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By Chavi Mehta
May 8 (Portal) – Data analytics software maker Palantir Technologies on Monday beat first-quarter revenue expectations on major projects from existing commercial and government customers and expects to turn a profit in each quarter of fiscal 2023.
Shares of the company, known for its association with the US Central Intelligence Agency, rose 11.3% in after-the-bell trading.
The company launched a new generative artificial intelligence platform last month, powered by the same technology behind ChatGPT.
Interest in the new platform is “unlike anything we’ve seen,” CEO Alexander Karp said in a letter to shareholders, adding that the AI platform could aid military personnel in fighting enemies.
The first iteration of the platform will be rolled out to some customers this month.
Clients include “one of the largest insurance companies in the world,” as well as supply chain and security clients, Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor told Portal, who said in an interview in February that Palantir wants to integrate generative AI technologies into its software.
Still, Palantir doesn’t expect the platform to start growing sales right away. CFO David Glazer said the company is trying to attract more customers.
The company forecast second-quarter revenue of between $528 million and $532 million, down from estimates of $536.2 million per Refinitiv data. However, the sales forecast for the full year was broadly in line with estimates.
The company is continuing to rein in its cloud spending and is investing in focus areas like AI, Glazer said. In February, the company announced it would cut 2% of its workforce.
Revenue for the first quarter rose 18% to $525.2 million, beating analysts’ median estimate of $505.6 million.
The company remains upbeat about demand for its offerings in the United States, but has faced challenges internationally in “certain areas,” Taylor said, without elaborating. (Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)