We recently published a list of 11 Best Reddit Stocks to Invest In. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) stands against other best Reddit stocks to invest in.
In finance, cognitive biases tend to affect investor decision-making, says Austin Barbosa, CFA, senior analyst in Client Portfolio Management at iA Global Asset Management. Among such biases, confirmation bias is particularly pervasive. This bias refers to the inclination to favour information aligning with pre-existing beliefs while, at the same time, also discounting contradictory evidence. Confirmation bias gets exacerbated by echo chambers on social media platforms, in which algorithm-fueled content personalization results in an environment reinforcing investors’ views.
To provide a brief context, an echo chamber in social media means an environment in which people are mainly exposed to opinions, information, and views which reinforce existing beliefs. Renowned social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit remain mainly prone to such dynamics, primarily among younger retail investors, which affects market dynamics.
Social Media’s Impact on Financial Decisions
Interplay between confirmation bias and echo chambers resulted in significant financial phenomena over the past few years, says Barbosa. One critical point in this regard focuses on GameStop — the rally of 2024. This stemmed from the re-surfacing of Keith Gill on Reddit and X after a break of ~3 years. The return of Keith resulted in a sudden increase in GameStop’s stock price, increasing by over 70% in a single day and touching a peak of ~$31, only to fall by more than 50% in just a few days, as per Barbosa.
Reuters, while referring to the comments made by Steve Sosnick (Chief strategist at Interactive Brokers), highlighted that this is a characteristic of a pattern which has been evolved in GameStop’s trading — the stock’s price tends to increase, then after it settles down or witnesses a correction, Gill’s persona again emerges via social media post.
Even in the cryptocurrency market, social media platforms such as X and Reddit resulted in speculative hype, mainly during bull runs, says Barbosa. Several market enthusiasts bought into projects such as Cardano (ADA) without understanding the risks. Then Cardano saw a significant decline, falling over ~40% from its 2024 peak, highlighting uncertainty and volatility.
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What Should be The Strategy?
Austin Barbosa, CFA believes that platforms such as X and Reddit also provide significant value to stay informed. While X provides access to breaking news and expert opinions, Reddit enables in-depth discussions and diverse community insights. Instead of relying on a single subreddit, it is of utmost importance to explore several other finance-oriented communities which provide different viewpoints. If an investor engages with diverse perspectives, it will help prevent the pitfalls of group thinking, providing a broader understanding of overall market dynamics. It is important to supplement the information sources through trusted and reliable financial news outlets, and market research reports.
Our Methodology
To list the 11 Best Reddit Stocks to Invest In, we sifted through Reddit threads and narrowed our list to the 11 best stocks by selecting the trending ones. Next, we chose the ones that are popular among hedge funds. Finally, the stocks were arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiments, as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A business executive discussing investment opportunities in a stock exchange office.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is engaged in building and deploying software platforms for the intelligence community to help in counterterrorism investigations and operations. Investment firm William Blair upped the company’s stock from “Underperform” to “Market Perform” as a result of the recent decline in its stock price. Notably, the company’s stock has seen a decline of ~30% in the past month. William Blair likes Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s strong revenue growth and operating margins. In Q4 2024, the company’s revenue saw an increase of 36% YoY and 14% quarter-over-quarter to $828 million.
Looking ahead, the firm anticipates Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) to win new contracts with the U.S. government. The company’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) possesses the potential to be a game-changer when it comes to enterprise AI adoption. The platform’s capability to integrate, secure, and manage data while offering AI-powered insights places it as a comprehensive solution for companies focusing on leveraging AI throughout operations. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s success in implementing AIP throughout industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and supply chain, exhibits its versatility and potential for increased adoption.
Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“Two software stocks that the Fund did not own, Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) and AppLovin Corporation, each gained more than 100% and accounted for 52% of the Benchmark’s gain during the quarter. At year end 2024, Palantir was valued at approximately 200 times its expected 2024 earnings, while AppLovin was valued at 80 times. The market cap of each exceeded $100 billion, and the two stocks represented nearly 8% of the Index. Neither company met our criteria for investment. The total impact on relative performance from Palantir and AppLovin was about 7 times higher than we have seen historically for two securities that are unique to the Benchmark, showing just how unparalleled the event was and something that we believe is unlikely to be repeated.”
Overall, PLTR ranks 6th on our list of best Reddit stocks to invest in. While we acknowledge the potential of PLTR as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than PLTR but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.