NEW YORK, Feb 20, 2026, 10:21 EST — Regular session
- Palantir shares were lower in morning trade as investors digested a new U.S. government procurement headline.
- A fresh services partnership and an analyst upgrade kept the stock in play.
- Traders are watching whether contract orders and partner-led deployments show up as revenue.
Palantir Technologies shares fell 1.5% to $132.89 on Friday, extending a choppy stretch for the data-analytics company. The stock traded between $131.23 and $136.38, with volume around 13.7 million shares.
The pullback matters because Palantir has become a quick read on investor appetite for “AI software” stories that hinge on big contracts and fast rollouts, not just product demos. Money has been rotating, and the stock has not always moved with the rest of the group.
Several items have hit the tape in the past two days, pulling the stock in different directions. A large Homeland Security deal would reinforce Palantir’s government footprint, while a new partner channel and a bullish analyst note aim at scaling the commercial push.
SiliconANGLE reported the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded Palantir a five-year blanket purchase agreement worth up to $1 billion. A blanket purchase agreement sets pricing and terms so agencies can place orders later, typically through task orders, rather than run a new competition each time.
Wired reported the contract vehicle covers Palantir software licenses, maintenance and implementation services across DHS, and would let agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection buy under that umbrella. Palantir chief technology officer Akash Jain wrote to employees, “I recognize that this comes at a time of increased concern … around our existing work with ICE,” according to Wired, which said Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment. WIRED
Rackspace Technology and Palantir said on Feb. 18 they struck a strategic partnership aimed at helping enterprises deploy and run Palantir’s Foundry and Artificial Intelligence Platform in production. Rackspace will support data readiness, hosting and ongoing managed operations, the companies said.
On Wednesday, Mizuho Securities analyst Gregg Moskowitz upgraded Palantir to “outperform” from “neutral” and kept a $195 price target, according to Nasdaq.com. Moskowitz said Palantir’s growth and margin profile is “unlike anything else in software,” and called its AI offering “in a category of one.” Nasdaq
Palantir lagged a firmer tone in software on Friday. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF rose about 0.7%, while Snowflake, Datadog and C3.ai were modestly higher, and the QQQ ETF was also up.
Earlier this month, Palantir forecast 2026 revenue between $7.18 billion and $7.20 billion, and said sales to U.S. businesses in 2026 were expected to grow at least 115% to more than $3.14 billion, Reuters reported. “Valuation question marks won’t disappear,” said eToro analyst Zavier Wong in that report. Reuters
But the DHS agreement is a ceiling, not a cheque. The dollars land only if task orders arrive, and timing can slip when budgets tighten or priorities move. Scrutiny tied to immigration enforcement work is another wild card that can flare up fast and drag on sentiment.
In its annual report, Palantir listed about 2.39 billion shares outstanding as of Feb. 10 and gave its principal executive offices as Aventura, Florida.
Next up, traders will look for any follow-through on DHS ordering activity and for comments around government demand at the GovCon Executive Leadership Summit in Reston, Virginia on Feb. 26, where the published agenda includes a keynote slot for Palantir senior counselor Greg Little.
