Palantir Technologies Inc. logged its first quarterly profit in the fourth quarter, and the company expects to continue on that trajectory this year.
The data-software company reported on Monday afternoon that it saw fourth-quarter net income of $31 million, or 1 cent a share, compared to $156 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Palantir PLTR anticipates that it will be profitable on a GAAP basis in 2023.
In the latest shareholder letter from Karp, Karp said that our commitment to and relentless focus on the long term has required patience. Our profitability shows that we will deliver results at a rate that surpasses even the expectations of those who believed that we would prevail. Chief Financial Officer David Glazer told MarketWatch that Palantir's GAAP profit reflects the company's focus on expense management and also on bringing down stock-based compensation.
The combination of Palantir's GAAP profit and top-line growth leaves us very excited, he said.
The stock was up more than 15% in the after-hours trading Monday.
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Palantir's earnings per share was 4 cents on an adjusted basis, while analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting 3 cents.
Revenue went up 18% to $509 million from $433 million a year ago, while the FactSet consensus was for $503 million.
Glazer told MarketWatch that there are certain parts of that that create a lot of opportunity for the company as some of Palantir customers look to do more with less, as the company continues to see macroeconomic crosswinds. In the fourth quarter, Palantir said its commercial revenue grew 11%, while U.S. commercial revenue was up 12%. The government revenue increased 23%, while the U.S. government revenue rose 22%.
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Palantir expects to have between $503 million and $507 million in revenue in the first quarter, whereas analysts were expecting $503 million. Glazer said that the company's first-quarter outlook implies 20% year-over-year growth in revenue when excluding the impact from strategic investments.
Palantir expects to see $2.18 billion to $2.23 billion in revenue for the full year. The consensus of the FactSet was $2.28 billion.