Palantir Technologies, Inc. ( PLTR ) announced a $178 million contract with the U.S. Army on Wednesday, and retail investors have made the stock one of the top trending tickers on Reddit's WallStreetBets. Here's a look at what the retail crowd is saying.

Retail Chimes In: Palantir ( PLTR ) has been awarded several large Army contracts in the past, including a $250 million contract last September and a $299 million contract extension in 2022. However, u/MisterMasterCylinder pointed to unique wording in Wednesday’s press release announcing the AI platform company’s latest contract.

"The posture of this one is promising and somewhat unique.  It was awarded for prototype development using the OTA authority, which provides a pathway to a full production contract without having to complete it (potentially). I don’t know the details of this agreement, but there’s a definite possibility that if Palantir’s prototypes are successful, this could lead to a much larger production contract down the road,” u/MisterMasterCylinder speculated in a post on r/WallStreetBets. 

The redditor correctly noted that the contract "covers the development of 10 TITAN prototypes," according to Palantir's ( PLTR ) press release. 

"It’s just a prototype agreement. If it leads to a production contract, expect a value several times this," u/MisterMasterCylinder added in the thread. 

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Another Reddit user u/Future-Muscle-2214 replied to the post, talking about Wednesday’s gains in terms of market capitalization.

"$180 million contract followed by a $3.7B gain in premarket," u/Future-Muscle-2214 said, highlighting Palantir's ( PLTR ) surge following the latest contract announcement in the same thread. 

Palantir ( PLTR ) stock is climbing on heavy trading volume Wednesday and has a current market cap of $52.685 billion. Retail investors are keeping a close eye on the stock which has already "rocketed" up more than 50% in 2024. Palantir ( PLTR ) shares have more than tripled over the last year, largely driven by the company’s positioning in the AI space.

PLTR Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Palantir ( PLTR ) shares were up 9.05% at $25.96 at the time of publication.

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