Meloni Asks Defense Heavyweights for Plans to Spend EU Cash
The demands came at a meeting between Meloni and the chief executives of Leonardo SpA, Fincantieri SpA, state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA and railway operator Gruppo FS on Tuesday morning in Palazzo Chigi, the seat of executive power in Rome, according to officials familiar with the discussions. Key government members including Italy's defense, foreign and finance ministers also attended the talks.
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How Palantir—a company too small to make the Fortune 500—became one of the world's 25 most valuable companies
Alex Karp, the frizzy-haired CEO of defense software company Palantir, has become somewhat of a pro at deflecting criticism. As he sat for an interview in April at the tech policy-focused Hill and Valley Forum in Washington D.C. and a heckler started shouting at him from the balcony, Karp retorted rather calmly, telling the audience he believed it was her right to express her views. But this week—after Palantir reported blockbuster earnings on Monday—Karp took a moment to bask in his company's meteoric rise and take a jab at his critics. Palantir, based in Denver, surpassed $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time this week, posting growth figures that blew past analyst estimates. Palantir's stock soared to more than $160 a share, marking a 555% increase from this time last year. By market close on Tuesday, Palantir's market cap had hit nearly $409 billion, making it the 23rd most valuable company in the world, just behind Johnson & Johnson, a company with more than 23 times Palantir's revenue and more than 35x the number of employees. As he started speaking on Monday's earnings call, Karp, who has a PhD in neoclassical social theory, was absolutely delighted—and true to form, a bit snarky, too. 'Well, as usual, I've been cautioned to be a little modest about our bombastic numbers, but honestly, there's no authentic way to be anything but have enormous pride and gratefulness about these extraordinary numbers,' Karp said. As he wrapped up the call, he gave a quippy message to retail investors about the analysts that have 'been wrong about every quarter.' 'Maybe stop talking to all the haters—they're suffering,' he said. Palantir, a software company co-founded by Peter Thiel, has many 'haters,' as Karp puts it. As a tech company that got its start selling to the U.S. military during the War on Terror, Palantir has been fully embedded in some of the most polarizing political debates of modern geopolitics. Particularly now, Palantir has stirred criticism over its software being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the Israeli military. On the financial side, there's a different kind of critic: those who question how such a relatively small company—one whose revenue and profits are so small in comparison to peers that it doesn't even qualify for the Fortune 500 list—could reasonably become one of the most valuable companies in the world. For Palantir, it has been a slow, albeit volatile, climb to where it is now—marked by contentious legal battles, noisy protests and picket lines, and an eccentric leadership team and employee base who sometimes endearingly refer to one another as 'hobbits,' in credit to the company's Lord of the Rings nomenclature (Palantir is in reference to the seeing stones created by Elves that allow people to see far away or communicate with others). And, more recently, in the last two years, Palantir has ridden the generative AI wave. 'They've got their feet under them—they've got their sales cycle down a little bit more. They're just making things really, really sticky for large multinational corporations,' says Evan Loomis, a venture capitalist who is close friends with Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale and whose construction technology startup, ICON, uses Palantir's software platform Foundry. While the company is currently one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500, Palantir's stock has also been known to be incredibly volatile, and sometimes dramatically influenced by retail investor activity. Palantir is undoubtedly having a moment—but will it last? 'Two times more expensive' There are a host of near-term data points analysts look at: sales, cash flow, profit, customer retention. If you look at most of these near-term fundamentals, Palantir is trading at a premium. 'They are trading at least two times more expensive on the traditional metrics,' says Mariana Pérez Mora, an equity analyst at Bank of America Securities, who has been following the company since 2022. But, as we speak, Pérez Mora reminds me about another important, longer-term metric for SaaS companies that Karp has repeatedly reminded onlookers to pay close attention to. That metric is called the 'Rule of Forty.' The Rule of Forty figure is calculated by adding the year-over-year revenue growth rate and adjusted operating margin. If those percentages are collectively higher than 40%, you have sustainable growth. If you look at Palantir's last quarter, Pérez Mora points out, the rule of 40 was 94%. 'That is the type of growth they are having. And the reality is that growth is accelerating, and that accelerating growth is not at the expense of profitability. And that is pretty unique,' she says, adding: 'Palantir is trading as the company that they are growing into, and this is why it's more expensive.' There are a few key contributors to these numbers. For one, new government contracts. Palantir has been working with the government since the beginning—its first customer being the CIA—and government contracts still make up a majority of its business. At the end of July, Palantir signed a 10-year contract worth up to $10 billion with the U.S. Army. It was one of the largest software contracts the Department of Defense has ever signed and, by far, Palantir's largest contract to-date. And, ironically, it is the same customer Palantir sued (successfully) almost 10 years ago, accusing the department of unlawfully excluding companies like Palantir from its procurement process. There could be more contracts of this scale on the table, too. The Fostering Reform and Government Efficiency Act, or FoRGED Act, currently on the table would reshape the Department of Defense's procurement process for private contracts, eliminating hundreds of statutes and making it easier for tech companies like Palantir to sell to the government. The legislation, which Palantir has publicly endorsed and which its executives have pushed for in public hearings, would likely cut into the advantage that some of the industry incumbents like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Northrop Grumman have gained over the years. The Department of Defense has been making trims to its budget since Trump named Pete Hegseth to the top role. But Palantir is seemingly benefitting from that, too. Only a couple months after the Department of Defense said it had cut more than $5.1 billion in contracts to consulting agencies, including Accenture and Deloitte, both companies announced new strategic partnerships with Palantir to collectively deliver solutions to government clients. But the lion share of growth at Palantir over the last year is coming from a newer segment of customers—the commercial side of the business. Revenue for the commercial side rose 93% year-over-year this past quarter. And nearly all of those contracts stem from the generative artificial intelligence platform it released in 2023, called 'AIP' (which stands for the ever-original 'artificial intelligence platform'). Perez Mora says that while a lot of companies are building and offering large language models, Palantir has found a way to help companies make use of them—and drive real results for their businesses. On this last earnings call, Karp said that Citibank was onboarding its customers and running the relevant know-your-customer and security checks in seconds, down from nine days. He said that residential mortgage enterprise Fannie Mae is uncovering mortgage fraud in seconds, versus two months. And he said that Lear Corporation is using Palantir's platform to manage tariff exposure. Investors seem to have taken note, as there is a direct correlation between the launch of AIP in 2023 and the steady upward trajectory Palantir's stock has experienced since. But generative AI is still new—and many companies and industries haven't fully explored or realized just what jobs AI will be able to replace or make more efficient. Palantir itself doesn't seem to have it sorted out either. CEO Karp said in an interview on CNBC this week that he thinks Palantir could keep growing revenue while reducing headcount by 500 jobs to about 3,600 people. But if you look at Palantir's headcount, it has been doing the opposite: adding about 200 people between 2023 and 2024, not cutting roles. For all that companies like Alphabet or Salesforce are boasting of the efficiencies they are adding within their ranks by using AI, those same companies have seen their workforces grow. One of Silicon Valley's most controversial companies Palantir's valuation may be climbing to new heights, but the company is as controversial as ever. They've been the target of sit-ins, picketings, and other protests that have pulled in hundreds of people in New York City, Palo Alto, Denver, Seattle, and Los Angeles, condemning Palantir's contract with the ICE (Palantir has been running a six-month pilot contract 'centered on enforcement prioritization and immigration lifecycle management,' the company says.) Palantir has a partnership with the Israeli Defense Forces for 'war-related missions,' which has also come under fire. A report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in June that singled out companies aiding Israel in the war in Gaza, including Lockheed Martin, said there was 'reasonable grounds to believe' Palantir was providing automatic predictive policing technology and core defense infrastructure to Israel. A Palantir spokeswoman said the company 'does not provide the technology for Israel to conduct missile strikes or targeting operations in Gaza and has no involvement in the Lavendar or Gospel systems. These targeting capabilities are entirely independent of and predate our partnership with Israel's Ministry of Defense.' Karp addressed some of the criticism Palantir has received over the years on the last earnings call. 'Palantir gets attacked just because we help make this country even better, because we support the values, because we defend it,' he said. Earlier this year, Karp and Palantir's head of corporate affairs, Nicholas Zamiska, published The Technological Republic, which criticizes Silicon Valley for spending its time on consumer apps and dodging working with the government and playing a role in defending freedoms and democracy. But there has also been some notable pushback even from former employees in the last couple years. In May, more than a dozen former Palantir employees signed an open letter to the tech community, alleging that Palantir had violated principles core to the company due to its work with the Trump Administration. 'Palantir prides itself on [a] culture of fierce internal dialogue and even disagreement on difficult issues related to our work,' a Palantir spokeswoman said. 'The small number of former Palantir employees—13 of 4,000—raising concerns are certainly entitled to express their views.' Despite heightened criticism on the public stage, Silicon Valley has come to not only accept, but embrace defense tech since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. It's one of the hottest sectors around right now, with companies like drone startup Anduril garnering a $30.5 billion valuation in the private markets. Indeed, tech companies used to shy away from defense contracts. But under the Trump Administration, there's been a tidal shift. Meta teamed up with Anduril to start working on helmet and headset projects for the U.S. military. Numerous LLM companies, including OpenAI, xAI, and Anthropic, started working with the Department of Defense on national security. Even Google, which famously stopped working with the government in 2018 after internal upheaval from its employees, has gotten into the military business. In some ways, Palantir—and SpaceX, too—have been a catalyst for the shift. Palantir had initially been rejected from top Silicon Valley venture capital firms when the founders tried to raise initial capital, as Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins both famously passed on the investment. Cofounder Thiel ended up putting in much of his own money and raising capital from former officials from President George W. Bush's administration as well as the CIA's venture capital firm In-Q-Tel. Now, with Thiel protegee J.D. Vance as Vice President of the United States, and a defense-tech-friendly White House in charge, the company has access to the inner circle at the highest levels of power. And Karp, who pens a 'letter to shareholders' that's published on Palantir's site in English, German, and French each quarter alongside the financial results, has a lot of thoughts to share. 'The United States is not, and should not be permitted to become, a soft compromise and amalgam of global values and tastes,' Karp wrote in his most recent letter, referencing a 1943 work by C.S. Lewis which describes 'men without chests.' 'Such men without chests,' Karp says, 'promise to shepherd us forward yet lack much substance and content, even a flicker of an animating worldview or belief structure, other than their own self-preservation and advancement.' For now, at least, Karp's worldview and Palantir's business seem to be defying the critics, the haters, and the chestless. This story was originally featured on
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Redwire (NYSE:RDW) Misses Q2 Revenue Estimates, Stock Drops 26.6%
Aerospace and defense company Redwire (NYSE:RDW) fell short of the market's revenue expectations in Q2 CY2025, with sales falling 20.9% year on year to $61.76 million. On the other hand, the company's full-year revenue guidance of $500 million at the midpoint came in 16.5% above analysts' estimates. Its GAAP loss of $1.41 per share was significantly below analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Redwire? Find out in our full research report. Redwire (RDW) Q2 CY2025 Highlights: Revenue: $61.76 million vs analyst estimates of $80.48 million (20.9% year-on-year decline, 23.3% miss) EPS (GAAP): -$1.41 vs analyst estimates of -$0.17 (significant miss due to non-recurring expenses detailed below) Adjusted EBITDA: -$27.39 million vs analyst estimates of -$731,000 (-44.4% margin, significant miss) The company dropped its revenue guidance for the full year to $500 million at the midpoint from $570 million, a 12.3% decrease Operating Margin: -149%, down from -8.8% in the same quarter last year due to non-recurring expenses ($29.6 million related to equity-based compensation primarily from the Edge Autonomy acquisition, $16.6 million in transaction expenses, $25.2 million in net, unfavorable EAC impacts, and $20.0 million in interest expense from the repayment of a seller note associated with the Edge Autonomy transaction) Free Cash Flow was -$90.63 million compared to -$10.42 million in the same quarter last year Backlog: $329.5 million at quarter end Market Capitalization: $1.95 billion 'During the second quarter, we completed our acquisition of Edge Autonomy, establishing Redwire as an integrated global space and defense tech company specializing in multi-domain solutions,' stated Peter Cannito, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Redwire. Company Overview Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Redwire (NYSE:RDW) is a provider of systems and components used in space infrastructure. Revenue Growth A company's long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Luckily, Redwire's sales grew at an incredible 88.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. Its growth beat the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers. We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Redwire's annualized revenue growth of 11.9% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand. This quarter, Redwire missed Wall Street's estimates and reported a rather uninspiring 20.9% year-on-year revenue decline, generating $61.76 million of revenue. Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 130% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is eye-popping and suggests its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance. Software is eating the world and there is virtually no industry left that has been untouched by it. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming. Click here to access a free report on our 3 favorite stocks to play this generational megatrend. Operating Margin Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses – everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It's also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes. Redwire's high expenses have contributed to an average operating margin of negative 24.3% over the last five years. Unprofitable industrials companies require extra attention because they could get caught swimming naked when the tide goes out. It's hard to trust that the business can endure a full cycle. Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Redwire's operating margin decreased by 34.8 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company's expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability. Redwire's performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn't pass them onto its customers. Redwire's operating margin was negative 149% this quarter largely due to a number of non-recurring expenses. Earnings Per Share Revenue trends explain a company's historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions. Redwire's earnings losses deepened over the last four years as its EPS dropped 37% annually. We tend to steer our readers away from companies with falling EPS, where diminishing earnings could imply changing secular trends and preferences. If the tide turns unexpectedly, Redwire's low margin of safety could leave its stock price susceptible to large downswings. Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business. For Redwire, its two-year annual EPS declines of 86.9% show it's continued to underperform. These results were bad no matter how you slice the data. In Q2, Redwire reported EPS at negative $1.41, down from negative $0.42 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts' estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street is optimistic. Analysts forecast Redwire's full-year EPS of negative $3.25 will reach break even. Key Takeaways from Redwire's Q2 Results Revenue and EBITDA missed significantly. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock traded down 26.9% to $10.01 immediately following the results. Redwire's earnings report left more to be desired. Let's look forward to see if this quarter has created an opportunity to buy the stock. When making that decision, it's important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it's free. 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Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) Beats Q2 Sales Targets
Aerospace and defense company Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) reported Q2 CY2025 results exceeding the market's revenue expectations , with sales up 11.7% year on year to $876.6 million. The company expects the full year's revenue to be around $3.41 billion, close to analysts' estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.23 per share was 3.3% above analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Curtiss-Wright? Find out in our full research report. Curtiss-Wright (CW) Q2 CY2025 Highlights: Revenue: $876.6 million vs analyst estimates of $851 million (11.7% year-on-year growth, 3% beat) Adjusted EPS: $3.23 vs analyst estimates of $3.13 (3.3% beat) The company slightly lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $3.41 billion at the midpoint from $3.39 billion Adjusted EPS guidance for the full year is $12.85 at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting Operating Margin: 17.8%, up from 16.4% in the same quarter last year Free Cash Flow Margin: 13.3%, similar to the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $19.2 billion "Curtiss-Wright delivered a strong second quarter, highlighted by double-digit revenue growth in both our total A&D and Commercial markets, significant operating margin expansion, greater than 20% growth in Adjusted diluted EPS, and better-than-expected free cash flow generation," said Lynn M. Bamford, Chair and CEO of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Company Overview Formed from a merger of 12 companies, Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) provides a range of products and services to the aerospace, industrial, electronic, and maritime industries. Revenue Growth Reviewing a company's long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Regrettably, Curtiss-Wright's sales grew at a mediocre 6.4% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This wasn't a great result compared to the rest of the industrials sector, but there are still things to like about Curtiss-Wright. We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Curtiss-Wright's annualized revenue growth of 10.2% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated. We can dig further into the company's revenue dynamics by analyzing its most important segments, Product and Services, which are 85.2% and 14.8% of revenue. Over the last two years, Curtiss-Wright's Product revenue (aerospace & defense technology) averaged 11.1% year-on-year growth while its Services revenue (testing, maintenance, consulting) averaged 6.6% growth. This quarter, Curtiss-Wright reported year-on-year revenue growth of 11.7%, and its $876.6 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street's estimates by 3%. Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.8% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection doesn't excite us and suggests its products and services will face some demand challenges. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health. Software is eating the world and there is virtually no industry left that has been untouched by it. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming. Click here to access a free report on our 3 favorite stocks to play this generational megatrend. Operating Margin Curtiss-Wright has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for an industrials business, boasting an average operating margin of 16.2%. Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Curtiss-Wright's operating margin rose by 3.8 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage. This quarter, Curtiss-Wright generated an operating margin profit margin of 17.8%, up 1.4 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient. Earnings Per Share Revenue trends explain a company's historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions. Curtiss-Wright's EPS grew at a remarkable 12.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 6.4% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded. Diving into Curtiss-Wright's quality of earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Curtiss-Wright's operating margin expanded by 3.8 percentage points over the last five years. On top of that, its share count shrank by 9.4%. These are positive signs for shareholders because improving profitability and share buybacks turbocharge EPS growth relative to revenue growth. Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business. For Curtiss-Wright, its two-year annual EPS growth of 19.1% was higher than its five-year trend. We love it when earnings growth accelerates, especially when it accelerates off an already high base. In Q2, Curtiss-Wright reported adjusted EPS at $3.23, up from $2.67 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts' estimates by 3.3%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Curtiss-Wright's full-year EPS of $12.29 to grow 7.4%. Key Takeaways from Curtiss-Wright's Q2 Results We enjoyed seeing Curtiss-Wright beat analysts' revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its full-year EPS guidance was in line with Wall Street's estimates. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock remained flat at $509.50 immediately after reporting. Curtiss-Wright may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? We think that the latest quarter is just one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it's free. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
