Palantir lowers revenue forecast on government contracts

Palantir Technologies Inc has lowered its annual revenue forecast due to the uncertainty surrounding the timing of large government contracts, the data analytics software company said on Monday.

Palantir's Chief Financial Officer David Glazer said that the size of these contracts, coupled with government procurement, is what makes it so unpredictable.

The third-quarter revenue was less than analysts' estimates, according to the company.

In 2003, Palantir was co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel to aid in U.S. counter-terrorism operations. Since then, the company has gone diversified to commercial business and now derives almost half of its sales from the private sector, despite investor concerns related to government contracts.

Commercial revenue increased 46 per cent in the second quarter, with more than doubling U.S. commercial revenue.

Glazer said that the company's international business, which makes up about 40 per cent of its sales, was hit by foreign exchange headwinds.

The company lost 1 cent per share on an adjusted basis in the quarter, which was due to Palantir's investments in SPACs, according to Glazer.

Revenue went up 26 per cent to $473 million in the quarter.

Palantir now expects total revenue for the full year between $1.900 billion and $1.902 billion as the base case, or a growth of 23 per cent, compared to the 30 per cent or more growth predicted by the company earlier. According to Refinitiv data, analysts had expected revenue of $1.96 billion.

The company forecast third-quarter revenue between $474 million and $475 million, compared to estimates of $506.9 million.