If outspoken Palantir (PLTR) co-founder and CEO Alex Karp is uber-bullish about his secretive software program firm, he is not exhibiting it in his trades.
Karp has dumped $45 million value of inventory prior to now two weeks after unloading about $2 billion in 2024, new analysis from Jefferies analyst Brent Thill reveals. Karp has bought 21% of his total stake in Palantir.
The newest sale barrage comes after Karp not too long ago adopted a 10b5-1 buying and selling plan for the utmost sale of 9.975 million shares of Class A typical inventory. The buying and selling association will final till Sept. 12, 2025.
A plan of this sort permits insiders of public corporations to arrange a schedule to promote their shares over a time frame.
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Different Palantir insiders have additionally been aggressively promoting inventory, based on Yahoo Finance information.
The flurry of gross sales has despatched a damaging sign to the retail investor group that has lengthy propped up the momentum inventory.
Shares have crashed 30% from their 52-week closing excessive on Feb. 18.
As of 12:06:02 PM EST. Market Open.
“Among the many high retail-traded shares, Palantir may very well be probably the most susceptible to a lack of retail momentum. If I have been to choose a single identify that may very well be most susceptible to an unwind, PLTR could be it,” Vanda Analysis senior vice chairman Marco Iachini mentioned.
The Palantir sell-off additionally displays a number of components.
The Division of Protection is reportedly eyeing an 8% annual reduce in spending for the subsequent 5 years. This can be a potential blow to Palantir, which depends closely on authorities contracts. The inventory’s surge as much as its mid-February document highs had been pushed, partially, by expectations that the Trump administration would ramp up protection spending.
“As Palantir has heavy publicity to US authorities spending/budgets there have been current Avenue issues that this spending backdrop might be a headwind to this tech stalwarts’ development profile in 2025 and past,” mentioned Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives.
Palantir additional raised recent purple flags in its annual report.
The corporate’s headcount grew by simply 5% in 2024 after declining 3% in 2023. Over the previous two years, the corporate has added solely 98 staff, Jefferies’ Thill estimates.
Second, the corporate’s chief accounting officer, Heather Planishek, stepped down on Feb. 24. The corporate’s CFO, David Glazer, has assumed her duties on an interim foundation.
And third, Palantir continues to overly depend on its greatest clients for enterprise — its high three clients accounted for 17% of income in 2024.
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