Palantir Technologies has created one of the most dramatic stories on Wall Street this year, defying conventional investment narratives. In 2025, it became the top-performing stock in the S&P 500, surging over 106% and at points climbing 144% from the start of the year—outpacing even AI heavyweights like Nvidia.

Palantir's price-to-sales ratio of 114 is way above OpenAI's 17. Palantir's success in defense work could block access to growth as enterprise AI payoff remains elusive