Palantir stock jumps 15% in week on Iran war boosts, Anthropic muted

palantir The US government software and services provider was an outlier in a tough week for the stock market, as it saw its shares soar 15% following the US attack on Iran.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.2% for the week, driven lower by names like these. Apple, Google And MicronAs oil prices soared, other indicators also fell, and a report showed that US economy They unexpectedly lost their jobs in February.

But with President Donald Trump showing no signs of a quick end to the war in Iran, investors have flocked to Palantir, which relies on government spending for about 60 percent of its revenue and has stepped up its work with military and intelligence agencies. Wall Street, meanwhile, seems unconcerned about the government blacklisting Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company that began partnering with Palantir on defense work in late 2024.

Analysts at Rosenblatt maintained their buy recommendation on the stock and raised their price target to $200 from $150. The stock closed at $157.16 on Friday.

Analysts wrote that “conflict in the Middle East bodes well” for Palantir’s government line and that there are “adequate alternatives” to Anthropic’s Claude models. More deals, such as the company’s contract with the Army, may be on the way, they added.

Last year, Palantir signed a $10 billion deal with the Army. The company also provides AI capabilities such as weapons targeting to the military through its Maven Intelligent System programand its tools were used in Iran.

As for its work with Anthropic, Palantir hasn’t said anything publicly about its plans. The Department of Defense announced a week ago that Anthropic’s technology would be removed from government contracts after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on how AI models could be used for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance.

On Thursday, Anthropic acknowledged that it had been formally notified that it had been identified as a supply chain risk, and CEO Dario Amodei said in a blog post that it had “no choice” but to challenge the decision in court.

Amazon, Microsoft And GoogleThe three cloud infrastructure leaders later said they would continue to offer Anthropic’s products to customers on their clouds for non-defense projects.

Palantir and Amazon Web Services partnered with Anthropic in November 2024 to move Claude models to AWS and make them available to defense and intelligence agencies. In July, Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense, becoming the first AI lab to integrate its models into secret networks.

Analysts at Piper Sandler wrote in a note Tuesday that Anthropic is a “pioneer” for AI in a data-sensitive environment like government and suggested replacing it would be a headache. Still, Palantir has a buy rating and a $230 price target.

“While PLTR is model agnostic, it will take time to deploy and re-establish built-in AI functions,” analysts wrote. “Time may have been spent on growth and increased opportunities.”

Another factor contributing to Palantir’s rally this week was the rebound in software stocks. The industry has been dogged in recent months by fears that AI will replace software and disrupt long-standing business models. New AI tools, including Anthropic’s security offering, have further fueled concerns and contributed to a decline in cybersecurity.

This week the iShares Expanded Technology-Software Sector ETF is up nearly 8%. CrowdStrike, ServiceNow And AppLovin each jumped more than 15%.

“We’ve gotten to the point where everyone is deprived of software,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria said in an interview. “Once you get to this point it starts to stabilize and we get closer to the bottom. It’s all just market dynamics.”

WRISTWATCH: Antropik will challenge the determination of supply chain risks in court