Palantir Estimates $22B Valuation On Public Debut: WSJ

Palantir Technologies Inc. is expecting its stock to open for trading at a price close $10 per share in its public debut next week, according to the Wall Street Journal.

What Happened: This would fetch the data analytics company a valuation close to $22 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Based on last year’s trends, the Peter Thiel-led private company’s volume-weighted average price was $9.17 in September and $7.31 in August, as per the Journal.

Palantir is set to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, in a direct listing. The primary objective of the direct listing is to enhance stakeholders' liquidity and no additional capital will be raised by the issue of new shares.

Why Does It Matter: According to Yahoo Finance, Palantir was valued close to $20 billion back in 2015. However, the company is not yet profitable and its value has dropped significantly since. Pitchbook last month estimated a valuation close to $8.8 billion.

Some of the earlier direct listings opened at a price higher than the reference prices. Spotify Technology SA SPOT direct listing in April 2018 was set to open at a reference price of $132. But the stock debuted over 25% higher at $165.90 per share. In June last year, Slack Technologies Inc WORK started trading at $38.50, 48% higher than the reference price.

Photo courtesy: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr