Palantir Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares are trading higher Thursday. The stock appears to be benefiting from an Army contact modification announced after the market close on Wednesday.

What Happened: Late Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced that it awarded Palantir a $795 million modification to a contract for its Maven Smart System software licenses.

The contract was initially announced in May 2024 as a $480 million fixed, firm-price contract. This week’s modification brings the total contract value up to nearly $1.28 billion, with an estimated completion date of May 28, 2029. 

Project Maven was originally launched in 2017 with the aim of accelerating AI use for the U.S. military, according to reports. The program utilizes AI to help analyze large amounts of data and imagery from various military sources.

Palantir said earlier this month that U.S. government revenue increased 45% year-over-year in the first quarter. Despite a multitude of government contracts in recent years, the company is seeing an even bigger acceleration on the commercial side. U.S. commercial revenue climbed 71% in the company’s most recent quarter and Palantir guided for full-year 2025 U.S. commercial revenue in excess of $1.18 billion.

Several analysts have lifted price targets on Palantir in recent weeks, ranging from $90 to $140. Goldman Sachs maintained a Neutral rating while raising its target from $80 to $90, suggesting caution following Palantir’s massive 500% surge over the past year.

Earlier this month, Wedbush’s Dan Ives maintained an Outperform rating and raised the target from $120 to $140, calling Palantir a generational tech name that could rise to a $1 trillion market cap over the next three years.

Palantir had a market cap of approximately $284 billion as of Wednesday’s close, according to Benzinga Pro data.

PLTR Price Action: Palantir shares were up 3.86% at $125.24 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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