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By Arsheeya Bajwa
May 6 (Reuters) – Data analytics company Palantir Technologies raised its annual revenue and profit forecasts on Monday and beat first-quarter sales estimates, benefiting from strong demand for its services that help companies to deploy artificial intelligence applications.
The company has become one of the winners of the generative AI boom thanks to its artificial intelligence platform, which is used, among other uses, to test and debug code and help evaluate scenarios related to AI.
“AIP drives a large portion of our new customers and existing customer growth and has a huge impact on our business,” Ryan Taylor, chief revenue officer, told Reuters.
Taylor said companies were signing “seven-figure deals shortly” after completing his AI bootcamps, which give potential customers access to his platform for up to five days and have been credited with leading rapid customer additions.
Palantir said it held 660 boot camps in the first quarter and closed 87 deals worth $1 million or more across the company, as the number of customers increased 42%. He did not say how many customers were converted through the boot camp.
The company, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, raised the midpoint of its 2024 revenue forecast to $2.68 billion, up from $2.66 billion previously.
The company’s shares fell 6% in extended and volatile trading after closing up 8% on Monday. Its stock is up about 36% so far this year.
Palantir works closely with governments, providing, among other things, software to visualize army positions.
However, the company is working to diversify its revenue to reduce its reliance on government spending.
Its government revenues rose 16% in the quarter ended March 31, while its commercial revenues jumped 27% as the number of U.S. commercial customers in that segment increased 69%.
The company also raised its U.S. commercial revenue forecast for 2024 to more than $661 million, up from its initial expectations of around $640 million.
Palantir reported first-quarter revenue of $634.3 million and its largest quarterly profit according to a letter from the CEO. Four analysts surveyed by LSEG forecast revenue of $625.4 million.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bangalore; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
