Palantir Stock Climbs 5% as Strong Q3 Results Draw Fresh Look, Tester Advisory Hire and NHS Lobbying Controversy Add to the Story

Palantir Technologies shares rose roughly 5% on Monday, November 9, as investors reassessed the company's third-quarter results after a sharp post-midterm selloff weighed on the broader technology sector. The quarter showed revenue of $2.31 billion, up 96% year over year, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion, while adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share topped the 41-cent forecast. Palantir raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to approximately $8.53 billion and guided for fourth-quarter revenue above $2.6 billion. U.S. commercial revenue was a standout, rising 148% from a year earlier to $984 million, surpassing U.S. government revenue in the period.

The company also announced the hiring of former Democratic Senator Jon Tester as a paid advisor, a move that drew immediate attention given that Democrats have vowed to scrutinize Palantir's role in Trump administration surveillance programs. Tester, who lost his Montana Senate seat in 2024, described the arrangement as advisory and explicitly not lobbying. The hire came alongside a separate disclosure that former Representative Mike Gallagher would lead Palantir's defense business, underscoring the company's strategy of building political credibility on both sides of the aisle rather than relying primarily on traditional lobbying.

In the United Kingdom, the Guardian reported that Palantir had used WhatsApp messages to pressure Health Minister Zubir Ahmed to extend its AI tools' reach to NHS GP records, adding to existing scrutiny of the firm's data practices. That story followed a Bloomberg report that Tom Watson, a former deputy Labour Party leader who joined Palantir in September, had lobbied Health Secretary Yvette Cooper weeks before the company secured an NHS contract extension. Separately, Palantir alumni announced a plan reported by the Financial Times to mobilize European defense organizations, describing the effort as an attempt to wake what they called the sleeping giants of European defence.

Polymarket put the probability of the Trump administration taking an equity stake in Palantir at 7%. PLTR ended the session up around 5% to 6%, closing near $170, as part of a broad market rebound in which the S&P 500 gained 2.5% and the Nasdaq rose 2.9%.