Don't Be Seduced by Zero-Sum Thinking About the Economy
The zero-sum view manifests itself in both rhetoric and policy, with the left aiming to redistribute from the rich to the poor, and the right from foreigners to natives. This is a strange preoccupation, since today's world economy is not zero sum. It is not without its problems — there are pockets of scarcity and widespread uncertainty — but real wages and wealth are increasing, as is our standard of living.
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9 minutes ago
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Palantir Stock Is Up 478% in a Year. Here's Why There's Still More Room to Run.
Key Points Palantir Technologies now ranks in the top 25 of the most valuable companies in the world. Its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) is wildly popular for commercial and government clients. 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies › There are probably few investors out there who are more satisfied than those who bought Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock early in its run. The artificial intelligence (AI) company is blowing other stocks out of the water these days, with its stock up 478% in the last year and more than doubling in 2025. Palantir is now one of the world's top 25 most valuable companies, ahead of such blue chip names as Procter & Gamble and Bank of America. Palantir's run is fueled by the adaptation of its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) by government and commercial clients, fueling dramatic growth in both revenue and earnings. And with Palantir set to report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 4, there are plenty of reasons to believe that this run is far from over. How Palantir is making money Palantir already had two AI-powered platforms. Its Gotham platform is prized by governments and defense agencies to gather information from multiple sources, identify targets, and make real-time assessments to provide insights about battlefield situations. Palantir is recognized for helping the U.S. military track down 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in 2011. Then you have the Foundry platform used by Palantir's commercial clients. Foundry helps clients manage supply chains and inventory, automate workflows, and optimize operations. The AIP platform made both of these powerful tools better and easier to use because AIP allows users to make detailed queries, and then it generates responses using generative AI. And the results are evident in the massive gains the company is seeing: Since rolling out AIP in April 2023, Palantir's revenues have gone through the roof. Year Revenue Profit (Loss) Earnings per Share 2021 $1.54 billion ($520.3 million) ($0.27) 2022 $1.90 billion ($161.2 million) ($0.18) 2023 $2.22 billion $217.3 million $0.10 2024 $2.86 billion $467.9 million $0.21 2025 (projected) $3.90 billion Image source: Palantir Technologies. In the first quarter of 2025, the company reported revenue of $884 million, up 39% from a year ago. U.S. commercial revenue jumped 71% from a year ago to $255 million, and U.S. government revenue was up 45% from a year ago to $373 million. The stock is by far outperforming the biggest companies on the planet, as well as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. What can we expect from Palantir next? The second quarter is expected to be another blowout quarter. The company is continuing to reel in work, including contracts with the Navy to improve ship production and fleet readiness and a partnership with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) to develop AI solutions for federal agencies. On the commercial side, Palantir signed a deal with The Nuclear Company to develop and modernize nuclear power plants, as well as an agreement with The Joint Commission to use AI to manage accreditation and certification standards at hospitals and healthcare organizations. Palantir issued guidance for second-quarter revenue of $934 million to $938 million -- the midpoint of that would be a 38% increase from Q2 2024. Its full-year guidance is now in a range from $3.89 billion to $3.902 billion. The main argument for investing in Palantir today, of course, is the valuation. With a trailing price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 682 and a forward P/E of 269, Palantir is ungodly expensive. But that's not a deal-breaker for me. I keep remembering that Amazon had a P/E of more than 1,000 back in 2013 before people realized how important cloud computing and its Amazon Web Services platform would be. I think Palantir is like Amazon -- people are just starting to appreciate that Palantir is a transformative company that is changing the world and how businesses and governments operate. And when it reports earnings on Aug. 4, I think you're going to continue to see the stock soar. How to invest in Palantir I would never recommend that someone overinvest in a stock or put their entire nest egg into Palantir. But I do think it's a company that should be part of a portfolio. If you are worried about the inherent volatility that comes with a stock that's growing as quickly as Palantir (and has such a crazy valuation), I recommend using a dollar-cost averaging strategy to establish your position over time. Just be sure never to be overextended on any one stock -- even one as compelling as Palantir. Should you buy stock in Palantir Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $625,254!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,090,257!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,036% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025 Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Patrick Sanders has positions in Nvidia and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Accenture Plc, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Palantir Stock Is Up 478% in a Year. Here's Why There's Still More Room to Run. was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Equities, Yields Tumble Following Jobs Report Shock; Wall Street Posts Weekly Declines
US equities and Treasury yields declined Friday following a weaker-than-expected jobs report and the Sign in to access your portfolio
CNN
11 minutes ago
- CNN
Analysis: Trump's tariffs are as unpopular as ever, but the GOP's tolerance is growing
There has been something of a shift in the conventional wisdom about President Donald Trump's tariffs of late. On the one hand, economists and political analysts have warmed to the idea that Trump is more or less getting what he bargained for out of his threats of a global trade war. This has come as a number of foreign nations come to the table and, in a few cases, cut apparent deals. On the other, that's different from saying Trump's tactics will ultimately work. And the picture there certainly got more complicated this week, including with yet more judges suggesting they could rein in Trump's tariff authorities and the increasingly troubling economic numbers highlighted by another bad jobs report Friday. Many have been wondering when (and if) the economic pain many economists predicted would actually arrive, and signs are increasing that it might be upon us. In other words, we seem to be at an inflection point, particularly with Trump signaling Thursday that he'll finally press forward with global tariffs (probably!) next week. But how is all of this playing? Are people reevaluating their previous positions? It's too soon to gauge public opinion on Trump's latest moves this week. But the short answer is that we haven't seen many shifts of late in the already pretty dismal views of Trump's trade war at the macro level; if anything, views appear to have gotten slightly worse. But there have been some key shifts that suggest his base is more on-board than it used to be, which could allow Trump to press forward. Overall, foreign trade and tariffs remain some of the president's worst issues, and it continues to look like the policy that very few people (besides Trump) are asking for right now. Gallup polling shows Trump's approval on 'foreign trade' dropping from 42% in February to 36% in mid-July. Fox News polling around the same time showed Americans disapproved of Trump on tariffs by a 26-point margin, virtually the same as in April (25 points). And CBS News-YouGov polling shows people increasingly dislike that this is a priority for Trump. Its most recent data, from mid-July, show 61% say Trump is too focused on tariffs, similar to April but up from March. It also showed a new high in the percentage of people who say Trump isn't focused enough on lowering prices (70%). (This also ties into the tariffs, because tariffs are often inflationary.) The CBS data also show a slight drop in the percentage of Americans who think Trump's policies are making them better off financially (23% in March versus 18% today), and an increase in perceptions that his policies are making food prices increase (52% in March versus 62% today). Overall, Americans went from opposing the tariffs by 12 points in March to opposing them by 20 points today. So if there is a vibe shift on Trump's tariffs, it hasn't really shown up in the polls – at least yet. But as with most things Trump, overall views probably don't matter as much as how his base feels. The president has proven over and over again that he's happy to plow ahead as long as his supporters are on board. And those supporters might be growing in their tolerance for this gambit. The percentage of Republicans who say Trump is focused too much on tariffs in the CBS poll actually fell from 34% in April to 28% today. And polling from Quinnipiac University suggests Republicans are also less pessimistic about economic pain from the tariffs. Republicans were already much more patient with Trump's gambit. More than 8 in 10 said in that polling in both April and today that the tariffs were likely to help the economy over the long term. That's been consistent. But there has been a shift in Trump's favor in views of their short-term impact. While Republicans back in April were about evenly split on whether the tariffs would help or hurt in the short term, they now say by about a 2-to-1 margin that they'll help over the short term. While Republicans in April said 46-44% that the tariffs would help in the short term, they now say that 62-30%. Republicans also overwhelmingly express confidence in Trump's strategy on tariffs, saying it's working, 84-9%, in Quinnipiac's July polling. All of which suggests Trump's leash on this has lengthened with his base, which matters a great deal. It means GOP lawmakers who might feel compelled to try and check Trump on this gambit will probably be less likely to do so. But all of this is subject to change, particularly if the economic numbers look suspect like many economists predicted they will. How Republicans respond to that is when the rubber will really meet the road and the White House could face some really hard choices.
