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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Prediction: 3 Magnificent Stocks That'll Be Worth More Than Palantir by 2028
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been Wall Street's most-followed trend since late 2022. In spite of its sustainable moat, Palantir Technologies is butting heads with historical headwinds that have a flawless track record of weighing down even the highest-flying companies. As Palantir stock comes back to Earth, three phenomenal businesses have the necessary catalysts to leapfrog it in the valuation department. 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies › Since late 2022, no investment trend has been hotter on Wall Street than the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). Allowing AI-empowered software and systems to make split-second decisions and grow more efficient at their tasks over time is a game-changing technology that offers utility in most industries around the globe. In Sizing the Prize, the analysts at PwC pegged AI's worldwide addressable market at a whopping $15.7 trillion come 2030. Even if this estimate is only remotely in the ballpark, it would lead to a long list of companies benefiting from the rise of AI. Semiconductor giant Nvidia is often viewed as the face of the AI revolution. It's become the largest public company as a result of insatiable enterprise demand for its Hopper (H100) and successor Blackwell graphics processing units. But an argument can be made that AI-driven data-mining specialist Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) is now Wall Street's favorite AI stock. Since the start of 2023, shares of Palantir have soared by 1,940% and it's become one of the most-influential tech companies, with a market cap of more than $300 billion. But this doesn't mean other influential businesses won't surpass its valuation in the years to come On one hand, Palantir does offer a sustainable moat. The company's Gotham and Foundry platforms aren't replicable at scale by any other companies, which means Palantir doesn't have to worry about having its clients stolen by other businesses. Further, Gotham is known for landing multiyear government contracts, and Foundry is an enterprise-based subscription model, which suggests the company's operating cash flow is highly predictable. However, Palantir is butting heads with historical headwinds that have a flawless track record of eventually weighing down even the most high-flying companies. For example, every next-big-thing trend for three decades, including the advent of the internet, has endured a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. Investors frequently overestimate the early innings utility and adoption of game-changing technologies, and artificial intelligence likely isn't an exception. While Palantir's multiyear government contracts and subscriptions would buoy near-term sales, negative investor sentiment would likely weigh on its stock. The other issue for Palantir is its valuation. Whereas megacap companies on the leading edge of next-big-thing trends have historically topped out at price-to-sales (P/S) ratios of 30 to 43 over the last three decades, Palantir's P/S ratio is pushing above 104, as of this writing on July 1. This isn't sustainable and suggests that Palantir's market cap will plunge in the coming years. As Palantir stock (presumably) comes back to Earth, three magnificent growth and/or value stocks will have the opportunity to leapfrog it by 2028. The first amazing business that's only growing stronger and has all the tools necessary to become a more valuable company than Palantir over the next three years is pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). What's odd about Pfizer stock recently hitting a 13-year low is that it's been punished for its own success. With combined sales of Pfizer's COVID-19 drugs plummeting from north of $56 billion in 2022 to $11 billion in 2024, recency bias has weighed down its shares. But if investors widen their lens and look at Pfizer's product portfolio since this decade began, it's a completely different story. When 2020 ended, Pfizer didn't have any sales from its COVID-19 franchise and full-year revenue came in at $41.9 billion. When 2024 came to a close, Pfizer had $11 billion in COVID-19 sales and $63.6 billion in product sales. That's 52% growth in net sales spanning just four years for a mature pharmaceutical company. Pfizer's oncology segment is a more specific reason its valuation can head higher. The $43 billion acquisition of cancer-drug developer Seagen in December 2023 vastly expands Pfizer's cancer-drug pipeline, as well as enhances its pricing power. Management has also previously pointed out that cost synergies from the combination will bolster the company's margins in the years following the deal. With the assumption that cancer screening tools continue to improve and access to medical care expands worldwide, Pfizer should have no trouble delivering for its patient shareholders over the next three years, if not well beyond. Despite Palantir being worth more than four times as much as fintech giant PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL), as of July 1, the latter offers a far more attractive risk-versus-reward profile over the coming three years. Even with competition in the digital payment space picking up, PayPal continues to be in the driver's seat for a technology that offers sustained double-digit growth potential. Developed and emerging markets shifting away from traditional cash payments to digital infrastructures affords PayPal and its peers a seemingly limitless ceiling. With few exceptions, PayPal's key performance indicators have been moving in the right direction since this decade began. Total payment volume (TPV) has surged from a reported $936 billion in 2020 to an annual run rate of $1.67 trillion, based on PayPal's first-quarter TPV. What's more, active customers are considerably more engaged, with the average number of payments over the trailing-12-month period climbing from 40.9 in 2020 to 59.4, as of the end of March 2025. This is a recipe for gross margin expansion. Innovation is another key puzzle piece for PayPal to eventually leapfrog Palantir in the valuation department. The potential to further monetize buy now, pay later solutions, as well as leverage AI to personalize its platforms for users, are just some of the ways innovation can reaccelerate PayPal's organic growth. The company's valuation also provides a launching point for its stock. Whereas Palantir is trading at a nosebleed P/S ratio of 104, PayPal has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just 13, along with a storied history of blowing past its own conservative expectations. The third magnificent stock that can surpass Palantir's market cap by 2028 is robotic-assisted surgical systems developer Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG). The beauty of healthcare stocks (this includes Pfizer) is that they're highly defensive. Regardless of what's happening with the U.S. economy and stock market, people still come down with ailments and require medical care. Steady demand for everything from prescription medicine to medical devices and surgical procedures ensures that companies like Intuitive Surgical can deliver predictable growth year after year. On a more company-specific basis, Intuitive Surgical holds the lion's share of the robotic-assisted surgical market. Including the 367 da Vinci systems placed during the first quarter, it's now installed 10,189 systems since this century began. No other surgical device company is remotely close to this figure. What's more, buyers and lessees of da Vinci systems have typically invested a lot of surgical training time and money into these systems. In short, purchasers tend to remain clients for a very long time. But the best thing about Intuitive Surgical is, arguably, its revenue breakdown. Throughout the 2000s, selling its high-priced but mediocre-margin da Vinci surgical system accounted for the bulk of its revenue. Nowadays, selling instruments and accessories with each procedure, along with servicing its systems, accounts for a majority of full-year revenue. These are considerably higher margin categories, which has led to earnings growth (often) outpacing sales growth. Intuitive Surgical should see its market cap climb as the general use case of the da Vinci surgical system is expanded over time. 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 $692,914!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $963,866!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,049% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 179% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025 Sean Williams has positions in PayPal and Pfizer. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, PayPal, and Pfizer. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short June 2025 $77.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Prediction: 3 Magnificent Stocks That'll Be Worth More Than Palantir by 2028 was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Prediction: 3 Magnificent Stocks That'll Be Worth More Than Palantir by 2028
Key Points Artificial intelligence (AI) has been Wall Street's most-followed trend since late 2022. In spite of its sustainable moat, Palantir Technologies is butting heads with historical headwinds that have a flawless track record of weighing down even the highest-flying companies. As Palantir stock comes back to Earth, three phenomenal businesses have the necessary catalysts to leapfrog it in the valuation department. Since late 2022, no investment trend has been hotter on Wall Street than the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). Allowing AI-empowered software and systems to make split-second decisions and grow more efficient at their tasks over time is a game-changing technology that offers utility in most industries around the globe. In Sizing the Prize, the analysts at PwC pegged AI's worldwide addressable market at a whopping $15.7 trillion come 2030. Even if this estimate is only remotely in the ballpark, it would lead to a long list of companies benefiting from the rise of AI. Semiconductor giant Nvidia is often viewed as the face of the AI revolution. It's become the largest public company as a result of insatiable enterprise demand for its Hopper (H100) and successor Blackwell graphics processing units. But an argument can be made that AI-driven data-mining specialist Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) is now Wall Street's favorite AI stock. Since the start of 2023, shares of Palantir have soared by 1,940% and it's become one of the most-influential tech companies, with a market cap of more than $300 billion. But this doesn't mean other influential businesses won't surpass its valuation in the years to come Palantir's ascent to the top of the AI pedestal may be short-lived On one hand, Palantir does offer a sustainable moat. The company's Gotham and Foundry platforms aren't replicable at scale by any other companies, which means Palantir doesn't have to worry about having its clients stolen by other businesses. Further, Gotham is known for landing multiyear government contracts, and Foundry is an enterprise-based subscription model, which suggests the company's operating cash flow is highly predictable. However, Palantir is butting heads with historical headwinds that have a flawless track record of eventually weighing down even the most high-flying companies. For example, every next-big-thing trend for three decades, including the advent of the internet, has endured a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. Investors frequently overestimate the early innings utility and adoption of game-changing technologies, and artificial intelligence likely isn't an exception. While Palantir's multiyear government contracts and subscriptions would buoy near-term sales, negative investor sentiment would likely weigh on its stock. The other issue for Palantir is its valuation. Whereas megacap companies on the leading edge of next-big-thing trends have historically topped out at price-to-sales (P/S) ratios of 30 to 43 over the last three decades, Palantir's P/S ratio is pushing above 104, as of this writing on July 1. This isn't sustainable and suggests that Palantir's market cap will plunge in the coming years. As Palantir stock (presumably) comes back to Earth, three magnificent growth and/or value stocks will have the opportunity to leapfrog it by 2028. Pfizer: current market cap of $142 billion The first amazing business that's only growing stronger and has all the tools necessary to become a more valuable company than Palantir over the next three years is pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). What's odd about Pfizer stock recently hitting a 13-year low is that it's been punished for its own success. With combined sales of Pfizer's COVID-19 drugs plummeting from north of $56 billion in 2022 to $11 billion in 2024, recency bias has weighed down its shares. But if investors widen their lens and look at Pfizer's product portfolio since this decade began, it's a completely different story. When 2020 ended, Pfizer didn't have any sales from its COVID-19 franchise and full-year revenue came in at $41.9 billion. When 2024 came to a close, Pfizer had $11 billion in COVID-19 sales and $63.6 billion in product sales. That's 52% growth in net sales spanning just four years for a mature pharmaceutical company. Pfizer's oncology segment is a more specific reason its valuation can head higher. The $43 billion acquisition of cancer-drug developer Seagen in December 2023 vastly expands Pfizer's cancer-drug pipeline, as well as enhances its pricing power. Management has also previously pointed out that cost synergies from the combination will bolster the company's margins in the years following the deal. With the assumption that cancer screening tools continue to improve and access to medical care expands worldwide, Pfizer should have no trouble delivering for its patient shareholders over the next three years, if not well beyond. PayPal Holdings: current market cap of $73 billion Despite Palantir being worth more than four times as much as fintech giant PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL), as of July 1, the latter offers a far more attractive risk-versus-reward profile over the coming three years. Even with competition in the digital payment space picking up, PayPal continues to be in the driver's seat for a technology that offers sustained double-digit growth potential. Developed and emerging markets shifting away from traditional cash payments to digital infrastructures affords PayPal and its peers a seemingly limitless ceiling. With few exceptions, PayPal's key performance indicators have been moving in the right direction since this decade began. Total payment volume (TPV) has surged from a reported $936 billion in 2020 to an annual run rate of $1.67 trillion, based on PayPal's first-quarter TPV. What's more, active customers are considerably more engaged, with the average number of payments over the trailing-12-month period climbing from 40.9 in 2020 to 59.4, as of the end of March 2025. This is a recipe for gross margin expansion. Innovation is another key puzzle piece for PayPal to eventually leapfrog Palantir in the valuation department. The potential to further monetize buy now, pay later solutions, as well as leverage AI to personalize its platforms for users, are just some of the ways innovation can reaccelerate PayPal's organic growth. The company's valuation also provides a launching point for its stock. Whereas Palantir is trading at a nosebleed P/S ratio of 104, PayPal has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just 13, along with a storied history of blowing past its own conservative expectations. Intuitive Surgical: current market cap of $193 billion The third magnificent stock that can surpass Palantir's market cap by 2028 is robotic-assisted surgical systems developer Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG). The beauty of healthcare stocks (this includes Pfizer) is that they're highly defensive. Regardless of what's happening with the U.S. economy and stock market, people still come down with ailments and require medical care. Steady demand for everything from prescription medicine to medical devices and surgical procedures ensures that companies like Intuitive Surgical can deliver predictable growth year after year. On a more company-specific basis, Intuitive Surgical holds the lion's share of the robotic-assisted surgical market. Including the 367 da Vinci systems placed during the first quarter, it's now installed 10,189 systems since this century began. No other surgical device company is remotely close to this figure. What's more, buyers and lessees of da Vinci systems have typically invested a lot of surgical training time and money into these systems. In short, purchasers tend to remain clients for a very long time. But the best thing about Intuitive Surgical is, arguably, its revenue breakdown. Throughout the 2000s, selling its high-priced but mediocre-margin da Vinci surgical system accounted for the bulk of its revenue. Nowadays, selling instruments and accessories with each procedure, along with servicing its systems, accounts for a majority of full-year revenue. These are considerably higher margin categories, which has led to earnings growth (often) outpacing sales growth. Intuitive Surgical should see its market cap climb as the general use case of the da Vinci surgical system is expanded over time. Should you invest $1,000 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 10 best stocks 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 $692,914!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $963,866!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,049% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to179%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 June 30, 2025 Sean Williams has positions in PayPal and Pfizer. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, PayPal, and Pfizer. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short June 2025 $77.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PwC's chief AI officer: AI is moving quickly. Here's how leaders can avoid getting left behind.
CEOs need an AI strategy now to avoid falling behind competitors, PwC's Dan Priest said. Generative AI is reshaping industries, challenging leaders to adapt and innovate quickly. Priest emphasized investing in AI tools, reskilling employees, and maintaining human oversight. Many corporate leaders are embracing artificial intelligence in theory but falling short when it comes to execution, according to Dan Priest, who was named PricewaterhouseCoopers' first chief AI officer a year ago. With generative AI radically reshaping how everything from accounting and human resources to sales and marketing gets done, CEOs' leadership skills are being put to the test. How they go about their AI strategy today, warned Priest, will likely mean the difference between achieving greater cost savings and faster growth in the next few years versus falling behind the curve. "It is a disruptive journey that needs to be managed," he told Business Insider. Consider, for example, a PwC survey of approximately 4,700 CEOs last year found that four out of 10 expect their business models to no longer be viable in the next decade if AI continues to develop at its current rate. Priest said this suggests companies will need to come up with new — and likely AI-powered ways — of generating revenue, which can be difficult. Given how fast generative AI has been evolving, Priest stressed the importance of CEOs investing in AI tools and strategic planning around them now, if they haven't already, to set their businesses up for success. But he conceded that the task is challenging. For one, leaders need to find ways to distinguish their companies from others using AI if they want to stand out from competitors, said Priest. Most use cases today are merely setting a new standard for table stakes. "If AI is ubiquitous and everybody's got it, it can't be your differentiator alone," he said. Leaders also need to figure out which job functions will be aided by AI and to what extent, and which ones will become obsolete, said Priest. Further, they should determine where new skills are needed, invest in helping employees develop them, and assess where talent may need to shift to other areas of the business. "If you believe that people are an important part of your success in the future, you should invest in their reskilling," he said. Workers aren't all using AI tools in the same way, added Priest. "Early-career-stage team members are more likely to turn over the thinking too much to AI," he said. "Late-stage-career team members are probably too reticent to use it consistently." One tip Priest has for anyone using AI to write memos or other text is to only rely on the technology for a second draft. People should produce a first and last version on their own, he said. "You want the thinking to be yours. That's why the first draft is so important," Priest said. "You want the benefit of the edit and you want the final draft to be in your voice." This is also an example of why he believes humans should be at the center of companies' AI-related initiatives. "The shiny new object is AI, but I don't know a single AI agent that is changing a business," he said. "It's the humans combined with those AI agents that change the business." Read the original article on Business Insider 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
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
ASIC loses big as Federal Court clears Wal King and Terracom directors of misleading market
A Federal Court judge has dealt the corporate regulator a major defeat, clearing one-time construction heavyweight Wal King and other former and current directors of coal company Terracom of allegations they misled investors. Handing down his decision on Friday, Justice Ian Jackman criticised parts of the civil case argued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as 'plainly untenable' and 'unworthy'. The ASIC lawsuit alleged Mr King, the listed Terracom's former chair, former director Craig Ransley, former chief financial officer Nathan Boom and current chief executive Danny McCarthy misled the market over a whistleblower's claim the listed company was rigging the quality of its coal to get better prices from its customers. However, in clearing the men, Justice Jackman said ASIC 'should have known' that most of the charges 'had no realistic chance of success, except perhaps in relation to some minor aspects'. The regulator claimed that the quartet misled investors by approving public and ASX statements in early 2020 that said the listed Terracom had been 'exonerated' of whistleblower Justin William's allegations that quality certificates on thermal coal produced by the Blair Athol mine in Queensland had been manipulated. ASIC also alleged the men failed to act with the requisite degree of care and diligence in the discharge of their duties as directors and officers of the company. It said on Friday it would review Justice Jackman's decision before deciding on an appeal. Mr King was one of Australia's highest-profile chief executives as head of Leighton Holdings, running the construction giant for 23 years before retiring in 2010. ASIC's case included the claim that he was obliged as a director to read a PwC report commissioned by Terracom's lawyers Ashurst that found quality 'inconsistencies' in 12 of 14 coal shipments tested. Terracom's testing partner, ALS, separately disclosed in February 2020 after Mr Williams' claims that it found some quality certificates had been changed 'without justification'. However, Justice Jackman rejected ASIC's arguments about Mr King, saying 'none of the other directors or executives ever suggested to Mr King that the PwC report required consideration or raised concerns'. 'On 27 February 2020, Mr King attended a meeting with TerraCom's auditors (EY), who then had a separate meeting with Ashurst for 1½ hours for the purpose of going through the PwC report, before returning and confirming that EY had no issue with the PwC report and would provide a clean half-yearly report the following day, which is what occurred,' Justice Jackman said. He also described as 'one of the more extraordinary features of ASIC's case' its contention that Mr McCarthy and Mr Boom should themselves have investigated Mr Williams' allegations, 'despite the fact that Mr McCarthy and Mr Boom were the subject of the allegations made by Mr Williams which were investigated by PwC'. 'They were plainly in a position of conflict, with a real and sensible personal interest in the investigation or inquiries,' he said. 'The position taken by ASIC is plainly untenable.' A separate ASIC whistleblower victimisation case against Terracom is still in court.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
PwC's chief AI officer: AI is moving quickly. Here's how leaders can avoid getting left behind.
Many corporate leaders are embracing artificial intelligence in theory but falling short when it comes to execution, according to Dan Priest, who was named PricewaterhouseCoopers' first chief AI officer a year ago. With generative AI radically reshaping how everything from accounting and human resources to sales and marketing gets done, CEOs' leadership skills are being put to the test. How they go about their AI strategy today, warned Priest, will likely mean the difference between achieving greater cost savings and faster growth in the next few years versus falling behind the curve. "It is a disruptive journey that needs to be managed," he told Business Insider. Consider, for example, a PwC survey of approximately 4,700 CEOs last year found that four out of 10 expect their business models to no longer be viable in the next decade if AI continues to develop at its current rate. Priest said this suggests companies will need to come up with new — and likely AI-powered ways — of generating revenue, which can be difficult. Given how fast generative AI has been evolving, Priest stressed the importance of CEOs investing in AI tools and strategic planning around them now, if they haven't already, to set their businesses up for success. But he conceded that the task is challenging. For one, leaders need to find ways to distinguish their companies from others using AI if they want to stand out from competitors, said Priest. Most use cases today are merely setting a new standard for table stakes. "If AI is ubiquitous and everybody's got it, it can't be your differentiator alone," he said. Leaders also need to figure out which job functions will be aided by AI and to what extent, and which ones will become obsolete, said Priest. Further, they should determine where new skills are needed, invest in helping employees develop them, and assess where talent may need to shift to other areas of the business. "If you believe that people are an important part of your success in the future, you should invest in their reskilling," he said. Workers aren't all using AI tools in the same way, added Priest. "Early-career-stage team members are more likely to turn over the thinking too much to AI," he said. "Late-stage-career team members are probably too reticent to use it consistently." One tip Priest has for anyone using AI to write memos or other text is to only rely on the technology for a second draft. People should produce a first and last version on their own, he said. "You want the thinking to be yours. That's why the first draft is so important," Priest said. "You want the benefit of the edit and you want the final draft to be in your voice." This is also an example of why he believes humans should be at the center of companies' AI-related initiatives. "The shiny new object is AI, but I don't know a single AI agent that is changing a business," he said. "It's the humans combined with those AI agents that change the business."
