Palantir beats Q1 and hikes 2026 revenue guidance 71%

Palantir just put up the kind of quarter that changes the argument around the company. Revenue grew 85% year over year to $1.633 billion in the first quarter, adjusted EPS came in at $0.33, and management lifted full-year 2026 revenue guidance to about $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion. That is not a small beat. It is Palantir’s fastest growth since becoming a public company, and it came from both sides of the business — government and commercial. (palantir.com) ### Why did this quarter hit so hard? Because the numbers were strong in almost every direction at once. U.S. revenue rose 104% year over year. Total commercial revenue rose 71% to $1.01 billion. U.S. commercial revenue jumped 139% to $373 million, while U.S. government revenue climbed 74% to $487 million. That is why the market cared — this was not one contract or one segment doing all the work. (palantir.com) ### What changed in the outlook? Management got much more aggressive. Palantir now expects 2026 revenue growth of 71%, up to roughly $7.66 billion, and it raised its U.S. commercial revenue growth outlook to 120% for the year. On the earnings call materials, the midpoint of full-year guidance moved up by about 10 percentage points from the prior forecast. Basically, the co(palantir.com)hype cycle — it accelerated. (businesswire.com) ### So what is actually selling? The short answer is operational AI. Palantir has spent the last two years pushing AIP — its Artificial Intelligence Platf(businesswire.com) (palantir.com) ### Why is U.S. commercial the big tell? Because that was the part skeptics kept watching. Palantir always had a strong government story — intelligence, defense, public-sector operations. The harder question was whether regular companies would buy enough software to make Palantir look like a broad AI platform, not a niche contractor. A 139% jump in U.S. commercial revenue (palantir.com)ing. (palantir.com) ### What about profits and cash? They were huge too. Palantir’s shareholder letter said the company generated $871 million in profit in the quarter, more than four times the level a year earlier, and highlighted a Rule of 40 score of 145%. That metric blends growth and profitability, and a number that high tells investors Palantir is not buying growth with reckless spending. (palantir.com) ### Is there still a catch? Yes — valuation. Even after the blowout quarter, Palantir remains one of the market’s most expensive software names, which means expectations stay brutal. When a stock is priced for near-perfection, “great” sometimes is not enough. The company now has to prove this growth rate is durable, not just a burst of AI spending concentrated in one geogr(palantir.com)w the whole game. (cnbc.com) ### What is the bottom line? This quarter makes Palantir look less like an AI trade riding buzz and more like a company converting that buzz into real revenue at unusual speed. The important shift is not just that Palantir beat. It is that the company raised guidance hard, with U.S. commercial demand doing exactly what bulls said it eventually would. (palantir.com)