🚀 Palantir rises as revenues exceed expectations

Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. Palantir Technologies stock surged over 16% in premarket trading following a blowout second-quarter earnings report that delivered 93% overall revenue growth to $1.94 billion, comfortably surpassing LSEG expectations of $1.8 billion, driven by what CEO Alex Karp characterized as "otherworldly" demand for AI sovereignty tools. The performance was led by a massive 149% surge in commercial revenue to $764 million USD alongside a 90% rise in government revenue to $809 million USD, as enterprise clients increasingly turn to Palantir's platform to integrate artificial intelligence while keeping their proprietary data isolated from frontier language model providers. Boosted by strong deal momentum and expanding profit margins, Palantir raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $8.15 billion USD and $8.158 billion USD, reinforcing analyst views from firms like Citi that Palantir remains a prime enterprise software beneficiary in the ongoing shift toward sovereign AI deployments.

2. Pharmaceutical giant Merck beat second-quarter 2026 financial estimates and raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $66.3 billion and $67.3 billion USD, up from a previous range of $65.8 billion to $67 billion USD. The top-line strength was driven by $16.61 billion USD in quarterly sales, a 5% year-over-year increase, anchored by blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda ($8.37 billion USD, including $463 million USD from its new injectable version) alongside strong growth in newer products like Winrevair ($588 million USD) and pneumococcal vaccine Capvaxive ($184 million USD). Despite top-line momentum, Merck slashed its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to between $2.66 and $2.76 per share (down from $5.04 to $5.16) after absorbing a $5.7 billion USD ($2.31 per share) charge related to its acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals, as well as a $9 billion USD ($3.62 per share) charge from its acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics. The heavy acquisition spending reflects Merck's aggressive strategy to replenish its product pipeline and diversify revenue ahead of impending generic competition for Type 2 diabetes treatments Januvia and Janumet later this year and Keytruda's patent expiration in 2028.

3. President Donald Trump publicly criticized ExxonMobil and Chevron for posting windfall second-quarter profits driven by supply shortages and elevated crude oil prices stemming from the ongoing conflict with Iran. Speaking at the White House, Trump asserted that the oil giants are making "too much money" and stated that they should cut consumer prices and return part of their earnings to the public. The comments followed Friday earnings reports where Chevron posted $12 billion USD in quarterly net income (a nearly 400% year-over-year increase) and ExxonMobil reported $14.5 billion USD (more than doubling its previous year's result), bringing their combined second-quarter profits to $26.5 billion USD. Driven by Middle East supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. crude futures averaged around $92 USD per barrel in the second quarter, pushing national retail gasoline prices up nearly 40% to $4.10 USD per gallon. The public rebuke triggered a temporary drop in both companies' stock prices, landing alongside broader White House pressure—including a Justice Department directive to examine retail fuel pricing—as high energy costs pose a growing political risk ahead of the 2026 midterms.

   Headlines

   1. Numerous reports indicate that the US has used almost all of its long-range precision missiles in the last 6 months during its war in Iran.

   2. McDonald’s reported higher earnings but lower-than-expected revenue in Q2.