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CNN
4 days ago
- Business
- CNN
The hottest stock on Wall Street is a cryptic company you've never heard of
After a blowout quarterly earnings report this week, Palantir has become one of the buzziest (and most expensive) stocks on Wall Street. Shares of Palantir — which we'll shorthand as a 'data analytics firm,' even though that's not even the half of it — have been on a tear. This week, the company reported its first $1 billion in quarterly revenue, beating expectations. That came just a few days after news broke that Palantir had secured a $10 billion contract from the US Army over the next decade. The stock, which several analysts say is wildly overvalued (with a market cap valuing it at around 100 times its annual revenue), has shot up nearly 600% from a year ago. With a $420 billion market valuation, Palantir is now worth more than The Walt Disney Co. and American Express combined. And yet, few outside of tech and finance have heard of it. Even fewer could tell you, without Googling, what the company actually does. (And honestly, a quick Google search doesn't come close to capturing the scope and fundamental weirdness of this 20-year-old defense-contractor-slash-commercial-artificial-intelligence-software peddler.) This is what Palantir is, and why you should care. Let's start with the name, which helps explain what the company does: 'Palantir' refers to the 'seeing stones' from 'The Lord of the Rings.' They were essentially crystal balls used for communication and intelligence-gathering. In the most generous sense, that is what Palantir's data analytics tools do: Allow users — mostly military and government agencies, but also private-sector companies — to better visualize large datasets. It promises to use its software to sift through reams of information and identify trends and patterns. In practice, that means it's enabling a lot of surveillance. By its own admission, Palantir keeps a tight lip about its clients and their activities. But we know a few things: Palantir's tech is helping the Trump administration as it tries to build a database that includes detailed portraits of Americans, gathered from multiple federal agencies, the New York Times reported in May. (Palantir disputed that reporting and said it does not 'unlawfully' surveil Americans.) That news built on a CNN report that such a database would be deployed to speed up immigration enforcement and deportations. The LAPD's use of Palantir's tech has come under scrutiny for allowing the force to engage in racial profiling and mass surveillance, according to civil rights groups. It has helped the Israel Defense Forces strike targets in Gaza. Palantir reportedly helped track down Osama bin Laden. And it reportedly helped US public health officials track the spread of Covid-19 by synthesizing data coming from local hospitals, state governments and other sources. The company was founded as a private government contractor with a mission to 'prevent the next 9/11, without sacrificing American civil liberties,' co-founder Joe Lonsdale wrote in 2020. Other co-founders include current CEO Alex Karp (more on him in a moment) and Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire, longtime Trump supporter and conservative activist known especially among elder Millennials as the guy who who made it a personal mission to destroy critical media outlets like Gawker. In its early days, Palantir struggled to secure outside investors until the CIA-backed venture firm In-Q-Tel stepped in, becoming the startup's biggest single client at the time and helping turn it into one of the most valuable private companies in America. Since going public five years ago, Palantir has leaned into its government work, particularly with the Army. 'The company has become so deeply embedded in the Defense Department that some current and former Pentagon officials said they worried about becoming overdependent on a single contractor for their data-processing needs, not unlike how the government has come to rely on Elon Musk's SpaceX for most of its space-launch needs,' according to The Wall Street Journal. And President Donald Trump himself appears to be a fan. Last month, Trump thanked Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, among other tech leaders, at an AI conference in DC. 'We buy a lot of things from Palantir,' Trump said. 'Are we paying our bills? I think so.' Since Trump took office in January, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal spending for work across the federal government, according to the Times. Palantir's shadowy vibes tend to be amplified by its CEO's quasi-messianic tendencies. 'Saving lives and on occasion taking lives is super interesting,' Karp told the Times last year. That echoed another comment from 2020, when he casually told Axios that Palantir's technology 'is used on occasion to kill people.' Karp is also known for his colorful language on earnings calls, fantasizing about spraying his critics with 'light fentanyl-laced urine,' in one instance. Investors don't seem to mind. 'Palantir is a mission-driven company, not for lip service's sake,' Gil Luria, the head of tech research at DA Davidson, told me. 'Dr. Karp — and he is quite vocal about this — believes that it's his goal to help protect Western civilization. And there are a lot of people that don't agree with that goal.' Some of those people include 13 of Palantir's former employees, who wrote a memo in May saying the company's founding principles have been 'violated.' Recalling the company's namesake, they wrote that the story of the seeing stones 'warned of great dangers when wielded by those without wisdom or a moral compass, as they could be used to distort truth and present selective visions of reality.' Palantir's leadership has 'abandoned its founding ideals,' including a commitment to transparency, free speech, privacy protections and ethical data practices, the letter said. 'By supporting Trump's administration, Elon Musk's DOGE initiative, and dangerous expansions of executive power, they have abandoned their responsibility.' Karp took a moment to dunk on his critics this week. 'This is a once in a generation, truly anomalous quarter,' he said. 'We're very proud. And we're sorry that our haters are disappointed.'
Arab Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Arab Times
Asian shares advance, tracking rally on Wall Street
BANGKOK, Aug 5, (AP): Asian shares advanced on Tuesday, following US stocks higher after they won back most of losses last week that were capped by a sell-off driven by weak US jobs data. Investors appeared to have recovered some confidence after worries over how President Donald Trump's tariffs may be punishing the economy sent a shudder through Wall Street last week. At the same time, a stunningly weak US jobs report Friday raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, potentially a plus for markets. This week's highlights will likely include earnings reports from The Walt Disney Co, McDonald's and Caterpillar, along with updates on US business activity. In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6% to 40,549.54, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.6% to 3,198.00. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 0.6% to 24,855.78. The Shanghai Composite index surged 1% to 3,617.60. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.2% to 8,770.40, while the SET in Thailand climbed 1.6%. India's Sensex was the sole outlier, losing 0.3% on concerns over trade tensions with the United States, with the Trump administration insisting on cutbacks in oil purchases from Russia. India has indicated that it will continue buying oil from Russia, saying its relationship with Moscow was 'steady and time-tested,' and that its stance on securing its energy needs is guided by the availability of oil in the markets and prevailing global circumstances. "Trump's threats of 'substantial' tariff hikes on account of imports of Russian crude pose a quagmire for India,' Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. "Between exacerbated U.S.-imposed geo-economic headwinds and financial/macro setbacks from Russian oil advantages lost, pain will be hard to avert.' On Monday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.5% to 6,329.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.3%, or 585.06 points, to 44,173.64. The Nasdaq composite leaped 2% to 21,053.58. Idexx Laboratories helped Wall Street recover from its worst day since May, soaring 27.5% after the seller of veterinary instruments and other health care products reported a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected. The pressure is on U.S. companies to deliver bigger profits after their stock prices shot to record after record recently. Reports from big U.S. companies have largely come in better than expected and could help steady a US stock market that may have been due for some turbulence.
Globe and Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Wall Street poised to open with gains after last week's jobs numbers triggered investor sell-off
Wall Street was on track to open with gains on Monday following Friday's sell-off that was triggered by fears of a slowing economy after the government released some grim data on U.S. job growth. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both rose 0.5% before the bell. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.7%. After a jam-packed calendar of economic indicators last week, there are far fewer newsworthy releases this week. However, earnings season is still in high gear, with big names companies such as The Walt Disney Co., McDonald's and Caterpillar all reporting in the coming days. Boeing shares were largely unchanged early Monday after workers who build fighter jets for the troubled aerospace giant went on strike overnight. About 3,200 workers at Boeing facilities in the Midwest voted to reject a modified four-year labor agreement with company, their union said. The vote followed members' rejection last week of an earlier proposal from the troubled aerospace giant which had included a 20% wage increase over four years. On Friday, investors' worries about a weakening U.S. economy deepened after the latest report on job growth in the U.S. showed employers added just 73,000 jobs in July. That's sharply lower than economists expected. The Labor Department also reported that revisions shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls. 'The labor market, once a pillar of resilience, is now looking more like a late-cycle casualty, as soft data begin to replace soft landings in market discourse,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. Trump's decision to order the immediate firing of the head of the government agency that produces the monthly jobs figures raised concern over whether there might be interference in future data. The surprisingly weak hiring numbers led investors to step up their expectations the Fed will cut interest rates in September for the first time since the fall of last year. A cut in rates would give the job market and overall economy a boost, but it could also risk fueling inflation, which is hovering stubbornly above the central bank's 2% target. Compounding investors' anxiety is Trump's tariff policy. Though some deals have been made, Trump announced late last week sweeping tariffs on imports from many U.S. trading partners, set to take effect on Thursday. Companies have been warning investors that unpredictable policies, with some tariffs already in effect while others change or get extended, make it difficult to plan ahead. Walmart, Procter & Gamble and many others also have warned about import taxes raising costs, eating into profits and raising prices for consumers. Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 added 0.8%, while the German DAX rose 1.2%. Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.3%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3%, bouncing back from bigger losses earlier in the day to finish at 40,290.70. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.9% to 24,733.45, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed nearly 0.7% to 3,583.31. In South Korea, the Kospi surged 0.9% to 3,147.75. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 8,663.70. In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed $1.20 to $66.13 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.12 to $68.55 per barrel. The U.S. dollar rose to 147.51 Japanese yen from 147.26 yen. The euro weakened to $1.1557 from $1.1598.
Straits Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
How a fuzzy blue alien from Lilo & Stitch became a Disney cash cow
Maia Kealoha and Stitch attend a premiere for the film Lilo & Stitch in Los Angeles, on May 17. PHOTO: REUTERS NEW YORK – Eight-year-old Elle Bauerlein of Wake Forest, North Carolina, is obsessed with Stitch. 'Honestly, I think about him all the time. Like, 10 hours every day.' Her American Girl doll – clad in a Stitch onesie, complete with alien-eared hood – is technically named Stacy, but Elle prefers to call her 'S' in tribute to Stitch. If she had to pick a favourite Disney princess, it would be Moana, but only because Moana spends time on beachy activities similar to Stitch. Her pillowcase is Stitch. Her backpack is Stitch. Her Crocs are Stitch. The third grader was born more than a decade after the 2002 Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch was released in theatres. And yet, for the past two years, the rambunctious title character has been a fixture in her life. She is not alone. In an act of belated cultural permeation, Stitch – the destructive but adorable alien experiment who crash-landed in Hawaii and befriended a young girl named Lilo – has become a crucial character in The Walt Disney Co's modern empire, mainly in the form of a dizzying array of licensed merchandise. At PetSmart, you can find a Stitch squeaker toy for your dog. The discount chain Five Below has Stitch neck pillows, portable power banks and slime. Stitch clothing and accessories line the shelves at Primark. Yoplait offers berry- and cherry-flavoured Stitch yogurt. Even Graceland has a tie-in collection of Stitch pompadoured plushies dressed in various Elvis Presley ensembles. If you are overwhelmed, do not worry. There is also a cottage industry of TikTokers who devote their entire accounts to showcasing the latest Stitch-centric items to their legions of followers . While Disney does not release official sales data, the company's annual financial reports for 2023 and 2024 included Lilo & Stitch on a short list of nine examples of its 'major' licensed properties, putting it on a par with classic titans such as Winnie The Pooh and Mickey And Friends, and conglomerates like Star Wars and the collective Disney princesses. With Disney's live-action Lilo & Stitch remake earning US$341.7 million (S$438 million) at the global box office since opening on May 22, a fresh round of products is set to supercharge Stitch mania for the now CGI-ed star. Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders) in Disney's live-action Lilo & Stitch. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY CO 'He is one of those special characters who is simply fun to bring to life through products,' Ms Tasia Filippatos, president of Disney Consumer Products, said in an e-mailed statement that also noted how Stitch's 'playfulness' and 'mischievous personality translates easily into a broad range' of items around the globe . The mass proliferation of Stitch merchandise was not an obvious evolution. Although the original animated film earned more than US$273 million at the global box office, it failed to generate the blockbuster numbers and cultural cachet of Disney predecessors like The Lion King (1994) and Beauty And The Beast (1991), or the more recent billion-dollar hits Frozen (2013 to present) and Zootopia (2016 to present). Until 2025, the on-screen Stitch franchise had been mostly dormant since a string of direct-to-video and TV releases in the 2000s. Yet, the Stitch character has only grown in popularity with wide swathes of consumers . He is nationless, raceless and ageless. And while he is canonically male, a Google search for 'Stitch' suggests a popular question is: 'Is Stitch a boy or a girl?' The Disney Stitch Puppetronic, an almost 46cm electronic puppet by Wow! Stuff that was named the 2025 Toy of the Year, echoes this idea in its official description, noting 'Stitch transcends age and gender'. 'You could have asked me three years ago, 'Who's going to be the customer for this?'' said Wow! Stuff chief executive Richard North in an interview. 'I would have said it was really clear: seven- to 12-year-olds. How wrong.' Instead, he added , consumers aged 13 and older, including Gen Z enthusiasts and middle-aged collectors, are responsible for at least 40 per cent of all Stitch Puppetronic sales. With younger customers, he said, the gender breakdown is evenly split, while older fans tend to skew more female. 'It's been the biggest, broadest, all-encompassing demographic for a toy, I think, that we've ever created,' he said. Chris Sanders, one of the directors and writers of the animated Lilo & Stitch, first doodled his idea for an orphaned monster in the 1980s while toying with an idea for a children's book . He resurrected the concept in the mid-1990s when Disney approached him for feature film ideas, transforming his initial drawing of a creature that resembled a tiger with a fang-toothed rodent head into the stocky star people know today. 'I just took some time and drew a character that I really wanted to see,' said Sanders, who also voices Stitch. 'There was never a discussion about his design.' Now, like Mickey Mouse, Stitch is an instantly recognisable brand ambassador. But, unlike Mickey, Stitch is a misfit and a menace. 'If a bunch of Disney characters like Mickey, Donald and Goofy had a Christmas party, they wouldn't invite Stitch. But if a bunch of villains had a party, they wouldn't invite him either,' Sanders said. 'When I was thinking about that, I realised Stitch exists in this zone between good and evil. He exists in the zone that we exist in.' 'Disney characters, for the most part, are all about being proper or royal,' said Mr Travis Hammock, also known as Ohana Trav, a 30-year-old content creator who highlights Stitch products on TikTok and Instagram. 'They have to fit into this mould. They have to live up to their parents' standards. But Stitch is just a rebel from birth.' Hundreds of Stitch products in a room at Mr Travis Hammock's home in Orlando. PHOTO: ZACK WITTMAN/NYTIMES Hammock converted a spare bedroom in his Winter Park, Florida, home to hold 'probably more than 1,000' pieces of Stitch merchandise he said he had acquired, either through his own purchases or collaborations with Stitch licensees like Funko and Hot Topic. He first noticed Disney prioritising Stitch merchandise in 2021, when it rolled out a 'Stitch Crashes Disney' limited-edition collection that reimagined the character in the colours and imagery of other classic Disney movies, like Peter Pan (1953) and Pinocchio (1940). It was a rare instance of the company's franchises intermingling on products. That was followed by a sprawling summer-themed Stitch collection in 2023 and another collection, in 2024, that featured Stitch eating theme-park snacks. 'They're not only making more merch, but they're doing annual or routine launches,' Hammock said. 'Mickey and Minnie and the OG characters, they're not even getting some of that attention. There are so many people that love Stitch, and it's so unique that it's clearly selling.' Mr Travis Hammock in a pile of Stitch products at his home in Orlando, Florida, on May 18. Hammock posts about Stitch merchandise on TikTok and Instagram. PHOTO: ZACK WITTMAN/NYTIMES Noticeably lacking in the mountains of merch? Lilo. The six-year-old protagonist of the franchise, and other human characters like her older sister Nani and Nani's love interest David , are rarely featured. A more prominently merchandised character is Angel, a female experiment introduced in the 2000s Lilo & Stitch TV series, who looks similar to Stitch but is pink. TikTok user Josi Cruz, who runs the @mainstreetorlando account, where she often highlights new Disney merchandise, said she believes children see themselves in the Lilo role, and tote their Stitch toys as if he were their pet. 'Lilo is very lonely. Girls bully her because she's 'weird'. But Stitch is always by her side,' she said. 'So, I feel like kids can identify with being Lilo themselves, and they just want to have Stitch in their lives.' Still, consumers can be fickle. In at least one North Carolina classroom, Stitch's days of reigning supreme are already dwindling. 'Last year, Stitch was the most popular with the other kids at school , that's for sure ,' said Elle, the eight-year-old fan. 'But this year, everybody likes Hello Kitty.' NYTIMES Lilo & Stitch is showing in Singapore cinemas. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
