Business
Palantir’s ‘anti-woke’ playbook and ‘cultus’ winning strategy, after yet another earnings beat
Palantir reported a third-quarter earnings beat this week, and during his victory lap, CEO Alex Karp provided a window into the values that drive him and his company despite what he frames as outside noise.
The software platform reported $1.18 billion in earnings for the third quarter, which narrowly beat analysts’ forecasts. Despite the earnings announcement and a quarter-four outlook that also beat Wall Street forecasts, Palantir shares fell 7.95% on Tuesday, erasing an initial 7% spike following the report. Analysts shared concerns that the tech giant’s performance and guidance don’t justify its valuation.
But what a valuation, though. Despite Tuesday’s sell-off, Palantir shares are up a whopping 154% year-to-date. Karp attributes the continued growth of his company to a strong allyship with the U.S. government and a business that supports “the American worker that we helped make rich.”
Palantir “was really the first company to be completely anti-woke,” Karp told investors on the earnings call after market close on Monday. The tech giant has cozied up to President Donald Trump’s administration, sending its CTO Shyam Sankar to the White House dinner that hosted Silicon Valley tech leaders in September. In an earnings call last year, Karp said wokeness was a “central risk” to Palantir, the U.S., and the world, and labeled it “a regressive way of thinking that is corrupting and corroding our institutions.”
Karp previously was a major donor to former president Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign. He also said last year that when Peter Thiel, one of Karp’s fellow cofounders of Palantir, supported Trump, it made it harder for the company to get things done.
In July of last year, Karp said that he was “not thrilled” with the direction of the Democratic Party, but that he would be “voting against Trump.”
Still, he said wokeness is “actually a form of a thin pagan religion,” on the May 2024 earnings call.
In sharp contrast, on Monday Karp described his efforts to keep his company as “cultus”— a system of religious worship— and “unique” as it was when it started over 20 years ago. One such way is to continue to support “making the American warfighter fight the way the American warfighter is born to fight,” he said, without explaining what he meant by that.
Almost half of Palantir’s success comes from U.S. government revenue, which is up 52% from last year and 14% from the second quarter at $486 million. Demand for its AI-driven platforms and deeper margins through improved operating leverage despite heavy investment in research and hiring have also contributed to its robust sales.
Palantir has been criticized by right-wing influencers such as Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes, as well as democratic lawmakers for its secretive contracts with the government, which have expanded under Trump.
But despite much-publicized ethical concerns over the business being a major U.S. defense contractor and about the tech company’s access to Americans’ personal data, CEO Karp says he just doesn’t understand why the work his company does draws so much negative attention. The Peter Thiel-backed firm has a name taken from Lord of the Rings, like at least two other Thiel-associated companies. A “palantir” was a penetrating and all-seeing sort of crystal ball in those books, either an inspiring or ominous namesake, depending on one’s perspective.
“We’re on the front line of all adversaries, including vis-à-vis China. And we support—we’re at ICE and we’ve supported Israel,” Karp said on the earnings call on Monday. “I don’t know why this is all controversial, but many people find that controversial.”
Last January, Palantir inked a strategic partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Defense to supply data analytics and AI technology for the country’s ongoing military operations, including the war in Gaza. This support has drawn criticism and calls for investigations into whether Palantir’s tools are being used in ways that may violate international law in conflict zones.
The tech company also was awarded a $30 million contract in April to build “ImmigrationOS,” a software that provides near real-time data on people self-deporting.
Palantir contracts with a number of U.S. government agencies including the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the first three quarters of 2025, it received almost $1.3 billion in revenue from the government, according to company financial disclosures.
Palantir did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment, but Karp told investors Monday that he thinks they are “fighting for the right side of what should work in this country: meritocracy, lethal technology, vis-à-vis adversaries,” and products that spread GDP to the working class.
He’s previously called AI an “agency enhancing revolution” that has helped some Americans without a college education create greater value using Palantir’s products than users with degrees in higher education. Karp says Palantir’s value to the working class American is twofold, though, and that investors in the tech company also come out ahead.
“It was the American worker that we supported and the American worker that we helped make rich,” Karp said on Monday’s earnings call.
Karp had a different outlook on the reported earnings.
“Get some popcorn,” Karp told investors on the call. “They’re crying,” he said of those that haven’t invested in the company.
