Palantir CEO says business nearly doubled in 12 months; Q2 revenue up 93% YoY

Hillary Remy Fri, August 7, 2026 at 9:03 AM PDT 5 min read

• PLTR +10.32%

Software stocks have had a rough year. The fear driving them down is real: AI agents are becoming sophisticated enough to automate tasks that enterprise software once handled, prompting investors to cut valuations across the board.

The debate has persisted all year with no clear resolution.

On Aug. 3, one CEO stepped into that debate with 11 words. "Our entire business nearly doubled in the span of 12 months," Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp wrote in his investor letter, according to The Motley Fool.

Palantir (PLTR) just reported results that pose a pointed question: Is AI killing enterprise software, or is it making the strongest players untouchable?

What Palantir's Business Doubling Means for PLTR Stock

Karp did not stop at the investor letter. On the earnings call, he told investors to "forget consensus" and said, to his knowledge as CNBC reports, "no businesses at our scale has even grown half this much."

He called the quarter "otherworldly" and told analysts the current growth pace "looks like this is going to go on for at least another 18 months."

More Palantir:

• Palantir CEO admits AI would make him 20 times richer
• Microsoft CEO adds fuel to Palantir CEO's AI warning
• Palantir CEO has a blunt verdict on OpenAI and Anthropic

The market moved swiftly. Palantir shares jumped nearly 15% in after-hours trading on Aug. 3, rising from a regular-session close of $125.65 to around $144.45. The next day, Aug. 4, shares closed at $162.66, a gain of roughly 29.5% on the session, as TheStreet reported.

Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor called the results expected rather than surprising. "Our Q2 results are unprecedented but entirely unsurprising, as the abrupt market shift in LLMs that we've been warning you about for years is now here," Taylor said.

Palantir Q2 2026 Earnings Results and Record Numbers

The quarter was a clean beat across every major metric. Here is what Palantir reported:

Q2 2026 Key Financial Results

• Total revenue: $1.935 billion, up 93% year over year — the highest growth rate in company history
• U.S. commercial revenue: $764 million, up 149% year over year
• U.S. government revenue: $809 million, up 90% year over year
• GAAP net income: $1.06 billion, a 55% margin
• Adjusted EPS: $0.41, beating the $0.35 consensus estimate
• Adjusted free cash flow: $1.22 billion
• Rule of 40 score: 155%
• Deals closed over $1 million: 220, including 73 worth over $10 million
• U.S. commercial bookings: $2.13 billion, up 153% year over year

Palantir raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $8.15 billion to $8.158 billion, up from prior guidance of $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion. U.S. commercial revenue guidance rose to more than $3.424 billion, implying at least 134% growth.

Both represent the largest full-year guidance raise in the company's history. Management set Q3 2026 revenue guidance of $2.16 billion to $2.164 billion, ahead of the $2 billion analyst consensus.

U.S. commercial revenue has jumped 380% since 2024 on a compounding basis. — Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Why U.S. Government and Commercial Growth Reinforce Each Other

Palantir's results were strong across both segments, not carried by one side. U.S. commercial customer count grew 35% year over year to 653, a figure Karp called "anomalously strong."

Commercial customers are using Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform to fold AI capabilities into existing operations, driving demand across the board.