The U.S. commercial curve ignited by AIP.

Palantir’s FY2025 revenue topped $4.48B (+56% YoY), with U.S. Commercial up +109%, decisively breaking past its historical government-only profile; adjusted operating margin reached 50% and Rule of 40 surpassed 106. This research draws on the FY2025 10-K, Q3 10-Q, and Q2 10-Q SEC filings, systematically organizing business mix, earnings quality, the three-class A/B/F voting structure, and the valuation premium. All figures are in USD thousands unless noted.

Quick numbers

§01 · Key Metrics — the year at a glance

2025 was the year Palantir completed its commercial-narrative pivot: the U.S. Commercial segment rose from $457M in FY23 to $702M in FY24 to $1.5B in FY25 (3.3× over two years, 81% CAGR), surpassing the largest historical government-account size for the first time. At the same time GAAP net income crossed $1B and adjusted operating margin hit 50%, forming a “high growth + high margin” double-high combination — and explaining the valuation premium the market is willing to pay.

— Compiled from 10-K / 10-Q disclosures, not independently re-audited.

§02 · Business — government × commercial, US × international

§03 · P&L — operating leverage fully engaged

Income statement (quarterly + FY)

SEC disclosure basis · USD thousands.

* Q4 2025 is derived from FY2025 minus 9M 2025 (Q3 10-Q) and is not separately disclosed. Q4 government/commercial and S&M/R&D/G&A are estimated by quarterly allocation.

Contribution Margin · by segment

As-reported segment basis · ex-SBC · ex-unallocated R&D / G&A.

Both segments’ contribution margins are now 66%; Commercial moved from 52% → 66% in two years, showing the high-value, scale-driven dynamic of AIP-driven commercial customers: Palantir hardly needs to expand its sales team to win new customers — the root reason Rule of 40 reached 106.

§04 · Balance — fortress balance sheet

Balance sheet · two-period comparison

12/31 2025 vs 12/31 2024 · USD thousands.

Three-class structure · A / B / F

Class A (1×) / Class B (10×) / Class F (variable → 49.999%).

Class F = founder-only super-vote: per the charter, as long as the founders’ (Karp / Cohen / Thiel) combined Class A + Class B + Class F holdings do not exceed 49.999999% of the vote, Class F is automatically granted “enough votes” to lock at 49.999%; even if their economic stake is diluted toward 0%, they retain near-half voting power — a rare “anti-dilution voting anchor” mechanism.

§05 · Cash Flow — cash-generating engine

Cash flow takeaways

1. OCF nearly doubles. FY2025 operating cash flow $2.13B, +85% YoY; FCF $2.10B (capex only $33.9M), FCF margin 46.9%.
2. Capex extremely low. FY2025 capex $33.9M, 0.8% of revenue — typical “asset-light · cloud-native” structure; also reflects that Palantir does not run its own data centers (uses AWS / Azure / GovCloud).
3. SBC ratio falling. FY25 SBC $684M vs FY24 $692M — flat in absolute terms but the ratio dropped from 24% of revenue (FY24) to 15.3%, normalizing toward mature SaaS levels.
4. Investing activities consumed $2.78B. Mainly used to buy marketable securities (purchases $7.7B, redemptions $5.03B); financing net outflow $26.9M, no buybacks, no dividends; period-end cash $1.42B (down $0.68B vs FY24 due to longer-duration security allocation).

§06 · Leadership — who’s running this

Named Executive Officers

The following are the named executives identified from the FY2025 10-K (filed 2026-02-17) signature pages and compensation tables. Palantir’s core C-suite has barely changed since its 2020 direct listing; the founder trio Karp / Cohen / Thiel locks 49.999% voting power via Class F — a rare case of full-stack founder control.

Executive change log

Q2 2025 – FY2025 · 10-Q / 10-K / 8-K disclosures.

1. 2025-Q2. No executive departures or new appointments; Palantir admitted to the S&P 500 in April.
2. 2025-Q3. No executive changes; RDV crossed $10B and was disclosed for the first time.
3. 2025-Q4. No executive changes; no Item 5.02 events on the 10-K.
4. Stability. Core C-suite has been unchanged since the 2020 direct listing; the founder team remains intact.

Board of Directors

8 signing directors · 2026-02 10-K signature page.

Three founders (Karp / Cohen / Thiel) all serve as directors; via the Founder Voting Agreement + Class F mechanism, their combined voting power is locked at 49.999% — even if their economic stake is diluted toward zero by equity comp, they can still block most shareholder proposals, similar in spirit to NYSE “controlled company” exemptions.

§07 · Risk — what could derail this

1. Government customer concentration. FY2025 government revenue $2.40B was 53.7% of total, of which U.S. government was ~$1.9B; the FY23 10-K once disclosed “top 20 customers = 50%+ of revenue.” Federal continuing-resolution standoffs, shutdowns, or administration changes that pause procurement directly affect quarter-on-quarter revenue recognition; the 10-K lists this as a top risk.
2. Contract cyclicality & termination clauses. RDV’s $11.2B nominal value is large, but much of it carries termination-for-convenience clauses; U.S. federal contracts are also barred from prepaid options exceeding 1 year. The realized revenue from RDV is paced by federal budget cycles. RDV → revenue conversion is not 1:1.
3. Controversial deployments & reputation risk. Palantir has long faced public controversy over deployments with ICE, IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, and DoD programs; any leak, accident, or media flare-up at a key deployment could trigger employee attrition, university/corporate boycotts, or ESG fund reductions (the 10-K lists this as a standalone risk).
4. China risk & geopolitics. The company explicitly does not sell to Chinese government / military customers, which is part of its product positioning; but (a) if U.S./EU regulations further restrict AI exports, Palantir’s international commercial contracts may also face limits; and (b) Western customers want to see a “tough-on-China” stance, requiring the company to maintain high political visibility, amplifying the fragility of a politicized narrative.
5. Founder control · Class F structure. The three founders lock 49.999% voting power via Class F + the Founder Voting Agreement, so shareholders cannot vote to change the board or push major transactions. Minority governance rights are heavily diluted; potential downgrade in S&P 500 governance scores could affect index-fund weighting. The Class F mechanism is also “unprecedented in design” under the SEC framework — a future challenge could trigger disclosure risks.

Bottom line · Double-high structure achieved; the valuation anchor is U.S. Commercial.

Palantir completed its FY2025 narrative pivot from “government contractor” to “AI-era enterprise operating system.” The valuation anchor for the next 1-2 years lands on:

• Whether U.S. Commercial can hold 80-100%+ growth
• Direct AIP ARR disclosure (investors are calling for it)
• Whether Adj operating margin can hold above 50%
• Government contract cycle disruptions to quarterly cadence
• Whether Class F faces legal challenge

“Rule of 40 at 106 · net cash $7B · zero interest-bearing debt” — these three pillars support the current valuation premium.

§08 · Valuation — valuation in context

PLTR current valuation

Data as of 2026-04-20 · close.

Peer benchmark

Enterprise Data & SaaS · TTM · latest.

PLTR’s valuation sits well above the rest of the data/SaaS cohort: P/S of 85× is 12× NOW’s (7×) and 4× SNOW’s (21×); P/E 231× is exceeded only by DDOG (small-base distortion), with NOW the only “normally priced” peer (P/E 58×, EV/EBITDA 34×). The premium is supported by three pillars: (1) Rule of 40 = 106 is roughly 2× NOW/DDOG (~50), none of the peers can replicate “56% growth + 50% adj margin”; (2) AIP as the GenAI-era “enterprise operating system” anchor — the market is pricing the next 5-year curve, not TTM; (3) institutionalized irreplaceability of government contracts (FedRAMP High, Impact Level 6, ICE/DoD ties). Downside risk: if U.S. Commercial growth steps down from +109% to +40-50%, Rule of 40 quickly retreats toward 80, and multiples compress 30-40% — even with healthy fundamentals.