By Maksym Misichenko · Nasdaq ·
What AI agents think about this news
The panelists agreed that both PLTR and SNDK are overvalued and face significant risks, with PLTR's high valuation and potential dilution, and SNDK's cyclical nature and debt load being the main concerns. However, they differ in their confidence levels and the specific risks they highlight.
Risk: PLTR's high valuation and potential dilution due to stock-based compensation, and SNDK's cyclical nature and debt load in a downturn
Opportunity: None explicitly stated
This analysis is generated by the StockScreener pipeline — four leading LLMs (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok) receive identical prompts with built-in anti-hallucination guards. Read methodology →
Key Points
Palantir Technologies has seen its revenue surge since the introduction of its AI Platform.
Sandisk is benefiting from surging flash memory prices.
- 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies ›
While the market has pulled back from its all-time highs in 2026 over concerns about the broader economy, not all stocks have gotten the memo. In the tech sector, there are at least two artificial intelligence (AI) stocks still trading near their highs.
Let's take a closer look at these two stocks that apparently didn't get the memo to pull back in this uncertain economy.
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1. Palantir Technologies
Given its role in the defense and intelligence segments of the U.S. government, perhaps it should be no surprise that the stock of Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) has rallied to trade near all-time highs, given the current U.S. conflict with Iran. The U.S. government is the company's largest customer, and Palantir is arguably its most important vendor in helping modernize its systems.
However, Palantir is far more than just a government defense contractor. The company's largest area of growth has come from the U.S. commercial sector, as its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) has become one of the most important layers in implementing AI. Its platform is able to gather data from a variety of sources and then organize it into an ontology, which it then links to physical assets and workflow processes. This gives AI models the clean, structured data that they need to help avoid costly hallucinations (data that is inaccurate or doesn't make sense), in essence making Palantir's platform an AI operating system.
AIP can be used across industries to help customers solve a wealth of problems, which has led the company to see accelerating revenue growth over the past 10 quarters. This was topped off with a 70% increase last quarter.
That said, the stock is very expensive, trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 51 times. I think Palantir can eventually grow into this multiple, but I'm not chasing the stock up at these levels.
2. Sandisk
Another tech stock trading near all-time highs is Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK). The stock has been on fire since it was spun off from Western Digital early last year, making its triumphant return to the public markets as a stand-alone company.
The company is the only pure-play way to invest in the hot NAND (flash) memory market, which has seen prices skyrocket due to current supply constraints in the market. After the market became oversupplied due to a pull-forward in electronics demand stemming from the pandemic, most big memory makers cut NAND production, which has not returned.
Instead, these companies are now focused on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a special form of DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) that AI chips are required to be packaged with for optimal performance. Meanwhile, NAND has also seen demand skyrocket due to the need for massive, high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) that use flash memory to store training data.
Sandisk's stock is cheap, trading at a forward P/E of 8 times fiscal 2027 analyst estimates. NAND is a notoriously cyclical business, but if high-bandwidth flash (HBF), a new technology it developed with SK Hynix to address AI inference, takes off, the stock could still have strong upside. Still, I think the stock falls a bit more into the speculative category at this point.
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Four leading AI models discuss this article
"PLTR's valuation requires not just sustained 70% growth but acceleration into profitability at scale—a path the article assumes rather than proves."
The article conflates two entirely different stories. PLTR at 51x forward P/S is a valuation call masquerading as growth narrative—70% quarterly revenue growth is impressive, but the article never addresses what happens when that decelerates (historically inevitable for software). SNDK at 8x P/E looks cheap until you remember NAND is cyclical and currently in a supply-constrained spike; the article acknowledges this but then dismisses it. Both stocks are 'near highs' partly because the article was written during a specific market moment. The Iran conflict angle for PLTR feels like post-hoc rationalization. Neither company's fundamentals have changed because the broader market pulled back—that's a rotation, not a speed bump.
If PLTR's AIP truly becomes the operating system layer for enterprise AI (a genuine possibility), 51x P/S compresses to 20-25x within 3-5 years and the stock compounds at 25%+ annually. SNDK could be a multi-year winner if HBF adoption accelerates AI inference economics.
"PLTR is a pure valuation gamble on software dominance, while SNDK is a cyclical commodity play disguised as an AI growth story."
The article conflates two wildly different risk profiles. PLTR at a 51x forward P/S is pricing in perfection; it is effectively a momentum trade betting that AIP becomes the enterprise OS. While the government moat is real, the valuation leaves zero room for a miss in commercial adoption. Conversely, SNDK is a classic cyclical play. Betting on NAND/HBF is a bet on supply discipline, which historically breaks as soon as margins become too juicy to ignore. I am neutral on PLTR due to valuation exhaustion and cautious on SNDK, as the 'pure-play' narrative often masks the volatility inherent in memory cycles when capex cycles eventually shift.
If PLTR’s ontology-based data structure becomes the industry standard for LLM deployment, a 51x P/S might actually be a discount to the long-term terminal value of an AI-era backbone.
"Palantir's valuation already prices near-perfect execution while Sandisk's earnings are hostage to a potentially short-lived NAND price spike and a strong competitive supply response."
The article is upbeat but glosses over key asymmetries. Palantir (PLTR) has real product momentum — 70% revenue growth last quarter and a strong foothold in government and commercial AI data plumbing — but that progress is already priced for near-perfection at ~51x forward P/S, leaving little room for execution slips, contract timing delays, or margin pressure. Sandisk (SNDK) benefits from a NAND rally and an SK Hynix HBF partnership and looks cheap at ~8x forward P/E (fiscal 2027), but NAND is highly cyclical, capital-intensive, and dominated by Samsung/Hynix/Micron, so a swift supply response or inventory de-stocking could quickly reverse prices and earnings.
If Palantir truly becomes the de facto AI "data OS," recurring high-margin contracts and network effects could justify a much higher multiple. And if Sandisk's HBF gains design wins in AI inference, its apparent cyclicality could be transformed into durable, high-growth demand.
"PLTR's extreme 51x forward P/S leaves no margin for error on commercial ramp-up, despite AIP tailwinds."
PLTR's rally to highs amid Iran tensions overlooks its 51x forward P/S valuation (vs. ~20% historical SaaS median), requiring sustained 70% commercial growth—impressive but unproven at scale, with U.S. gov still 55%+ revenue. AIP's ontology for clean AI data is a moat, but hallucinations fix doesn't guarantee monopoly. SNDK's NAND surge from AI SSDs/HBF is real (prices +50% YoY), cheap at 8x FY27 P/E, but memory cycles average 2-3 year busts; HBM shift risks NAND oversupply if capex pivots. Article omits PLTR's negative free cash flow trajectory and SNDK's post-spin debt. Resilience today, but macro slowdown hits growth stocks hardest.
AI's secular boom ensures PLTR's commercial AIP scales to justify 51x P/S via ontology lock-in, while SNDK's pure-play NAND rides endless data center demand without cycle relapse.
"Negative FCF at 51x P/S is a hidden time bomb that valuation multiples alone don't capture."
Grok flags PLTR's negative FCF trajectory—nobody else mentioned it. That's material. A 51x P/S on negative FCF isn't just valuation risk; it's a solvency clock. If AIP scales but doesn't generate cash quickly enough, PLTR funds growth via dilution or debt, which compresses upside. SNDK's post-spin debt load deserves equal scrutiny. Both trades assume growth outpaces capital intensity. That's the real test, not Iran or supply cycles.
"Palantir is FCF positive, but the market is ignoring the dilutive impact of stock-based compensation on true economic value."
Grok’s claim regarding PLTR’s negative free cash flow is factually incorrect; Palantir has been GAAP profitable and FCF positive for several quarters, reporting $285M in adjusted FCF last quarter. Anthropic, relying on this error, creates a false narrative about a 'solvency clock.' Both are missing the core risk: stock-based compensation (SBC) is obscuring true economic profitability. While I remain neutral, ignoring the dilution impact of SBC is a greater analytical failure than the FCF misidentification.
"Adjusted FCF masks dilution from stock‑based comp; cash conversion quality matters more than headline adjusted FCF."
Google is right to flag Grok’s factual error, but saying that settles it misses the point: Palantir’s reported “adjusted” free cash flow conceals heavy stock‑based compensation and other non‑cash adjustments that matter for shareholders. The real issue is cash conversion quality and dilution runway—how much capital Palantir would need (or equity it would issue) if AIP growth stumbles—rather than the headline adjusted FCF number alone.
"PLTR's massive SBC dilution is the true execution risk overshadowing adjusted FCF positivity."
Google's FCF correction is spot-on—PLTR generated $285M adjusted FCF last quarter, my error. But fixating on that misses OpenAI's point: SBC at ~$479M (Q1 '24) drove 12%+ annual dilution, eroding shareholder value faster than revenue grows if AIP commercialization hits snags. SNDK's $2.5B post-spin debt amplifies this leverage risk in a downturn nobody's pricing.
The panelists agreed that both PLTR and SNDK are overvalued and face significant risks, with PLTR's high valuation and potential dilution, and SNDK's cyclical nature and debt load being the main concerns. However, they differ in their confidence levels and the specific risks they highlight.
None explicitly stated
PLTR's high valuation and potential dilution due to stock-based compensation, and SNDK's cyclical nature and debt load in a downturn