Palantir Technologies arrives at the final stretch before its June 3 earnings date with the most notable development this week coming not from shorts or options — but from the executive suite.
The insider story is the standout. Multiple C-suite officers sold stock on May 20 in a coordinated cluster. CFO David Glazer offloaded roughly 11,580 shares across three tranches for just over $1.57 million. CTO Shyam Sankar sold more than 21,440 shares for approximately $2.88 million. The Chief Legal Officer and Chief Accounting Officer also trimmed positions the same day. These are plan-driven sales at prices around $134–$137, so they carry limited predictive weight on their own — but the 90-day net insider value sold across the firm totals roughly $125 million, a figure that sits in the background as the earnings date approaches.
Short positioning has continued to ease from the recent peak, though the month-long build remains visible. SI % FF has pulled back further to 2.63%, down from the 2.73% peak noted last week and off from the mid-May high near 2.74%. The five-day decline of roughly 3.5% in share count extends the reversal flagged in the previous note. Yet the month-on-month figure still shows a 17% increase — shorts trimmed exposure, they did not abandon it. The borrow market offers no read-through on urgency. Availability has actually loosened further to 8,010% from 7,582% a week ago, meaning there are now roughly 80 shares available to borrow for every one currently lent out. Cost to borrow has eased to 0.42% after touching 0.52% on May 25 — trivially cheap by any measure. Nothing in the lending market suggests forced covering.
Options positioning has drifted back toward neutral after last week's bullish extreme. The put/call ratio has edged up to 1.02 from the sub-1.00 reading flagged in the prior note. It remains slightly below its 20-day average of 1.04, with a z-score of –0.56 — mildly constructive but nothing like the bullish signal of last week. The 52-week range for PCR runs from 0.61 to 1.16, so the current reading sits comfortably in the middle. Options traders hedged hard through April and have gradually unwound that caution as the earnings date draws closer.
The Street remains split. Bulls at Wedbush hold a $230 target and Citigroup raised to $225 after the May 4 print, reflecting confidence in the AI platform growth story. RBC Capital, however, maintains an Underperform with a $90 target — a gap of roughly $135 to the current price that represents the starkest bear case in the analyst community. The consensus is Hold, with the mean target at $185. Valuation remains the core friction: a P/E near 80x and EV/EBITDA of 58x have both compressed roughly 16–12% over the past month as the stock pulled back 4.5%, but they still leave limited room for error. Factor scores tell a more constructive story on earnings quality — 30-day EPS momentum ranks in the 91st percentile, 90-day momentum at the 86th, and EPS surprise at the 79th — suggesting the company has consistently earned the right to trade at a premium.
The setup heading into June 3 is therefore less about whether Palantir is growing and more about whether it can justify a multiple that has already compressed this month — and whether the executive selling programme will draw attention as the print lands.
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