Palantir Bought $50M in Gold Bars in August

[SilverStorm]

As some of you may know, Palantir is a technology company that does "spy" stuff for the CIA, sovereign states, etc.   So when the news came out that they bought $50M in gold bars, it definitely raises some eyebrows.   The conspiracy side of me wants to think that they got some secret information from their data analysis, and they are buying gold to hedge against it.   But the flip side of conspiracy me wants to think that it's just an unorthodox method of diversifying risk for a company.  What do you think?

 

Link: Palantir bought $50 million in gold bars in August as cash accumulates (cnbc.com)

 

While some companies such as Tesla are diversifying into bitcoin, data analytics software company Palantir is betting on gold. Palantir bought $50 million in gold bars in August, the company disclosed in its latest earnings statement.

The move reflects a growing company stashing cash in an unconventional asset in response to economic uncertainty spurred by the coronavirus pandemic and governments’ response to it.

 

The price of an ounce of gold crossed the $2,000 mark for the first time last year as the pandemic worsened and U.S. government stimulus efforts continued. This year investors have more loudly voiced concerns about inflation, and gold is sometimes viewed as a hedge against inflation, although prices are down 7% for the year. Some investors have thought cryptocurrencies might also serve that role.

“During August 2021, the Company purchased $50.7 million in 100-ounce gold bars,” Palantir said in the Aug. 12 earnings statement for its fiscal second quarter. “Such purchase will initially be kept in a secure third-party facility located in the northeastern United States and the Company is able to take physical possession of the gold bars stored at the facility at any time with reasonable notice.”

Palantir did not respond to a request for comment on the investment.

After completing a direct listing and debuting on the New York Stock Exchange in September, Palantir is now debt-free, the company’s finance chief, Dave Glazer, told analysts on a conference call last week. Revenue has accelerated for two consecutive quarters, with 20 new customers joining in the fiscal second quarter.

Palantir is investing to grow, bringing on more than 100 salespeople in the past two quarters, and plans call for hiring to continue at a fast pace, Glazer said.

 

The company remains unprofitable, as it was as a privately held company. Meanwhile, its supply of cash has been increasing, in part thanks to stock issuance and proceeds from the exercise of stock options.

That has given Palantir an opportunity to invest in its own customers, including early stage companies, which are very different from existing government customers such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Among the investments are companies that have gone public through mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies, such as AdTheorent, Fast Radius, FinAccel and Tritium, according to the earnings statement.

It’s possible that following the gold investment, Palantir could expand into cryptocurrencies. In May, after Glazer was asked on an analyst call if the company could have bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet, he said, “The short answer is, yes, we’re thinking about it, and we’ve even discussed internally.”

[modofantasma]

I read on yahoo the amount of available cash and the amount they bought of gold and dividing the two it's just over 2% of their available cash. Probably wouldn't call it "backing up the truck" but it isn't an insignificant amount of money. 

Certainly interesting 

[Stacktastic]

On 18/08/2021 at 22:10, SilverStorm said:

The conspiracy side of me wants to think that they got some secret information from their data analysis,

I spent £4,000 on gold mining stocks on Wednesday so this news makes me feel even more confident, especially as they work for the government in a seriously dodgy area (most probable they know something we dont). I saw Michael Sailor buying bitcoin as stupid personally, especially at £40k+, I thought twice when Elon bought it but even he realised he made a mistake. 

This is very different and great to turn the gold price around, lets hope more follow..

Come on Buffet drop that billion dollar order into Kinross please.  

Edited August 20, 2021 by Stacktastic

[Paul]

When I buy 1oz price usually tanks a few days later

[Stacktastic]

On 20/08/2021 at 20:29, Paul said:

When I buy 1oz price usually tanks a few days later

Yeah I am expecting it to drop more - probably another double bottom, but I will buy when it turns to the upside & confirms resistance (mainly $1800).  I did that buying physical last time - bought 4 SOV's when it was on a definite uptick. There was not a lot of difference due to premiums anyway. 

Its still too expensive for my budgets to buy too much physical. £8-900 gold & £600 platinum - yes please. 
Happy to hold that'd stocks indefinitely, but im cashing out if it gets to last summer prices. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Stacktastic

[Darr3nG]

Interesting to search the forum and find this thread, as I just bought some Palantir stock today. It's down almost 50% from the gold buying announcement in Aug 2021.

[CANV]

Probably using it to pay secret agents 

[Stacktastic]

2 hours ago, Darr3nG said:

Interesting to search the forum and find this thread, as I just bought some Palantir stock today. It's down almost 50% from the gold buying announcement in Aug 2021.

I was thinking that - I've bought and sold it at least 3 times never even looked at what the business does, but its bounced back well..  

Edited February 10, 2022 by Stacktastic

[Darr3nG]

On 10/02/2022 at 17:08, Stacktastic said:

I was thinking that - I've bought and sold it at least 3 times never even looked at what the business does, but its bounced back well..  

Dropped again, but I'm tempted to double-down... 

[SilverStorm]

3 hours ago, Darr3nG said:

Dropped again, but I'm tempted to double-down... 

if you believe there will be a major correction in the stock market, might be best to wait for the stock to tank a bit more before buying.   It’s likely possible given the stock market’s jitteriness over the possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia. 

[Antwerpstacker]

They made a 150m dollar loss last quarter but diversified into gold🤔🤔