendline is often the best method to calculate this. This type of equation delivers a flatter curve than an exponential trendline, which assumes a constant growth rate. For Palantir's quarterly revenue, it is also a very good fit as you can see below. You can see the trendline along the actual revenue recorded in the last nine quarters, and a projection until 2030 Q4.\nSource: Author's work based on financial records. Revenue in $million. Quarters are numbered from 1 (Q1 2019) to 48 (Q4 2030)\nIf you apply the function above you get a forecasted yearly revenue of 11.9 billion for 2030, including $3.1 billion in Q4 of that year. This is not far from the consensus estimate for 2030 you can find on Seeking Alpha, which is $12.42 billion. According to the latest earnings call, management expects to deliver 30%+ growth at least in the next four years. To put this into perspective, a CAGR of 30% until 2030 would give a revenue of $11.5 billion. Taking the three into account, we will keep our trendline estimate of 11.9, which lies between the other two figures.\nGross margins have been improving gradually according to GAAP figures over the last nine quarters, from nearly 68% in the first quarter of 2019 to over 78% in the latest quarter. Except for an unusually bad figure in Q3 2020, which has been taken out of the equation for a smoother analysis, the gross margin as a function of revenue shows a predictable path of improvement through a linear trend, as you can see in this chart.\nSource: Author's work based on financial records. Items in $million\nData excludes a figure of (289,140) from Q3 2020.\nThe linear equation above, with a 0.9 slope, generates a forecast where the gross margin should tend towards 90% of revenue. Applying this formula to the forecasted revenue of $11.9 billion predicts a gross margin figure of $10.6 billion for 2030.\nIn order to transform gross margins into net income, so that we can make a valuation based on an earnings multiple, we will look at one of Palantir's comparables, discussed in a previous article, Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH). The reason for using Cognizant is that not only is the activity they carry out similar but it is also an example of a profitable pier with a fairly consistent earnings margin, and with debt and gross margin volumes comparable to the ones we are predicting for Palantir.\nSource: Author's work.\nWith gross margins stable at around 6 billion in recent years, CTSH has maintained a healthy level of net income, ranging from 22% to 35% of gross profits. To make a fair estimate, we will assume the average percentage through the 10-year period, which is 30.61% of gross profit. We will also assume that Palantir achieves that level in 2030, with a gradual increase of the percentage until then.\nThis completes our revenue and earnings estimates for Palantir in 2030, reaching 11.9 billion revenue, $10.6 billion gross margin, and $3.3 billion net income.\n\n\n\nYear\n2021\n2022\n2023\n2024\n2025\n2026\n2027\n2028\n2029\n2030\n\n\nReven.\n1,581\n2,196\n2,942\n3,820\n4,830\n5,972\n7,245\n8,650\n10,188\n11,856\n\n\nGross Profit\n1,382\n1,936\n2,608\n3,399\n4,309\n5,338\n6,485\n7,751\n9,136\n10,639\n\n\nNet Income\n42\n119\n240\n416\n660\n980\n1,390\n1,898\n2,517\n3,257\n\n\n\nSource: Author's work. Items in $millions.\nValuation\nHaving forecasted revenues and earnings, we are prepared to estimate a path for Palantir's stock price. In order to do this, we need to also look into financing through equity and how the dilution will affect share prices. We are going to continue using the 2030 horizon as the timeframe.\nFirst, we will create an estimate for market capitalization based on the current sector median earnings multiple, and then we will make a forecast for the dilution. The current GAAP TTM Price/earnings ratio for the sector is 33.94. The assumption here is that as Palantir becomes profitable, its valuation should approach this multiple and be fairly valued for its earnings. Based on the earnings we forecasted and the 33.94 PE ratio, we get the following estimated market capitalizations:\n\n\n\nYear\n2021\n2022\n2023\n2024\n2025\n2026\n2027\n2028\n2029\n2030\n\n\nNet Inc.\n42\n119\n240\n416\n660\n980\n1,390\n1,898\n2,517\n3,257\n\n\nMkt. Cap [PE]\n1,436\n4,023\n8,129\n14,126\n22,384\n33,272\n47,160\n64,420\n85,421\n110,532\n\n\n\nSource: Author's work. Items in $millions.\nAs you can see, the current market capitalization of slightly over $50 billion wouldn't be justified by earnings until after 2027, reaching a level of $111 billion by 2030. This represents a CAGR of just 8.57%, before we take dilution into account.\nIn order to predict how the number of common shares is likely to evolve over these years, we have made a forecast of the book value based on revenue, assuming the balance sheet maintains a similar structure relative to the volume of operations. If we look at the last four quarters, we have a fairly consistent linear pattern of how book value has increased with quarterly revenue, as you can see below.\nSource: Author's work based on financial records. Items in $million\nApplying this equation, with a revenue of $3.1 billion in Q4 2030, as per our previous forecast, the book value should rise to $34.2 billion. If we take into account the current book value of 1.8 billion and the accumulated net income we have already forecasted for the whole period, which is $11.5 billion, we estimate that an additional $20.9 billion of funding through new equity will be required. At the current share price of $27.37, this would mean 739 million additional common shares by the end of 2030. Added to the current 1.8 billion outstanding, the total is 2.6 billion common shares. Applying the $111 billion market capitalization we have forecasted, the resulting target price for the end of 2030 is $41.87. You can see a summary of these figures below.\n\n\n\nConcept\nAmount\n\n\nRevenue Q4 2030\n3,128\n\n\nBook Value Q4 2030\n34,212\n\n\nBook Value Q1 2021\n1,806\n\n\nAcc. Net Income Q2 2021-Q4 2030\n11,517\n\n\nFinancing from new equity\n20,889\n\n\nCurrent Share Price\n$ 27.37\n\n\nNew shares required\n763\n\n\nMarket cap 2030 Q4\n110,532\n\n\nNº Shares 2030 Q4 (millions)\n2,640\n\n\nTarget Price 2030 Q4\n$ 41.87\n\n\nCAGR\n4.58%\n\n\n\nSource: Author's work. Monetary items in $millions, except per share items, nº of shares in millions.\nAs you can see, the expected CAGR for Palantir's stock price as per our forecasted fair value at the end of 2030 is just 4.58%. If we were to require, say, a 10% return, which is more reasonable for a growth stock, the fair price today would be $16.93, 38% lower than the current price.\nRisks\nHaving said all this, we also have to mention some particular challenges that a company like Palantir faces. The most significant of these would relate to how the company has to manage its image in a world where privacy is becoming \"taboo\".\nPalantir is a company that, on many levels, has a lot of power, which can be both a blessing and a curse. The company has to be very careful with its data to avoid any events that could damage its reputation, which it needs in order to survive. Think, for example, Edward Snowden, who before becoming one of the most wanted men in the world was working for Booz Allen. What would happen if the next whistleblower came from within Palantir's ranks?\nOn top of that, Palantir is also facing resistance from organizations abroad. For example, there is currently a campaign in the UK trying to stop Palantir fromworking with the NHS. It's understandable that some people may not want their medical data to be handled by a foreign company, even if it is from an allied country.\nUltimately, these are very particular challenges that Palantir faces. Its growth could be hampered if people or even the government start to think the company is \"too powerful\". Furthermore, if anything happened to damage the company's reputation, Palantir could be finished overnight. Of course, this is why the company invests so heavily in its workforce. But will it be enough?\nTakeaway\nIn conclusion, we believe Palantir is qualitatively a great company. They operate in a niche market with a lot of growth potential. On top of that, Palantir has one of the best technologies and workforces in the market right now, but this is not enough. Even with double-digit growth and assuming a steady path towards profitability, Palantir seems way too expensive today to provide investors with good returns. A great company doesn't always make a great investment, and we feel this is the case with Palantir.","news_type":1},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":354,"commentLimit":10,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"symbols":[],"verified":2,"subType":0,"readableState":1,"langContent":"EN","currentLanguage":"EN","warmUpFlag":false,"orderFlag":false,"shareable":true,"causeOfNotShareable":"","featuresForAnalytics":[],"commentAndTweetFlag":false,"andRepostAutoSelectedFlag":false,"upFlag":false,"length":4,"xxTargetLangEnum":"ORIG"},"commentList":[{"id":5101097,"commentId":"5101097","gmtCreate":1625215645678,"gmtModify":1663230429850,"authorId":3569563989023705,"author":{"id":3569563989023705,"idStr":"3569563989023705","authorId":3569563989023705,"name":"rachhy","avatar":"https://community-static.tradeup.com/news/987b013132c46b8f60047c8f8cc9a066","vip":1,"crmLevel":5,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"individualDisplayBadges":[]},"repliedAuthorId":0,"objectId":156607330,"objectIdStr":"156607330","type":1,"supId":0,"supIdStr":"0","prevId":0,"prevIdStr":"0","content":"yayyy","text":"yayyy","html":"yayyy","likeSize":0,"commentSize":1,"subComments":[{"id":5101123,"commentId":"5101123","gmtCreate":1625215818938,"gmtModify":1663230428734,"authorId":3577171842376403,"author":{"id":3577171842376403,"idStr":"3577171842376403","authorId":3577171842376403,"name":"aloyyyyyy","avatar":"https://static.laohu8.com/default-avatar.jpg","vip":1,"crmLevel":1,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"individualDisplayBadges":[]},"repliedAuthorId":0,"objectId":156607330,"objectIdStr":"156607330","type":1,"supId":5101097,"supIdStr":"5101097","prevId":0,"prevIdStr":"0","content":"cool","text":"cool","html":"cool"}],"verified":10,"allocateAmount":0,"commentType":"invalid","coins":0,"score":0},{"id":5101308,"commentId":"5101308","gmtCreate":1625217425609,"gmtModify":1663230428232,"authorId":3581823706139517,"author":{"id":3581823706139517,"idStr":"3581823706139517","authorId":3581823706139517,"name":"Zx1008","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/fdb3cce08a739e317d4fb462983c1cee","vip":1,"currentWearingBadge":{"badgeId":"1026c425416b44e0aac28c11a0848493-2","templateUuid":"1026c425416b44e0aac28c11a0848493","name":"Senior Tiger","description":"Join the tiger community for 1000 days","bigImgUrl":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/0063fb68ea29c9ae6858c58630e182d5","smallImgUrl":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/96c699a93be4214d4b49aea6a5a5d1a4","grayImgUrl":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/35b0e542a9ff77046ed69ef602bc105d","redirectLinkEnabled":0,"hasAllocated":1,"isWearing":1,"stampPosition":0,"hasStamp":0,"allocationCount":1,"allocatedDate":"2024.01.14","individualDisplayEnabled":0,"individualDisplaySort":0,"categoryType":1001},"crmLevel":4,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"individualDisplayBadges":[]},"repliedAuthorId":0,"objectId":156607330,"objectIdStr":"156607330","type":1,"supId":0,"supIdStr":"0","prevId":0,"prevIdStr":"0","content":"Cool ","text":"Cool ","html":"Cool ","likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"subComments":[],"verified":10,"allocateAmount":0,"commentType":"invalid","coins":0,"score":0}],"hasMoreComment":true,"orderType":2}