Planet Labs PBC (PL) Secures $230M Deal to Expand Pelican Satellites and Advance AI Capabilities

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Important AI News and Ratings for Today. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) stands against the other AI stocks.

In the rapidly shifting landscape of artificial intelligence, the recent market developments have raised important questions about the future of the tech sector. As new players like DeepSeek emerge, the role of AI technologies and their potential to disrupt established companies has become a hot topic. Industry experts, including Greg Fleming, president and CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management, are examining how these changes might affect investment strategies and the broader market.

The Growing Role of Open-Source AI in Shaping Market Dynamics

Greg Fleming recently joined CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ and discussed the recent tech sell-off and the impact of DeepSeek on the AI landscape. He emphasized that while it’s unclear whether DeepSeek’s technology is significantly superior, the overall AI space is transformative and will continue attracting substantial investment. Fleming noted that efficiency improvements in AI are expected as the technology progresses, which could lower costs and increase demand. However, he pointed out that the shift towards open-source AI models raises important questions about control and costs, with many companies exploring alternatives to expensive closed systems like OpenAI.

Fleming also addressed the broader implications of AI, suggesting that while some companies may not directly compete in AI development, they could still benefit from AI integration in other ways, like edge computing. He believes the AI market will continue to grow and attract more investment despite potential shifts in leadership among AI providers.

For this article, we selected AI stocks by reviewing news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 hedge funds.

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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

A satellite in orbit against a blue sky, displaying the power of the company’s space-based systems.

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 8

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) designs and launches satellite constellations to provide geospatial data and analytics. Planet Labs signed a $230 million deal with an Asia-Pacific partner to develop Pelican high-resolution satellites, expanding services for government and commercial clients. The agreement, its largest to date, will generate revenue over seven years without additional capital or debt. The company is also advancing AI-driven satellite capabilities, including Pelican-2’s NVIDIA GPU for faster data processing and real-time space-to-space connectivity with NASA. Planet’s geospatial data supports industries like defense, agriculture, and sustainability by providing real-time global insights.

Overall PL ranks 8th on our list of the AI stocks in the news and ratings. While we acknowledge the potential of PL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.