3 Red Flags in Palantir's Upcoming Direct Listing
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, big data software company Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) will debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol "PLTR." Palantir won't be coming to market via an IPO, but rather via a direct listing, a process whereby a company's existing shareholders sell shares directly on an exchange without going through middleman investment banks to set a price.
Palantir is a controversial big data software and operating system vendor that has its roots in counterterrorism, with all branches of the U.S. military and special operations divisions as customers under its "Gotham" platform. In recent years Palantir has expanded into more commercial industries beginning in 2016 with the release of Palantir Foundry. Since then, commercial customers have grown to make up a 53% majority of sales in 2019. The controversial PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) founder, Peter Thiel, is also the largest shareholder and one of three founders who control the company.
Palantir has some intriguing positives going for it; however, even putting aside the political or sociological concerns around the company, I found three potential red flags in Palantir's S-1 filing that, purely from a financial standpoint, will likely prevent me from investing in the company on its first days of trading.
Source Fool.com
