Palantir Q3 2026 Earnings: Revenue Up 96%, but New Bookings Grew Just 6%

Palantir's revenue rose 96% to $2.31 billion in the third quarter of 2026, $149 million above the top of the range it guided to in August. The forward indicators did not keep up. Closed total contract value, the value of deals signed in the quarter, rose 6% from a year earlier to $2.92 billion, after rising 49% in the June quarter. U.S. commercial remaining deal value, the contracted-but-unrecognized pipeline in Palantir's fastest-growing business, rose 4% from June while U.S. commercial revenue rose 29%. In our Q2 analysis the pipeline was growing faster than revenue. This quarter it is the other way round: Palantir is turning contracts into revenue faster than it is signing new ones.

Revenue outran every forecast, including the company's​

Revenue was $2,313.4 million against $1,181.1 million a year earlier and guidance of $2,160 million to $2,164 million (earnings release). U.S. commercial revenue rose 148% to $984 million and, for the first time, exceeded U.S. government revenue of $953 million, which rose 96%. The 10-Q segment note shows the government segment at $1,145.5 million with a 70% contribution margin and the commercial segment at $1,167.9 million with a 77% margin.

GAAP income from operations was $1,084.8 million, a 47% margin, against 33% a year earlier and about the same as the June quarter. Net income was $1,134.4 million, of which $1,128.0 million was attributable to Palantir's shareholders, and diluted GAAP EPS was $0.44, equal to Palantir's adjusted EPS. Adjusted operating income of $1,426.8 million is higher than the GAAP figure mostly because of $319.2 million of stock-based compensation. The tax charge was $13.6 million on $1,148.0 million of pre-tax income, a 1.2% rate, because past losses still shelter nearly all of the profit.

The treemap shows the cost structure: $625.6 million of sales, marketing and administration, $383.3 million of cost of revenue and $219.7 million of research and development. Interest income of $88.9 million and a $25.8 million loss on Palantir's equity and marketable securities sit on Income:OtherNet.

Signed deals did not keep pace​

Palantir reports three bookings measures, and each slowed. Closed TCV was $2,918 million against $3,373 million in the June quarter. U.S. commercial TCV was $1,463 million, up 11% from a year earlier, against $2,132 million and 153% growth in June. U.S. commercial remaining deal value was $6,517 million, up 79% from a year earlier but only 4% from June's $6,238 million. Remaining performance obligations, the contracted revenue the 10-Q reports under US GAAP, were $4.9 billion, unchanged from June.

Our computation puts the shift in two ratios. U.S. commercial TCV was 1.5 times the quarter's U.S. commercial revenue, against 2.8 times in June. And U.S. commercial remaining deal value covered about 20 months of the quarter's revenue run-rate, against about 24 months in June. Neither ratio means demand fell. TCV is lumpy, a few large contracts move it, and a quarter can follow one with unusually large signings. But revenue that grows faster than new contracts draws down the backlog, and the backlog is what future quarters are recognized from.

Management's guide assumes the pace continues. Palantir expects fourth-quarter revenue of $2,649 million to $2,653 million, 15% above the third quarter at the midpoint, and raised full-year revenue guidance to $8,530 million to $8,534 million from $8,150 million to $8,158 million in August. U.S. commercial revenue is guided above $3,559 million for the year.

Receivables grew faster than revenue​

Accounts receivable were $1,883.5 million on September 30, up 27% from $1,485.2 million in June, while revenue rose 20% from the June quarter. One customer, which the 10-Q identifies only as "Customer I," accounted for 27% of receivables. Cash from operations was $1,204.6 million, a 52% margin, against 63% in the June quarter: more of the quarter's revenue is still owed to Palantir rather than collected. Current deferred revenue and customer deposits, cash collected before the work is done, rose 14% from June to $1,173.8 million, by our computation.

For any business that bills large customers, the same pair of numbers is worth watching: revenue booked and cash collected. When receivables grow faster than sales, the profit is real but the cash arrives later, and a single large customer's payment timing can move the whole quarter.

What the ledger shows: the accumulated deficit is almost gone​

The account is a debit balance, Palantir's accumulated deficit, so it plots above zero. It was $3,562.4 million at the end of 2025 and $501.96 million on September 30, after $3.06 billion of net income attributable to shareholders in nine months. Palantir lost $520.4 million in 2021 and $371.1 million in 2022, then turned profitable. At the third quarter's pace, one more quarter of earnings would erase the remaining deficit, by our computation, and the line would cross zero: lifetime profits would exceed lifetime losses for the first time.

Each row is one reported period: revenue as a negative credit and Equity:Adjustments as net income, including noncontrolling interests. Revenue was $1,541.9 million in all of 2021; the third quarter of 2026 alone was $2,313.4 million. Net income in the three 2026 quarters, $876.4 million, $1,066.0 million and $1,134.4 million, already exceeds the $1,634.6 million earned in all of 2025.

What to watch in the fourth quarter​

• Bookings. A fourth-quarter TCV well above $2.9 billion would make the third quarter look like timing; another quarter near it would mean the backlog keeps shrinking relative to revenue.
• Remaining deal value. U.S. commercial RDV growing slower than U.S. commercial revenue for a second quarter would shorten the pipeline's coverage again.
• Collections. Whether receivables fall back toward revenue, and how much of the year-end cash flow depends on Customer I.
• The deficit crossing zero. At the guided pace, the fourth quarter's earnings would turn the accumulated deficit into retained earnings.