Is Palantir stock about to join S&P 500?

Amid a successful year for Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR), during which its stock increased by nearly 85%, chances are, it may soon join the exclusive society of companies in the S&P 500 stock index (SPY), taking into account that it meets most, if not all, of the relevant criteria.

As it happens, Palantir, the company that develops software platforms used by intelligence community in counterterrorism investigations and operations. has been in the limelight since its latest earnings report that highlighted strong growth driven by artificial intelligence (AI) integration.

Palantir stock forecast

Furthermore, PLTR stock has been displaying strong bullish signals in recent weeks, according to technical analysis (TA) observations, such as the bull flag pattern shared by market analytics and trading platform TrendSpider in an X post published on September 5.

In addition to the bullish chart pattern, the analysts have identified a PLTR stock earnings date gap since America’s 279th-largest public company by market cap reported its better-than-expected quarterly results on August 5, suggesting that PLTR stocks could be a “potential S&P 500 inclusion candidate this Friday.”

Palantir stock criteria for S&P 500 inclusion

Indeed, Palantir meets all the criteria, including being a United States company, having a market cap of over $18 billion (PLTR has $68 billion), having a public float of at least 50% of total shares outstanding, boasting high liquidity and positive PLTR earnings in the latest quarter, as well as total positive earnings in the four latest quarters.

On the other hand, its profits in the last six quarters, while positive each time, most likely have not been substantial enough for Palantir to join the S&P 500, and it had recorded quarterly losses as of late 2022, so it might require more positive quarters before the S&P 500 committee makes a definite decision, The Motley Fool experts believe.

Wall Street’s Palantir stock forecast

Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts offering their 12-month PLTR stock forecast in the last three months are still on the fence, rating Palantir shares as a ‘hold’ for the time being, and with an average Palantir stock forecast target standing at $25.42, down 19.25% from its current situation.

Among the more bullish experts is Wedbush’s Daniel Ives, who has rated PLTR stock as a ‘buy,’ setting PLTR stock forecast target at $35, whereas Raymond James’s Brian Gesuale has offered a $30 price target, while also giving it a ‘buy’ score, as per AnaChart data.

Palantir stock price analysis

At press time, the price of PLTR stock stood at $30.59, which reflects a 0.30% increase on the day, a decline of 0.13% across the week, as well as a 26.98% gain over the month, adding up to the 84.50% advance year-to-date (YTD), according to the latest data on September 5.

All things considered, Palantir stock does, indeed, have strong chances of joining the S&P 500, if not on Friday as predicted by TrendSpider, than at least sometime in the next year. Regardless of what happens, doing one’s own research is critical when investing in the stock market.

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