What happened
Shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR -0.23%) fell 14% on Monday after the data analytics provider's earnings forecast fell short of investors' expectations.
So what
Palantir's revenue rose 26% year over year to $473 million in the second quarter. The gains were driven in part by 27% growth in the software company's sales to the U.S. government.
Palantir also continues to progress with its plan to diversify its business. Its commercial revenue jumped 46% to $210 million. Palantir's growth in the U.S. private sector was particularly strong, with U.S. commercial revenue up 120% and customers up 250%.
In a letter to shareholders, CEO Alexander Karp said:
The strength and momentum we are seeing with our customers in the United States is a reflection of the refinement and maturation of our software platforms, which we believe will continue leading to increasingly broad adoption across sectors.
Still, Palantir is not yet profitable. It generated an operating loss of $42 million. Palantir's investments also weighed heavily on its bottom line, resulting in a net loss of $179 million.
Excluding stock-based compensation and certain other items, Palantir posted an adjusted net loss of $21 million, or $0.01 per share. That was below Wall Street's estimates, which had called for adjusted per-share earnings of $0.03.
Now what
Investors were miffed by the unexpected loss. They also weren't thrilled by Palantir's guidance. Management projected full-year revenue of roughly $1.9 billion and adjusted operating income of $341 million to $343 million in 2022. Analysts had forecast adjusted income of $527.9 million, according to Bloomberg. Palantir had previously guided for an adjusted operating margin of 27% back in May.
