Palantir’s Parabolic Surge: Meme Stock Mania Or AI Megatrend in Motion?

Palantir Technologies has become one of Wall Street’s most polarizing success stories in 2025. Riding a 76% year-to-date gain and clocking in at more than 460% over the past 12 months, the company’s stock has reached new highs, closing at a record for three consecutive sessions earlier this month. The surge puts it in league with speculative darlings like CoreWeave and even evokes comparisons to meme stock veterans such as GameStop. Despite trading at a sky-high 205x forward earnings and 71x sales—multiples far above the S&P 500 average—Palantir has seen relentless retail investor interest. Analysts remain divided, with more Holds and Sells than Buys, yet the company’s momentum is hard to ignore. While some view it as irrational exuberance, others point to underlying drivers like U.S. government contracts, enterprise AI adoption, and broader macro shifts favoring software over hardware. Here are four critical drivers fueling Palantir’s meteoric bull run in 2025.