Key Points Palantir has delivered triple-digit returns for shareholders in three consecutive years. Independent research firms rank Palantir as a leader in AI decisioning platforms and AI source-to-pay software. Palantir currently trades at 102 times sales, making it one of the most expensive software stocks in history. 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies › Palantir Technologies (N...
Key Points Palantir has delivered triple-digit returns for shareholders in three consecutive years. Independent research firms rank Palantir as a leader in AI decisioning platforms and AI source-to-pay software. Palantir currently trades at 102 times sales, making it one of the most expensive software stocks in history. 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies › Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) has delivered triple-digit gains for shareholders in three consecutive years, but it remains one of the most polarizing stocks on Wall Street. On one hand, Palantir is growing rapidly and its software has become the standard in enterprise artificial intelligence. On the other hand, Palantir is one of the most expensive software stocks in history. Reconciling those facts is challenging. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » Before sharing my prediction about what Palantir's stock price will be in December 2026, I want to discuss the bull-case and bear-case price targets set by Morgan Stanley because I believe they accurately capture the wide range of potential outcomes. An upward-trending green arrow overlaid on the stylized face of Benjamin Franklin. Image source: Getty Images. The bull case: Palantir stock soars 130% to $382 per share Palantir develops data analytics software for customers in the public and private sectors. Its core platforms integrate information and machine learning models into a decision-making framework called an ontology. Its adjacent artificial intelligence (AI) platform lets clients build large language models into applications and business processes. In the past year, several independent research organizations praised Palantir. Forrester Research ranked the company as a leader in AI decisioning platforms, listing its current capabilities, growth strategy, and positive customer feedback as key strengths. Si...
Three of the "Magnificent 7" tech giants reported after the bell on Wednesday, including Facebook-parent Meta (META). Shares in Meta (META) popped 7.6% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the company's fourth quarter earnings beat analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines. The company posted earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88 on revenue of $59.9bn (£43.4bn) for the fourth quarter, which...
Three of the "Magnificent 7" tech giants reported after the bell on Wednesday, including Facebook-parent Meta (META). Shares in Meta (META) popped 7.6% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the company's fourth quarter earnings beat analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines. The company posted earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88 on revenue of $59.9bn (£43.4bn) for the fourth quarter, which was ahead of the $8.16 and $58.4bn expected by analysts based on Bloomberg analyst consensus estimates. Looking ahead, Meta (META) said that it expected to generate total revenue of $53.5bn to $56.5bn in the first quarter. Read more: London rises as traders digest earnings and Fed hold The company also shared its capital expenditures guidance for 2026, saying it expected to spend between $115bn and $135bn, up from the $72.22bn it spent in 2025. Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that Meta (META) "delivered another strong quarter" but added that first quarter guidance "was the real highlight". "But the real headline is the relentless ramp in capex, a trajectory that’s turning into a windfall for AI infrastructure suppliers like Nvidia (NVDA)," he said. "At the top end of guidance, capex would represent an enormous 85%+ increase on 2025 levels." "Zuckerberg is clearly going all‑in on AI, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the share reaction cool as investors absorb those aggressive investment plans," Britzman added. Microsoft (MSFT) Fellow Mag 7 member Microsoft (MSFT) also reported after the market close on Wednesday, though concerns around slowing cloud growth saw shares slip in extended trading. Microsoft (MSFT) shares were down 5.5% in pre-market trading on Thursday, despite the company also beating expectations on the top and bottom lines in its second fiscal quarter. The company reported EPS of $5.16 on revenue of $81.27bn, which topped the $3.92 and $80.3bn Wall Street was anticipating. Microsoft (MSFT) Cloud revenue came in at $51.5bn...
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen talks to journalists ahead of a EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on January 29, 2026. Simon Wohlfahrt | Afp | Getty Images Denmark's foreign minister on Thursday welcomed "very constructive" high-level talks over Greenland's future , saying the conversation about the island was "back on track." The talks between t...
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen talks to journalists ahead of a EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on January 29, 2026. Simon Wohlfahrt | Afp | Getty Images Denmark's foreign minister on Thursday welcomed "very constructive" high-level talks over Greenland's future , saying the conversation about the island was "back on track." The talks between the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark in Washington on Wednesday were designed to resolve the diplomatic crisis triggered by President Donald Trump's repeated threats against the vast and sparsely populated Arctic island. Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the meeting "went well." "Very constructive atmosphere and tone and new meetings are planned," Rasmussen said. "It's not that things are solved but it is good because now we are back to what we agreed in Washington exactly two weeks and a day ago. After that, there was a major detour. Things were escalating but now we are back on track," Rasmussen said. "It's not that we can conclude anything, but I am slightly more optimistic today than a week ago," he added. Last week, Trump backed away from imposing tariffs on several European countries opposing his effort to take over the self-governing Danish territory and also ruled out using force to take it for the first time, during his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump subsequently declared on Truth Social that he had a " framework of a future deal " regarding Greenland and later told CNBC he had "the concept" of one. Read more Greenland will not give in, PM says, as Denmark warns world order as we know it is over How Greenland went from backburner issue to geopolitical flashpoint in just 2 weeks Why Trump wants Greenland — why the White House thinks it's so important for national security U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday told lawmaker...
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Translate webpages in Chrome: On your computer, open Chrome. Go to a webpage written in another language. At the top, click Translate. Chrome will translate the webpage one time. If you haven't installed Google Chrome. Please download and install it. Down
Cristian Martin/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Three and a half months have passed since my previous coverage of Hess Midstream LP ( HESM ). If you remember, I still advise you to be a bit cautious about rushing into it. Yet, I also noted that valuation has already priced in the downside risks I explained in the very first article . This prompted me to give it a soft buy upgrade. True enough, t...
Cristian Martin/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Three and a half months have passed since my previous coverage of Hess Midstream LP ( HESM ). If you remember, I still advise you to be a bit cautious about rushing into it. Yet, I also noted that valuation has already priced in the downside risks I explained in the very first article . This prompted me to give it a soft buy upgrade. True enough, the stock price trend improved and even gave 7% returns for a relatively short period. I still observe similar challenges it may face this year. However, I believe that HESM is still well-positioned with its strategic operations and robust fundamentals. Valuation is still reasonable and shows some upside potential. Technicals adhere to it as the uptrend holds and strengthens. Hess Midstream LP: How It Has Been Lately Hess Midstream LP is surrounded by skepticism due to its high dependence on Hess Corporation, now part of Chevron Corporation ( CVX ). Meanwhile, the oil and gas markets remain volatile due to various factors affecting their prices. Even so, HESM keeps proving many skeptics wrong as it continues to give solid results while looking for more ways to fortify its business operations. We have seen this in its recent performances. For instance, its Q3 2025 revenues reached $420.9M , up by 11.2% YoY from $378.5M and by 1.5% from $414.2 QoQ. This YoY revenue growth was also much stronger than in Q3 2024 at only 4.2% . If we look at it per segment, HESM showed a stronger performance across all segments YoY and QoQ. One aspect to consider is its increased gas throughput volumes. Note that the natural gas price continues to rebound from its 2023-2024 lows. Higher prices made production more profitable, which led to more midstream volumes. This remained the growth driver of HESM amid the volatility in the oil market. Throughput Volumes (HESM Q3 2025 Release ) In addition, it kept its costs and expenses manageable despite the increased operating capacity. This was impressive...
Hong Kong’s workforce lags behind regional peers in the frequent use of AI, a sluggish adoption rate that experts say is limiting pay rewards and job security even as companies prepare to trim entry-level roles. A 2025 survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released on Thursday found that half of Hong Kong respondents were infrequent users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) at wo...
Hong Kong’s workforce lags behind regional peers in the frequent use of AI, a sluggish adoption rate that experts say is limiting pay rewards and job security even as companies prepare to trim entry-level roles. A 2025 survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released on Thursday found that half of Hong Kong respondents were infrequent users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) at work in the past 12 months, compared with 34 per cent for the Asia-Pacific region. The data showed only 22 per cent were daily users, lagging behind the Asia-Pacific's 29 per cent. Advertisement “Technology is revolutionising work and, while AI integration is growing in Hong Kong, its potential is underutilised as the Hong Kong workforce is still catching up on gen AI and agentic AI usage,” Michael Cheng, workforce lead partner at PwC Hong Kong, said. AI agents are technologies capable of performing multi-step processes, such as scheduling a meeting with many participants, using little human input. Advertisement Only 19 per cent of local respondents attributed a salary increase to AI in the last 12 months, far below Asia-Pacific’s 46 per cent. Likewise, just 24 per cent of Hong Kong workers said AI had increased their job security in the last 12 months, compared with 52 per cent in the region.
Firn/iStock via Getty Images Foreword This article is based on three Barron's Weekly articles revealing 74 select stocks for the NewYear 2026. You can check those articles here , here , and here (by Lauren R. Rublin). Roundtable Panelists & Picks Barron's NewYear 2026 Roundtable panelists and their stock picks for this article: Source: Barrons.com Any collection of stocks is more clearly understoo...
Firn/iStock via Getty Images Foreword This article is based on three Barron's Weekly articles revealing 74 select stocks for the NewYear 2026. You can check those articles here , here , and here (by Lauren R. Rublin). Roundtable Panelists & Picks Barron's NewYear 2026 Roundtable panelists and their stock picks for this article: Source: Barrons.com Any collection of stocks is more clearly understood when subjected to this yield-based (dog catcher) analysis; these Barron's NewYear 2025 Pro Picks are perfect for the dogcatcher process. Here is the January 26 updated YCharts data: 55 stocks, of which 11 are "safer" and two of which live up to the dogcatcher 'ideal' in this collection. These complete the Barron's NewYear Round Table 2026 Pro-Picks collection. January 2026 shows two glimmers of light from the Barron's Roundtable stocks emerging as dogcatcher "safer" ideal candidates. They were Annaly Capital Management ( NLY ), Rogers Communications ( RCI ). Actionable Conclusions (1-10): Brokers Estimated Top-Ten Barron's Round Table NewYear 2026 Picks Could Net 11.18% to 40.47% Gains By January 2027 Four of the top ten Barron's NewYear 2026 Pro-Picks by-yield (tinted in the chart below) were also top gainers for the coming year based on analyst 1-year targets. Thus, the top yield dog strategy for this group, as graded by analyst estimates for this month, proved 40% accurate. Estimated dividend-returns from $1000 invested in each of the highest-yielding stocks and their aggregate one-year analyst median-target prices, as reported by YCharts, created the 2026-27 data points. However, one-year target-prices by less-than two analysts were not counted. The resulting-ten probable best-profit-generating 2026 Barron's NewYear Pro Picks projected to January 16, 2027, by that reckoning, were: Source: YCharts.com Dell Technologies ( DELL ) netted $404.65 based on the median of target estimates from 25 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk...
Brent crude futures hit $70 a barrel for the first time since September after US President Donald Trump warned Iran to make a nuclear deal or face military strikes. The global benchmark rose as much as 2.3%. In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said that US ships he ordered to the region were ready to fulfill their mission “with speed and violence, if necessary.” Crude has rallied so far in ...
Brent crude futures hit $70 a barrel for the first time since September after US President Donald Trump warned Iran to make a nuclear deal or face military strikes. The global benchmark rose as much as 2.3%. In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said that US ships he ordered to the region were ready to fulfill their mission “with speed and violence, if necessary.” Crude has rallied so far in 2026, countering expectations for a market pressured by significant oversupply. Instead, geopolitical tensions from Iran to Venezuela and major supply disruption in Kazakhstan have helped to bolster prices.