Palantir Technologies Stock Price and Forecast: Why is PLTR down today?

Palantir shares are a bit weaker in Monday's premarket but nothing to get too concerned about for bulls. Global equity markets are under a sea of red this morning as Chinese data was weak leading to fears over Delta and a global economic slowdown. Palantir shares are also due to take a breather following a stellar performance last week with Thursday seeing the stock surge after results. PLTR stock closed up over 11% last Thursday and consolidated this gain on Friday with a steady close at $24.90 for a tiny gain on the day.

Palantir's earnings were not way ahead, but it was a solid beat. But it was the growth rates that really impressed investors as revenue ticked up by 50% on the quarter and the growth in new customers was also impressive. Topping it all off was the fact that PLTR upgraded its guidance for Q3 revenue and doubled its free cash flow guidance from $150 million to $300 million. Yes, doubled! No wonder investors pushed the stock higher on Thursday. Palantir has a pretty decent following from the retail community and was an original WallStreetBets favourite back in January, but Palantir stock also has some savvy institutional investors. The Wall Street analyst community will have liked these earnings, and upgrades are sure to follow. On Friday alone, Jefferies, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and RBC all raised their price targets for PLTR.

Palantir key statistics

Palantir stock forecast

The steady uptrend channel going back to July has been broken out of, smashed out of actually, last Thursday in a strong move. We can see clearly from the chart that Palantir stock is now steady right at the point of control since the stock was first listed. This is at $24.90. The point of control is the price with the highest volume. Pushing higher may take time and effort and a phase of consolidation is to be expected. The first resistance to target is $27.49 which is the high from June 28. Once PLTR breaks above that it is game on as the volume drops off sharply and any move can increase in speed. Options players should note this should mean an increase in volatility making option prices jump.

A retracement from such a powerful move is not unexpected nore a case for concern so long as $23.49 holds. This is also close to the 9-day moving average. Watch for the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) to break the long-term downtrend line as this could be a signal for a fresh push higher, but it is likely a while yet before it happens.

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