Palantir is currently the much larger and more profitable business, while C3 AI is a far smaller enterprise-AI company that remains loss-making. The latest reported quarters are not directly aligned—Palantir’s quarter ended June 30, 2026, and C3 AI’s ended July 31, 2026—so every comparison below identifies its period. Palantir’s operating results show rapid growth, substantial GAAP profit and strong cash generation. C3 AI reported positive free cash flow in its latest quarter, but still reported a GAAP loss and is forecasting a substantial non-GAAP operating loss for fiscal 2027. Those operating differences do not, by themselves, establish which stock is better valued or more attractive at its current market price.
Palantir and C3 AI at a glance
The companies both sell enterprise software that uses artificial intelligence, but they describe different product architectures. Palantir presents a common operational software platform connecting data integration, applications, AI and deployment. C3 AI presents an enterprise AI platform alongside industry-specific software applications and domain-focused generative-AI products.
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| Measure | Palantir | C3 AI |
|---|---|---|
| Latest reported quarter | Q2 2026, ended June 30, 2026 | Q1 FY2027, ended July 31, 2026 |
| Quarterly revenue | $1.935 billion; up 93% year over year (Palantir Technologies Inc., Q2 2026) | $52.4 million, including $49.2 million of subscription revenue (C3.ai, Inc., Q1 FY2027) |
| Latest-quarter GAAP profitability | $912.0 million operating income and $1.062 billion net income attributable to common stockholders | $0.60 GAAP net loss per share; the company remained loss-making |
| Latest-quarter cash flow | $1.216 billion operating cash flow and $1.220 billion adjusted free cash flow | $2.1 million positive operating cash flow and $2.1 million positive free cash flow |
| Management revenue outlook | FY2026 guidance of $8.150–$8.158 billion | FY2027 guidance of $210–$240 million |
| Recent annual revenue | $4.475 billion in calendar 2025, up 56% year over year | $250.3 million in FY2026, year ended April 30, 2026 |
These are reported figures from different fiscal calendars, and the guidance figures are forecasts rather than historical results.
What Palantir sells
Foundry: data and operational applications
Palantir’s 2025 Form 10-K describes Foundry as software for integrating and analyzing organizational data and for building operational applications. The intended use is not simply producing analytics dashboards. Foundry is positioned as a system in which an organization can connect data, model business or mission processes, and deploy applications that support day-to-day decisions and operations.
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AIP: controlled use of language models
Palantir describes its Artificial Intelligence Platform, or AIP, as a way to use language models and other AI in enterprise and government workflows. Its product description emphasizes security controls, auditability and human review. Those controls matter for organizations that cannot allow an unreviewed model response to trigger a sensitive operational action.
Apollo: software delivery across environments
Apollo is described as a software delivery layer that operates across cloud, on-premises and other environments. That deployment capability is strategically important for customers with classified, regulated, disconnected or otherwise nonstandard infrastructure. It also makes Palantir’s offering broader than an AI application that runs only in a public cloud.
Customer and revenue mix
Palantir reported 954 customers as of December 31, 2025. For calendar 2025, 54% of revenue came from government customers and 46% from commercial customers. The mix gives investors two different demand engines to monitor: public-sector contracts and commercial deployments. It also means a change in government procurement timing can affect results even when commercial demand is healthy.
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What C3 AI sells
The C3 Agentic AI Platform
C3 AI describes the C3 Agentic AI Platform as software for developing, deploying and operating enterprise AI applications. The company’s own description centers on an underlying platform rather than a single chatbot or model. In principle, that can let customers build multiple applications on shared enterprise data and model-management capabilities.
Industry and domain applications
Alongside the platform, C3 AI offers industry-specific software applications and domain-specific generative-AI offerings. Examples in the company’s portfolio are organized around enterprise use cases rather than consumer software. This application approach can make a product easier to map to a business problem, but investors should distinguish management’s product description from an independent assessment of adoption or effectiveness.
Why the product labels should not be treated as interchangeable
Both companies use the term “AI,” yet the disclosed emphasis differs. Palantir describes an integrated operational stack spanning data, applications, AI and delivery. C3 AI describes a platform plus an application portfolio. The difference affects how an investor should examine implementation work, recurring revenue, sales cycles and the potential for one customer deployment to expand into additional workflows.
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Scale and growth: the latest numbers
Palantir’s Q2 2026 performance
For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Palantir reported revenue of $1.935 billion, an increase of 93% from the same period a year earlier. The size of that quarterly revenue base is already several times larger than C3 AI’s full fiscal-year revenue reported for FY2026. Palantir’s management subsequently raised FY2026 revenue guidance to $8.150–$8.158 billion. That range is company guidance, not a result already earned.
C3 AI’s Q1 FY2027 performance
For the quarter ended July 31, 2026, C3 AI reported $52.4 million of revenue. Subscription revenue was $49.2 million, or approximately 94% of the total. Subscription mix is useful because it identifies the recurring portion of reported revenue, but it does not by itself show retention, expansion or profitability.
Annual context and fiscal calendars
Palantir’s 2025 calendar-year revenue was $4.475 billion, up 56% year over year. Government revenue was $2.402 billion and commercial revenue was $2.073 billion. Palantir’s fiscal year follows the calendar year in the cited annual filing.
C3 AI reported FY2026 revenue of $250.3 million. Its fiscal year ended April 30, 2026, so that annual figure does not cover the same months as Palantir’s 2025 results. Comparing the dollar totals still demonstrates the difference in company scale, but a precise growth comparison should use each company’s own comparable prior period.
Profitability and cash generation
Use GAAP measures first
Palantir’s Q2 2026 GAAP income from operations was $912.0 million, a 47% operating margin. GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders was $1.062 billion, a 55% margin. These figures show that the latest quarter was profitable after the expenses included under generally accepted accounting principles.
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Cash flow is not the same as earnings
Palantir reported $1.216 billion of cash from operations and $1.220 billion of adjusted free cash flow in Q2 2026. Palantir says adjusted free cash flow excludes certain items and should not be considered separately from GAAP measures. Its release states that non-GAAP measures should be considered “in addition to, not as a substitute for, or in isolation from, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.”
C3 AI reported positive operating cash flow and positive free cash flow of $2.1 million in Q1 FY2027. C3 AI defines free cash flow as operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment and capitalized software-development costs. Because the definitions differ, an investor should not place the two free-cash-flow figures in a single ranking without reconciling the adjustments.
Annual margin context
Palantir’s 2025 gross margin was 82%, compared with 80% in 2024. C3 AI’s FY2026 GAAP gross margin was 31%, and its GAAP net loss per share for that fiscal year was $3.35. Gross margin is not a complete measure of software quality, but the gap indicates materially different economics in the periods reported: Palantir converted a much larger share of revenue into gross profit before operating expenses.
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Palantir’s disclosed mix
Palantir provides both a customer count and a government-versus-commercial revenue split. Those disclosures let investors track whether growth is broadening across sectors or is being driven by a smaller number of large contracts. The company also warns that it must grow and retain customers, convert contract value into recognized revenue and manage complex implementations.
C3 AI’s concentration risk
C3 AI’s latest release identifies customer concentration as a risk, along with customer acquisition and retention. The release does not provide a matching government/commercial mix that can be compared directly with Palantir’s percentages. It would therefore be misleading to infer that the companies have equivalent concentration profiles from the available disclosures.
Long sales cycles affect both businesses
Enterprise and government software often requires security reviews, procurement approvals, integration work and user adoption before revenue is recognized. Palantir lists long sales cycles and complex implementation among its risks. C3 AI likewise identifies long sales cycles and the productivity of its restructured sales and services organization as risks. A favorable product demonstration is not the same as a signed contract, a live deployment or expanding recurring revenue.
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Outlook and execution risk
Palantir’s FY2026 guidance
Palantir’s $8.150–$8.158 billion FY2026 revenue outlook reflects management’s expectations after the Q2 2026 quarter. Investors should test future results against that range while remembering that guidance can change. The company lists risks involving strategy execution, demand, customer retention, contract conversion, sales-cycle timing and implementation complexity.
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C3 AI’s FY2027 outlook
C3 AI forecasts FY2027 revenue of $210–$240 million and a non-GAAP operating loss of $123–$155 million. The company says the forward non-GAAP figures cannot be reconciled to GAAP on a forward-looking basis because future expenses are uncertain. The range is therefore a management forecast, not evidence that a turnaround has been completed.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas M. Siebel said in C3 AI’s September 2, 2026 results release: “Revenue has stabilized, free cash flow is positive, operating loss has narrowed, and Forrester Research named C3 AI a leader in Enterprise AI.” This is management’s characterization of the business and should be weighed against the reported loss, historical revenue and guidance rather than treated as an independently verified conclusion.
Specific C3 AI execution questions
Beyond the forecast, investors need to watch whether the restructured sales and services organization becomes more productive, whether customers renew and expand, and whether the company can retain key executives. C3 AI lists market acceptance, customer acquisition and retention, executive retention and its history of losses among its risks.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What “Palantir vs. C3.ai stock” can and cannot answer
Operating comparisons answer questions about business scale, growth, margins, cash generation and execution. They do not answer whether either stock is cheap. A smaller company can have a higher valuation multiple than a larger profitable company, and a fast-growing company can still deliver a poor investment return if its share price already discounts optimistic assumptions.
Why a valuation comparison is missing here
A valid stock comparison requires share prices from the same date, share counts or market capitalizations, and an explicit earnings basis. Possible bases include trailing GAAP earnings, forward GAAP earnings, revenue, or a clearly defined cash-flow measure. The available operating disclosures do not provide a synchronized price-and-multiple set, so assigning a “winner” on valuation would be unsupported.
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A practical valuation checklist
- Record both closing share prices on the same date.
- Calculate market capitalization using the same share-count convention for both companies.
- Choose one denominator—such as trailing GAAP revenue or earnings—and label it clearly.
- For forward multiples, identify the estimate source, fiscal period and whether it is GAAP or non-GAAP.
- Adjust the interpretation for cash, debt, dilution, stock-based compensation and unusual items.
- Stress-test the valuation against slower growth, lower renewal rates or delayed contracts.
How to compare the companies before making an investment decision
Start with the business you are actually buying
Read the product disclosures and identify whether your thesis depends on Palantir’s integrated operational platform, C3 AI’s platform-and-applications model, or simply continued demand for enterprise AI. A thesis based only on the shared AI label leaves out the implementation and deployment differences that can determine revenue timing.
Separate reported results from forecasts
Put historical revenue, GAAP profit or loss and cash flow in one worksheet. Put guidance in a separate section. Do not treat Palantir’s raised FY2026 outlook or C3 AI’s FY2027 turnaround expectations as if they were achieved results.
Track the leading indicators
- Palantir: customer additions and retention, government and commercial mix, conversion of contract value into revenue, implementation capacity and sales-cycle length.
- C3 AI: subscription retention and expansion, customer concentration, sales-and-services productivity, renewal rates, operating-cost control and progress toward the forecast loss range.
Reconcile non-GAAP measures
Read each company’s definition before comparing adjusted operating income or free cash flow. A metric with the same name can exclude different expenses. Keep GAAP operating income, net income or loss and cash flow as the primary cross-company reference points.
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Which company fits which investor thesis?
Thesis centered on scale and current profitability
Palantir’s disclosed results fit a thesis that prioritizes a much larger revenue base, rapid reported growth, GAAP operating profit and substantial cash generation. That thesis still depends on the company sustaining demand, retaining customers and executing difficult implementations.
Thesis centered on a smaller-company turnaround
C3 AI fits a different thesis: a smaller enterprise-AI vendor whose latest quarter produced positive free cash flow despite a GAAP loss, with management forecasting future revenue and a narrower operating loss than in the prior quarter. The risk is correspondingly higher because the company remains loss-making, has identified customer-concentration and sales-execution concerns, and must deliver its forecast.
Thesis centered on price rather than operating quality
If your decision is primarily about expected return from the current share price, the operating comparison is only the starting point. Use synchronized market data and a defined valuation method; do not substitute revenue scale or an attractive product narrative for valuation analysis.
Bottom line for investors
Palantir and C3 AI are not interchangeable AI stocks. Palantir’s disclosed platform spans data, operational applications, AI and deployment, and its latest reported quarter showed far greater scale, GAAP profitability and cash generation. C3 AI describes a platform and application portfolio, reported a much smaller subscription-led quarter, remained GAAP loss-making, and is pursuing a forecast turnaround that has not yet been established as an outcome. Because the latest quarters end on different dates and no synchronized valuation data is provided, the responsible conclusion is an operating comparison—not a claim that one stock offers better value.
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