The technology giant Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) has been enjoying strong business success through 2024 and a significant stock market upside in recent months, prompting many investors to speculate $50 per share might be the next target.
As is common in the market, the major rally has led to a vast increase in the number and value of short positions taken against PLTR. To be precise, approximately 4.36% of the company’s stock is shorted as of October 11.
While the percentage is relatively modest, it becomes notable once the month-over-month change is considered.
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Specifically, while the Palantir short interest rose 24.1% between August and September, it rocketed 45.48% between September and October – from 67.1 million shares to 97.6 million.
Investors and experts increasingly doubt PLTR stock’s continued rally
The rise in investors opting for a short position against PLTR reflects expert attitudes toward the stock.
Already in late September, a notable number of analysts turned bearish, and Palantir became one of the artificial intelligence (AI) stocks with the highest proportion of ‘sell’ ratings. It is worth mentioning, however, that the overall spread of attitudes remains fairly even.
By October 6, analyst Jake Ruth gave voice to this anxiety when he opined in an X post that traders should be careful as, though PLTR stock may be valued fairly, growth cannot last forever.
Palantir’s performance through 2024 also indicates that a slowdown might be on the horizon. Since the start of the year, PLTR shares have undergone a sequence of rallies followed by slight pullbacks and accumulation phases of sideways trading.
Still, the keyword here is, arguably, slight, and indeed, there are no guarantees a protracted halt to the Palantir stock rally would eventually lead to a future rise to $50.
Palantir stock not without bullish estimates
In fact, as many PLTR bears as there are on the Street, Palantir boasts some notable bulls.
Mariana Perez Mora, a renowned Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) analyst, revised her price forecast to $50 early in September.
She also compared Palantir’s potential in 2024 to 20th-century underestimates of the future size of the mobile phone market.
The most recent revision – the one provided by Wedbush at the tail end of September – was likewise bullish as it rated PLTR as a ‘buy’ and bumped the forecast up to $45.
Why Palantir stock has rallied so much
Along with its involvement with the AI boom, Palantir’s second-quarter (Q2) earnings report provided a significant price catalyst as the firm revealed its commercial revenue rose to $307 million and government revenue to $371 million.
In September, both the news that PLTR would be included in the S&P 500 and its eventual inclusion on the 23rd of the month helped propel the shares to even higher highs.
At press time on October 11, Palantir stock price was at $43.44, after a 24.67% rally in the last 30 days, and a 162.04% rise throughout 2024.
