Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) posted Q4 2025 revenue of $1.41 billion, up 70% year-over-year, while CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ: CRWD) reported Q4 FY2026 revenue of $1.31 billion, up 23% year-over-year. Both are pure-play software compounders riding AI adoption, but they operate in fundamentally different markets: one sells AI-powered decision intelligence to enterprises and governments, the other sells AI-native cybersecurity platforms to enterprises at scale. finance.yahoo
Which is the better long-term buy?
Quick Read
Palantir (PLTR) posted Q4 2025 revenue of $1.41B (+70% YoY), with U.S. commercial revenue hitting $507M (+137% YoY) and total contract value reaching a record $4.26B (+138% YoY) intellectia
CrowdStrike (CRWD) reported Q4 FY2026 revenue of $1.31B (+23% YoY), with subscription revenue of $1.24B comprising 95.2% of total revenue and ARR surpassing $5.25B (+24% YoY) bayelsawatch
Palantir trades at ~82.5x forward P/E, pricing in sustained U.S. commercial acceleration above 100% growth through 2026; CrowdStrike trades at ~69.1x forward P/E, supported by predictable subscription ARR and a path to 28–32% non-GAAP operating margins news.futunn
AI Decision Layer vs. AI Security Layer
Palantir's quarter was defined by the explosive adoption of its AI Platform (AIP) in U.S. commercial settings. U.S. commercial revenue hit $507 million in Q4 2025, up 137% year-over-year, while total contract value closed reached a record $4.26 billion. The company has effectively repositioned itself from a government data analytics firm into an enterprise AI operating system, with its boot camp-driven sales model accelerating deal velocity at a rate that has forced analysts to rethink its growth ceiling. intellectia
CrowdStrike's quarter was defined by something different: the recovery and re-acceleration following the July 2024 software outage that temporarily dented customer trust. Net new ARR grew 47% year-over-year to a record $331 million in Q4, and the company crossed the $5 billion ARR milestone — the fastest dedicated cybersecurity software company to do so. CrowdStrike's Falcon platform now consolidates endpoint, cloud, identity, and AI-native threat detection into a single agent, making displacement costly for customers. nasdaq
Business Driver | Palantir (Q4 2025) | CrowdStrike (Q4 FY2026) |
|---|---|---|
Revenue | $1.41B (+70% YoY) | $1.31B (+23% YoY) |
Primary Growth Engine | U.S. Commercial AIP | Subscription ARR Expansion |
Non-GAAP Gross Margin | ~84.6% | 79% (record) bayelsawatch |
Free Cash Flow (Quarter) | $791M | $376M (+57% YoY) bayelsawatch |
ARR / Forward Revenue Guide | $7.19B FY2026 guidance youtube | $5.87–$5.93B FY2027 guidance reuters |
Revenue Growth vs. Revenue Predictability
Palantir's FY2026 revenue guidance stands at $7.19 billion at the midpoint, implying ~61% year-over-year growth — a figure that would be exceptional for a software company at this scale. The upside scenario hinges on U.S. commercial AIP contracts continuing to expand from boot camps into long-term enterprise deployments, a dynamic that has held for six consecutive quarters but carries concentration risk in a single growth vector. intellectia
CrowdStrike's FY2027 revenue guidance of $5.87–$5.93 billion implies 22–23% growth. That is slower than Palantir's trajectory, but the quality of CrowdStrike's revenue is structurally different: 95% of revenue is subscription-based, cybersecurity spending is broadly classified as mission-critical and non-discretionary, and the ARR base of $5.25 billion provides a predictable floor that Palantir's project-driven model does not. Full-year FY2026 free cash flow reached $1.24 billion (26% of revenue), with long-term FCF margin targets set at 34–38%. tikr
Valuation: What You're Paying For
Palantir's ~82.5x forward P/E prices in sustained hyper-growth execution with minimal room for deceleration in U.S. commercial. CrowdStrike's ~69.1x forward P/E is supported by a more durable recurring revenue base and a demonstrated path to expanding non-GAAP operating margins of 28–32%. Neither is cheap. The divergence is essentially a bet on whether you believe AI-driven decision intelligence (Palantir) or AI-native security consolidation (CrowdStrike) represents the more durable enterprise spending priority over the next three to five years. linkedin
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. All figures are sourced from company earnings releases. Past performance is not indicative of future results.