By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) stock fell more than 2% to $17.97 Friday, continuing its recent trend from the start of November despite the U.S. Army triggering another phase of a contract.
Palantir has stoked bullish and bearish opinions. Some argue the company's products and platforms have a strong edge, while others believe it is overvalued and are concerned with its secrecy because of its contracts with intelligence agencies.
The bearish calls have weighed on the company's shares lately. They began falling in early November after its third quarter earnings. But Friday's fall comes despite the announcement from the data analytics firm that the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems has triggered the second option year of its partnership with Palantir on the Army Vantage program for $116.3 million.
In December 2019, the U.S. Army chose Palantir for a $458 million production agreement to power Army Vantage, a data analytics platform. The contract had an initial base year and three option years. Palantir was paid $110 million for the base year, and $113.8 million in December 2020 for the first option year.
"The Army Vantage program is the cornerstone of the Army's ability to make data driven decisions across the force" said Doug Philippone, Global Defense Lead at Palantir Technologies.
"This partnership reinforces what industry and government can do at speed to solve hard problems."