Trump's Halt on Ukraine Military Aid Puts U.S. Defense Contracts, Palantir at Risk
Since Russia's February 2022 invasion, the US has promised and paid at least $65 billion in military assistance for Ukraine. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative finances long-term weapon purchases from defense contractors, while the Presidential Drawdown Authority permits quick transfers from U.S. military stockpiles, therefore providing this aid. With about $20 billion already given, more than $31 billion has been promised using drawdown power. Ukraine still awaits a delivery of armored vehicles due in mid-2025.
From U.S. and partner defense companies, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative has invested around $33.2 billion for new armaments and military equipment. This longer-term assistance guarantees a supply of contemporary weapons as well as consistent manufacturer income. The stop in U.S. funding might throw off next investment choices and output targets.
Key source of combat information and data analytics for Ukraine, Palantir (PLTR, Financials) can find declining demand for its products if Ukraine tries to finance or acquire the technologies without American help. The stop in funding might affect the sources of income for Palantir connected to military contracts.
Among the weapons and tools supplied during the conflict include F-16 fighter planes, ATACM missiles, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, short-range air defense interceptors, air-to- ground bombs and artillery.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Global trade in photos as a new deadline approaches on Trump tariffs
While discussions with trading partners continue and a revamp of U.S. trade policy faces legal hurdles in federal court, U.S. President Donald Trump is approaching his deadline of Friday, Aug. 1, for implementing higher import tariffs on products from across the world. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Josh Hawley says he had 'good chat' with Trump after dustup over stock trading bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Josh Hawley is brushing off President Donald Trump's quip that he's a 'second-tier' senator after the Republican's proposal to ban stock trading by members of Congress — and the president and vice president — won bipartisan approval to advance in a committee vote. The Missouri Republican told Fox News late Wednesday that it's 'not the worst thing' he's ever been called and that he and the president 'had a good chat' clearing up confusion over the bill. The misunderstanding, Hawley said, was that Trump would have to sell his Mar-a-Lago private club and other assets. 'Not the case at all,' Hawley said on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.' It was the second time in many days that Trump laid into senators in his own party as the president tries, sometimes without success, to publicly pressure them to fall in line. Earlier, Trump tore into veteran GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa over an obscure Senate procedure regarding nominations. In a social media post, Trump called Hawley a 'second-tier Senator' who was playing into the hands of Democrats. Trump added: 'I don't think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the 'whims' of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!' Stock trading bans gain support Stock trading by members of Congress has long been an issue that both parties have tried to tackle, especially as some elected officials have become wealthy while in elected office. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, it was disclosed that lawmakers were trading as information about the health crisis before it became public. Insider trading laws don't always apply to the types of information lawmakers receive. Hawley's legislation with the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, sailed out of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, after his support delivered a bipartisan vote over the objections of the other Republicans, who have majority control. GOP senators had been working with the White House on the stock trade bill, and some supported a broad carve-out to exclude the president from the ban, but it failed, with Hawley joining Democrats to block it. Trump also complained that Hawley joined with Democrats to block another amendment that would have investigated the stock trades of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker emerita, and her spouse. Paul Pelosi has been a much-watched trader, but the California lawmaker's office said she personally does not own stock. Hawley said after his conversation with Trump that the president 'reiterated to me he wants to see a ban on stock trading by people like Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress, which is what we passed.' The senator also suggested the Democratic leader should be prosecuted, but it's not clear on what grounds. Pelosi supports Hawley's bill Pelosi has said repeatedly that she's not involved in her husband's work on investments, strongly supports the bill and looks forward to voting for it in the House. 'The American people deserve confidence that their elected leaders are serving the public interest — not their personal portfolios,' she said. In a joint statement, Hawley and Peters said the legislation, called the Honest Act, builds on an earlier bill and would ban members of Congress, the president, vice president and their spouses from holding, buying or selling stock. An earlier proposal from Hawley, named after Pelosi, had focused more narrowly on lawmakers. If the bill were to become law, it would immediately prohibit elected officials, including the president, from buying stocks and would ban them from selling stocks for 90 days after enactment. It also requires the elected officials to divest from all covered investments, but not until the beginning of their next term in office — shielding the term-limited president from that requirement. 'We have an opportunity here today to do something that the public has wanted to do for decades,' Hawley told the panel. 'And that is to ban members of Congress from profiting on information that frankly only members of Congress have on the buying and selling of stock.' During the committee hearing, tensions flared as Republicans sought other approaches. Republicans fail to exempt Trump from stock trading ban GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida proposed one amendment that would exempt the president, the vice president, their spouses and dependent children from the legislation, and the other one that would have required a report on the Pelosi family's trades. Both were defeated, with Hawley joining the Democrats. 'We are one step closer to getting this bill passed into law and finally barring bad actors from taking advantage of their positions for their own financial gain,' Peters said in a statement. One Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said the overall bill is 'legislative demagoguery.' 'We do have insider trading laws. We have financial disclosure. Trust me, we have financial disclosure,' Johnson said. 'So I don't see the necessity of this.' GOP's Grassley 'offended' by Trump's personal attack Trump's post criticizing Hawley comes after a similar blowback directed Tuesday night at Grassley. In that post, Trump pressured Grassley to do away with the Senate's longtime 'blue slip' custom that often forces bipartisan support on presidential nominations of federal judges. The practice requires both senators in a state to agree to push a nominee forward for a vote. Trump told Grassley to do away with the practice. 'Senator Grassley must step up,' Trump said, while claiming that he helped the senator, who was first elected in 1980, to win reelection. Grassley earlier Wednesday said he was 'offended' by what the president said. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Veteran analyst drops bold price target on Palantir stock ahead of earnings
Veteran analyst drops bold price target on Palantir stock ahead of earnings originally appeared on TheStreet. Palantir () stock's up an incredible 106% year to date, but that leaves investors wondering how much gas is left in the tank. Veteran Wall Street research firm Loop Capital just answered that question with a bold new target, and the logic goes beyond earnings beats. 💵💰💰💵 Loop Capital sees something brewing under the surface, leaning into control, momentum, and a long-term edge in AI that no one's talking about. If anything, the bar just got higher, and Palantir's AI hype train isn't likely to slow down anytime soon. Palantir's AI edge isn't the models, it's what makes them work Palantir isn't looking to go toe-to-toe with ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, or Grok on base models. Its strength lies in what comes after, where operational layers turn those models into robust, usable, high-stakes the heart of it all is AIP, Palantir's potent Artificial Intelligence Platform. Built into its powerful Foundry software and closely integrated Gotham and Apollo platforms, AIP essentially gives clients a 'control plane' for AI. That effectively gives them access to robust large language models (LLMs) and multimodal AI, bespoke agents, while constantly testing performance. This one-stop shop setup takes raw AI output into decision-grade actions. For enterprise and government clients, that's what transforms a base model from experimentation into a real-world deployment. Take the partnership with Microsoft, for instance. Palantir layers its comprehensive governance tools on top of Microsoft's cloud behemoth, even inside classified defense environments. That allows U.S. intelligence agencies to run sensitive AI workloads with full oversight efficiently. Then you have Palantir's forward-deployed engineers, who embed clients with customized AI workflows to accelerate adoption. Strategic alliances with Databricks and Accenture Federal Services help Palantir spread its tentacles even more, enabling real-time, autonomous decision-making in both commercial and federal settings. Moreover, with multi-hundred-million-dollar Department of Defense deals under its belt, Palantir's position as the 'AI control layer' is essentially mission-critical. Loop Capital lifts Palantir price target to $178 on AI strength Palantir Technologies just got a massive price target bump. Loop Capital's Mark Schappel raised his price target to $178 from $155, reaffirming a Buy rating. The move comes just days ahead of Palantir's Q2 earnings report on August 4, which Schappel expects will be another quarter of outperformance in both sales and guidance for the AI software Schappel is modeling more upside in line with Palantir's recent beats, roughly 4.3% above guidance. He also expects the business to raise forward-looking numbers in the process. However, with the stock's blistering rally, where it's up 106% this year and 26% since Q1 earnings, it adds to the tension. However, Schappel believes it not only can keep going, but also may just be getting started. A big part of that is Palantir's multifold AI edge. It sits quietly at the intersection of AI and enterprise software, with powerful commercial tailwinds and a deep federal bench. This includes ties to Trump-aligned policy shifts linked with defense and digital modernization. AI adoption is expanding across multiple sectors, and Palantir is moving quickly in converting pilot deals into powerful production contracts. On top of that, the company posted a 'Rule of 83' in Q1, a feat few companies in tech can match. To put things in perspective, the Rule of 83 is just its Rule of 40 score hitting 83%, which is essentially the sum of YOY revenue growth rate and adjusted operating margin (that sits well above the 40%). Veteran fund manager of TheStreet portfolio Chris Versace, though, has a different take on Palantir stock. He feels Palantir is bumping up against his price target, and recent trade developments and defense spending impacts have him revisiting his take. More News: Amazon's quiet pricing twist on tariffs stuns shoppers Nvidia avoids White House crackdown; Trump softens on AI giant Bank of America flags 3 breakout stocks to watch ahead of earnings He's already raised the panic point to $115 and set a pick-up at $137, which indicates that the stock is extended in an overbought market (considering it's trading at $158.61). Hence, it implies locking gains or waiting for a pullback before loading up more. Q2 earnings preview: Palantir must clear a high bar to keep rally alive Veteran investors are eyeing what could be a big step up heading into Palantir's Q2 print. The company had a standout Q1, where sales surged 39% YOY to $884 million, with U.S. revenue alone jumping 55% and U.S. commercial business growing 71%. That strength has led the management to bump its full-year revenue guidance to $3.89–$3.90 billion. Executives leaned hard into Palantir's powerful AI Platform and its durability amid scrutiny over U.S. defense spending. Consequently, Q2 expectations have climbed immensely. Mr. Market is now modeling $939.47 million in sales, a 38% YOY jump, alongside 56% EPS growth to 14 cents on a non-GAAP basis. For context, it posted a Q2 2024's beat of $678.13 million and 9 cents EPS. The implication is that Palantir must continue delivering superb results across commercial and federal pipelines, as it comes up against steep comps. Over the past 90 days, analysts have effectively revised earnings estimates 12 times higher and just three times lower, reflecting superb confidence. Those upgrades stem from stronger visibility into contract wins, scaling AI deployments, and healthy upside from federal defense analyst drops bold price target on Palantir stock ahead of earnings first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 31, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 31, 2025, where it first appeared. Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información