Palantir Earnings: US Commercial Sales Overtake Government

Palantir earnings for the third quarter of 2026 beat Wall Street forecasts, with revenue up 96% year over year to $2.31 billion and US commercial sales overtaking US government sales for the first time in the company’s history. The data and AI software maker reported the results on Monday, November 2, and raised its full-year outlook again, though its shares dipped about 3% in extended trading, according to CNBC.

Adjusted earnings came in at 44 cents per share against the 41 cents analysts expected, per LSEG estimates cited by CNBC. Revenue also cleared the $2.18 billion consensus by a wide margin and passed $2 billion in a single quarter for the first time.

Palantir Earnings by the Numbers

According to Palantir’s official results release, these were the key figures for the quarter ended September 30:

• Total revenue: $2.313 billion, up 96% from $1.18 billion a year earlier and up 20% from the previous quarter.
• US commercial revenue: $984 million, up 148% year over year and 29% quarter over quarter.
• US government revenue: $953 million, up 96% year over year.
• Total US revenue: $1.937 billion, up 119%, or about 84% of the company’s sales.
• GAAP net income: $1.128 billion, up from about $476 million, a 49% margin.
• Adjusted operating margin: 62%, with adjusted free cash flow of $1.216 billion.
• Deals: 212 contracts worth at least $1 million, including 64 worth at least $10 million.

Palantir ended the quarter with $10.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and US Treasury securities. Its “Rule of 40” score, which adds revenue growth to adjusted operating margin, reached 158%.

Guidance Raised Again

For the fourth quarter, Palantir expects revenue of $2.649 billion to $2.653 billion. It now sees full-year 2026 revenue of $8.530 billion to $8.534 billion, or about 91% growth, and US commercial revenue of more than $3.559 billion, implying growth of at least 143%. Last quarter the company had guided US commercial revenue to about $3.42 billion.

CEO Alex Karp tied the jump to what he calls the “Sovereign AI” movement, in which companies and governments want to run AI on their own data and on open-weight models instead of handing that control to the big AI labs. “Our U.S. commercial revenue has surpassed our U.S. government revenue for the first time in our company’s history,” Karp said in the release. Speaking to CNBC, he added, “I don’t believe anyone’s had consistent results like this in the history of software AI, ever.”

What It Means for the AI Trade

The quarter shows enterprise AI spending reaching software vendors, not only chipmakers and cloud providers. That contrast matters this week, as companies such as Oracle are raising billions in new stock and debt to fund data centers, while Palantir posted a 53% adjusted free cash flow margin and spent only about $8 million on property and equipment in the quarter.

The muted after-hours reaction suggests much of the growth was already priced in. Investors are also weighing a crowded AI calendar, including Anthropic’s newly disclosed revenue ahead of its IPO and record AI spending by Big Tech.