New York, Feb 17, 2026, 07:53 (EST) — Premarket
Palantir Technologies Inc. climbed in premarket action Tuesday, gaining $2.29, or roughly 1.8%, to $131.41 after the company announced it had secured wins across several categories in Dresner Advisory Services’ 2025 innovation awards.
U.S. equity futures slipped, while software stocks exposed to the latest AI shifts faced renewed pressure. Mohit Kumar, economist at Jefferies, called AI adoption “an overall positive rather than a negative,” though he noted it’s shaking up business models. According to Kumar, the recent churn in markets “looks more like a rotation than a broad ‘risk-off’ move.” (Reuters)
Palantir grabbed wins in 15 categories in Dresner’s Technology Innovation and Application Innovation Awards, picking up recognition in data engineering, cloud computing, and the “agentic AI” category—meant for AI that handles tasks with minimal human oversight. Howard Dresner, founder and chief research officer at Dresner Advisory Services, said the group’s thematic reports “focus on user priorities, current use, and intentions.” (Business Wire)
Awards themselves don’t bring in revenue, though traders still keep an eye out—any hint that clients are staying on these platforms matters, as AI features keep popping up and pricing faces pressure. Palantir, for its part, brands its software as “AI systems” designed to connect and govern data, then layer models over it.
Palantir provides data integration and analytics tools for both private companies and government clients, pitching its Artificial Intelligence Platform—AIP—as the solution for embedding fresh generative AI models directly into client workflows.
Trading in the stock has become a barometer for corporate appetite toward hefty, multi-year AI investments — and for the broader question of whether this latest generation of AI models gives entrenched players an edge, or just turns sections of the stack into commodities.
A couple of red flags for bulls: broader tech mood could end up driving moves, not just the headline alone. Then there’s the obvious risk—if inflation prints come in hot and those bets on rate cuts get dialed back, high-multiple growth names are vulnerable to swift repricing, headline narrative or not.
All eyes now shift to the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index—set for release Feb. 20. It’s the inflation measure the Federal Reserve watches most closely. (Bea)
