Palantir jumps 7% as PwC alliance counters Burry short call

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF climbed 4 percent to $107.13 as Palantir's broadened PwC alliance countered a fresh short call from Michael Burry, lifting enterprise AI software stocks across the board.

"AI's greatest opportunity isn't in isolated use cases — it's in fundamentally changing how enterprises operate," Patrick Pugh, global alliances and ecosystem leader at PwC, said in the announcement.

Palantir Technologies rose 7 percent to $182.06 after expanding its alliance with PwC US to cover enterprise AI, M&A transformation and ERP modernization, pairing Palantir Foundry and AIP with PwC's engineering and managed services. ServiceNow climbed 5 percent to $144.13, extending a rally that has built since its second-quarter results in July, while Salesforce gained 3 percent to $264.53 on continued enthusiasm around Agentforce and Data 360.

The breadth argues against reading the day as a single-name reversal, yet the centerpiece AI-native deals platform — designed to execute transactions up to 50 percent faster and cut one-time transaction costs by up to 45 percent — carries no disclosed contract value, leaving the revenue contribution unpriced and the receivables-quality concern Burry raised unresolved.

Burry, who renewed his short position through Scion Asset Management, called Palantir "a consultant riding a bubble of AI FOMO demand" and warned its market capitalization could fall below $100 billion. He cited accounts receivable climbing to $1.49 billion from $1.04 billion at the end of 2025, flagging that one customer accounted for 27 percent of receivables even though no single customer generates more than 10 percent of revenue.

Palantir's own fundamentals push back on the harshest read of that case. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $1.935 billion, up 93 percent from a year earlier, and raised its full-year outlook to $8.15 billion. Even after today's gain, the stock was down 5 percent year to date through the prior close, so the move reads as recovery inside an ongoing drawdown.

The peer data reinforces the sector story. ServiceNow's most recent quarter showed subscription revenue of $3.88 billion, up 24.5 percent year over year, with agentic deployments rising ninefold in nine months and AI annual contract value crossing $1 billion. Salesforce's fiscal second quarter showed Agentforce annual recurring revenue above $1.5 billion and current remaining performance obligation of $33.5 billion, up 14 percent. Both companies raised full-year guidance, arguing AI increases platform usage rather than cannibalizing seats.

Two questions shape whether the rally sticks. First is revenue attribution: neither the PwC alliance nor a separate Ocean Power Technologies deployment of Foundry carries a disclosed contract value, and Alex Karp's personal investment in a defense venture founded by Ukraine's former defense minister sits outside Palantir. Second, the receivables-quality issue Burry raised can resurface at the next disclosure.

For investors sizing exposure, Palantir trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 239.9 times, and today's move carries no disclosed revenue contribution. Salesforce's investor day at Dreamforce on Sept. 16 is the next scheduled event that can extend or complicate the read on agentic AI monetization.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.