Markets
markets
Matt Phillips
1/31/25

New high for Palantir shares

Palantir Technologies, the data mining, defense, and intelligence software firm cofounded by politically connected right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel — is on track for a new record high on Friday, suggesting either increased optimism around its earnings results due after the close of trading on Monday, or growing confidence that financial fundamentals are passé when it comes to companies close to the Trump administration. Perhaps both.

Palantir was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 last year, rising 340.5%, a gain that’s put a valuation on the shares — price-to-sales multiple of more than 50x and a price-to-forward earnings ratio of 180x — that makes no sense according to any traditional valuation model.

In this sense, the company is a bit like Tesla, a stock that is, according to traditional metrics, so insanely overvalued as to provoke a sort of crisis in confidence among Wall Street analysts who are increasingly willing to publicly confess that they can’t understand why the shares of this faltering car company continue to rise.

For what it’s worth, the good folks over at the Financial Times seem able to see and state clearly what’s going on, at least when it comes to Tesla. It’s the politics, stupid.

The election of Donald Trump — which Elon Musk spent the relative pittance of $250 million to make a reality — coincided with an explosive move higher for Tesla shares, which can reasonably be interpreted as the market pricing in a business windfall resulting from Elon Musk is a de facto member of the administration.

Thiel — the cofounder and largest individual shareholder in Palantir — also has unusually close links to Trumpworld, having once employed the Vice President JD Vance and helped bankroll his run for the US Senate. The trajectory of Palantir likewise angled sharply higher after the election. In fact, the stock has literally doubled since November 4, the day before the vote.

From an investment perspective, this could be pretty rational, especially since the US government is Palantir’s single largest customer. From an optics perspective, though, the specter of the stock market pricing in Trump-premium for politically connected companies feels a bit grimy.

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa
6h
S&P 500 goes nowhere, Nasdaq 100 hits another record, small-caps tumble

Warner Bros. Discovery led gains for the second day in a row, and only three S&P 500 sector ETFs finished in the green.

Horse Ranch In Zhangye
markets
Matt Phillips
6h

Rocket lab soars to new record close amid rally for retail faves

Rocket Lab ripped by roughly 10% Friday to close at a new all-time high, riding an upturn of retail enthusiasm for a coterie of tech-themed favorites, even as the broader market was more or less flat on the day.

Goldman Sachs’ basket of “retail favorites” — its heaviest weights are Reddit, AppLovin, and Tempus AI — was the second-biggest gainer among the company’s flagship US equity baskets on Friday, rising about 1.6%. The S&P was almost dead flat.

It’s not Rocket Lab’s first retail rodeo, as the money-losing company has more than doubled this year and is up nearly 700% over the last 12 months.

Oracle Wall Street Revisions

Analysts revise up anything and everything they thought about Oracle

After the company’s bombshell earnings this week, Wall Street thinks Oracle’s trajectory has changed.

Matt Phillips8h
markets
Nia Warfield
9h

Six Flags pops after reiterating its guidance as theme park attendance rebounds

Six Flags shares rose more than 7% today after the company reported a rebound in attendance and early season pass sales heading into the fall. The nine-week period ended August 31 saw 17.8 million guests, up about 2% from the same stretch last year, with stronger momentum in the final four weeks. 

More importantly, Six Flags reaffirmed its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $860 million to $910 million, showing confidence that its cost and operations strategy can stay strong for the duration of the year. Riding that wave, Six Flags also said early 2026 season pass unit sales are pacing ahead of last year, and average season pass prices are up about 3%.

The good vibes come despite a drop in in-park per-capita spending, especially from admissions, where promotions and changes to attendance mix (which parks or days guests visit) have weighed. Earlier this week, the amusement giant signed a new agreement that extended its position as the exclusive amusement park partner for Peanuts™ in North America through 2030.

Despite the rally, Six Flags shares are down about 52% year to date.

markets
Max Knoblauch
10h

Rivian turns red on the year, squeezed by a recall and the looming end of the EV tax credit

Shares of EV maker Rivian are down more than 5% on Friday following the company’s recall of 24,214 vehicles due to a software issue. The stock move erases Rivian’s year-to-date gain and turns the company negative on the year.

Rivian’s 2025 model year R1S and R1T are affected by the defect, which was identified after a vehicle’s hands-free highway assist software failed to identify another vehicle on the road, causing a low-speed collision. Rivian said it’s released an over-the-air update to fix the issue.

The recall marks Rivian’s fifth this year, affecting nearly 70,000 of its vehicles.

Rivian’s shares are down more than 20% from their 2025 high, which came prior to the passage of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Through the legislation, the $7,500 EV tax credit is set to expire at the end of the month.

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