Andrew Left Warns Palantir’s Valuation Makes Nvidia Look Cheap
The past two trading days have been unusual — maybe the long-anticipated market rotation has begun, or perhaps it’s just summer’s light-volume quirks paired with optimism over the Fed’s rate-cutting path.
Small-cap stocks and homebuilders have surged for two straight sessions, while high-flying momentum names have stalled. And few have flown higher than Palantir (PLTR -1.39%). The AI-driven analytics firm has skyrocketed 144% this year, leading the S&P 500 by a wide margin. But those gains have pushed its valuation into the stratosphere — 242x forward earnings and 137x sales, per FactSet.
Famed short-seller Andrew Left of Citron Research says that’s unsustainable.
“I like Alex Carp. He’s a strong leader, and Palantir has done amazing mission-control-level data analysis,” Left told Fox Business. “But even if we gave it the same multiples Nvidia had in 2023, the stock market could still fall by two-thirds — down to around 35x sales.”
Left argues you can’t sell big data expertise while asking investors to ignore the data. “No company with this kind of multiple or P/E has avoided a 50% correction,” he added.
One looming risk: the IPO of Databricks, a rival with similar revenue and more corporate customers, reportedly coming this year.
Left says he’s not calling the exact top — and he’s long on other names like Apple and Amazon — but he’s convinced Palantir’s current valuation is extreme.
Meanwhile, Left faces his own legal battles, with SEC and DOJ charges over alleged short-selling misconduct. A judge recently denied his motion to dismiss; trial begins in March.
