Trump praises Palantir as stock has worst week in over a year and Iran conflict drags on

President Donald Trump lauded Palantir in a post to Truth Social on Friday as the artificial intelligence software stock plunged 14% for its worst week in a year.

"Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment," Trump posted on the social media platform. "Just ask our enemies!!!"

The U.S. military is reportedly utilizing Palantir's AI-powered Maven Smart System platform to identify targets in the Middle East, tied to strikes on Iran that began in late February. Palantir counts on the government, including the Pentagon and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for more than half of its U.S. revenue.

Over the years, CEO Alex Karp vocally supported America's military and equipping warfighters with the best possible tools. Despite previous critiques of Trump and past donations to President Joe Biden's campaign, Karp has backed the new administration and its policies.

Karp regularly defends Palantir when the company is criticized for providing tools used to surveil immigrants and Americans. His outspoken support of Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas also led some employees to leave the company, he previously told CNBC.

In October of last year, Palantir communications chief Lisa Gordon called the company's political shift toward the Trump administration "concerning" in an interview at an event hosted by The Information. The video was quickly removed from The Information's YouTube and social media pages.

Watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, said in an email that Tump's post was unusual, noting that Palantir had sponsored multiple Trump administration events and donated to the White House ballroom project.

CREW said the listing of the stock ticker in his post was potentially "an attempt to help the stock price of a major backer that has struggled over the last six months."

Palantir is also tied to AI lab Anthropic, which was blacklisted by the Department of Defense after raising concerns about the use of its tools for autonomous weapons and government surveillance. Palantir uses Anthropic and models from other AI labs on its platform.

Karp told CNBC last month that Palantir would "phase out" Anthropic's models, but has not done so yet.

Software stocks sold off this week after Anthropic released its new Mythos model in a limited capacity, citing concerns of potential misuse by hackers. Worries that new AI tools will displace traditional software models have plagued the industry in recent months.

Famed short seller Michael Burry has been targeting the stock of late, along with other AI names. In a post this week that was subsequently deleted, Burry wrote that Anthropic is "eating Palantir's lunch."

Burry again wrote about the company following Trump's post on Friday.

"The stock may catch a wind here," Burry wrote in a Substack post. "It has been selling off with software stocks. As mentioned, I continue to hold the puts, as I believe the fundamental value of this company is well under $50/share."

After this week's slump, which deepened on the day of Trump's post, the stock is trading at about $126.

CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this article.

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