Palantir Stock Rose 60% in the Third Quarter. Here's What Its Other Big Quarters Did Next.

PLTR surged 60% in Q3 2026, the sixth quarter since its 2020 public debut with a gain of 40% or more. The question now is whether momentum carries into Q4.

History offers a tentative answer. In four of the five previous 40%-plus quarters, PLTR kept rising the following quarter. That is a thin sample, and the pattern is limited, so treat it as a lean rather than a signal.

The fundamentals behind the run are strong. Revenue growth accelerated to 93% year-over-year in Q2 2026. The picture gets less clean from there: Q3 guidance points to a slowdown to 83%. That is still a rapid pace, but the deceleration of roughly 10 percentage points matters for a stock priced for acceleration.

Valuation is the sticking point. PLTR trades at 165x earnings, and The Motley Fool's author argues that multiple is too high to justify buying at current levels. Interpretation: after a 60% quarter, the price already reflects much of the growth story, leaving little cushion if guidance disappoints.