MW Clash of the titans: The hottest momentum stock meets the most notorious short seller

By Steve Goldstein

Andrew Left says even Nvidia hasn't been priced like Palantir - which does have rivals

Andrew Left says Palantir Technologies can't live up its valuation.

It's been a weird two days in the market - perhaps the long awaited rotation is here or maybe just some summer anomalies due to light trading and wishful thinking about the magnitude of Federal Reserve rate cutting that will come.

Beleaguered small-cap stocks and homebuilders have caught a tailwind, registering two straight days of strong gains, as momentum stocks hit something of a wall.

And there are few greater momentum stories than Palantir (PLTR). The AI software analytics company's stock is up a sensational 144% this year- the top gainer in the S&P 500 by some distance. And the gains have put Palantir's valuations at jaw-dropping levels - 242 times forward 12 month earnings and 137 times sales, according to FactSet.

Famed short-seller Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research, said it's just too much.

"The last thing I am is a hater," Left said on Fox Business in an interview late Wednesday. "I like [CEO] Alex Carp, I like Alex Carp's politics, I like Alex Carp as a person. He's a feared leader. I think the company has done some great mission control data analysis. It's a wonderful company, but if this was the greatest company that was ever created and we gave it the same multiples, let's say Nvidia in 2023, the stock still can get cut by two thirds. And that would be like 35 times sales," he said.

"You can't be a company that analyzes big data and then tells investors to ignore big data. Because there's never been a company that has that type of multiple or that type of PE that's not corrected 50%," he continued.

Left acknowledged he could be wrong and says he's not trying to pick the absolute high, and that he's also long other companies including Apple and Amazon.

The other point he raised is what happens when rival Databricks goes public - which reportedly could happen this year - as it has similar revenue and actually more corporate customers than Palantir.

Left, it should be pointed, out is fighting Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department charges over his short-selling activities. A court in July dismissed Left's motion to dismiss the charges and a trial is set for March.

The market

U.S. stock futures (ES00) (NQ00) were steady, ahead of economic data on Thursday and the meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents in Alaska on Friday. Bitcoin (BTCUSD) reached a new record high.

   Key asset performance                                                Last       5d      1m      YTD      1y 
   S&P 500                                                              6466.58    1.92%   3.24%   9.95%    18.54% 
   Nasdaq Composite                                                     21,713.14  2.57%   4.74%   12.44%   26.29% 
   10-year Treasury                                                     4.219      -4.00   -23.80  -35.70   30.40 
   Gold                                                                 3405.8     -2.21%  1.81%   29.04%   36.53% 
   Oil                                                                  62.95      -1.36%  -5.07%  -12.41%  -19.39% 
   Data: MarketWatch. Treasury yields change expressed in basis points 

The buzz

The latest producer price and jobless claims data is set for release. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told the Wall Street Journal she would not support a so-called jumbo rate cut next month.

Cisco Systems $(CSCO)$ reported better-than-expected earnings as its outlook met expectations.

Coherent $(COHR)$ shares fell after the semiconductor manufacturing company's outlook didn't impress investors.

The Kremlin said a program for the meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been agreed.

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The chart

David Rosenberg, the longtime Merrill Lynch strategist who is the founder and president of Rosenberg Research, warns of a deflationary shock coming from low birth rates, immigration restrictions and a booming elderly population. "The thing is, aging populations don't spend - they save," he says, pointing out the marginal propensity to spend falls from 94 cents on the dollar at age 35 to 67 cents at age 65. "Remove young consumers, accelerate aging, and consumption patterns collapse. That is certainly not on the minds of today's investor base, which is busy bidding forward P/E multiples back up towards the cycle peak," he says.

Top tickers

Here were the most active stock-market tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern.

   Ticker  Security name 
   TSLA    Tesla 
   NVDA    Nvidia 
   PLUS    ePlus 
   GME     GameStop 
   PLTR    Palantir Technologies 
   TLRY    Tilray Brands 
   AAPL    Apple 
   BLSH    Bullish 
   AMZN    Amazon.com 
   TSM     Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 

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-Steve Goldstein

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August 14, 2025 06:47 ET (10:47 GMT)

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