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Famed investor Michael Burry has been bearish on the S&P 500 for ages now. But the blue-chip index continues going up, proving him flawed (at the very least to this point).
Regardless of this, the investor is doubling down on his AI-is-in-a-massive-bubble thesis. And he reckons this hyper-growth inventory is weak to an enormous share value crash.
Cassandra unchained
As a reminder, Burry was portrayed by British actor Christian Bale in The Massive Quick movie. There are numerous sensible scenes on this film, however my private favorite is when Steve Carell’s character is instructed by a dancing stripper that she owns 5 homes and a condominium — all financed with adjustable-rate mortgages.
That’s when the penny drops that there’s a subprime mortgage bubble. Anyway, lengthy story brief (no pun meant), Burry and the others have been proper and made a fortune.
Right this moment, he sees one other bubble with AI and has launched a paid Substack referred to as ‘Cassandra Unchained’ to submit his analysis on this topic.
No room for hiccups
This week, Burry shared a chart figuring out a selected buying and selling sample within the share value of Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR). He believes it has breached a vital assist stage and will fall to $80, after which presumably as little as $50.
With the share value at the moment at $135, this means Palantir might crash by 50% or extra!
Lending credence to this view is the software program inventory’s sky-high valuation. Proper now, its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is round 45, whereas the ahead price-to-earnings (P/E) a number of is above 100.
Palantir has been pushed to those ranges by distinctive firm progress, which has fuelled a near-700% share value rally because the begin of 2024. Nevertheless, at its present valuation, there’s completely no room for any earnings hiccups (a key threat).
Getting extra
Now, it ought to be remembered that Burry is speaking a few inventory buying and selling sample. In contrast, The Motley Idiot is concentrated on long-term investing (5 years or extra). Over this time interval, such patterns usually quantity to nothing greater than distant zigs and zags on a chart.
Palantir closed the fourth quarter with $4.26bn of whole contract worth, a key software program bookings metric, which represented year-on-year progress of 138%. And administration expects 61% top-line progress in 2026.
Palantir’s ‘Rule of 40’ rating – that’s the corporate’s income progress fee plus working margin – clocked in at an unbelievable 127%. In software program circles, hitting 40 is seen as wholesome for a rising enterprise (therefore the rule).
Maybe it ought to be doubled and renamed the ‘Rule of 80’ now Palantir has made a mockery of it!
If the inventory have been to crash wherever close to $70, I’ll add it to my Shares and Shares ISA. At this stage, the forward-looking P/E a number of can be round 40, based mostly on forecasts for 2027.
For an organization as worthwhile as this, I believe that may show good worth. As a result of even when Burry is true and an AI bubble pops, it’s unlikely that firms and organisations will instantly cease utilizing Palantir’s Foundry and AIP (Synthetic Intelligence Platform). These are serving to prospects make higher choices and change into extra environment friendly and worthwhile.
With the inventory down 35% since November, I’m undoubtedly getting extra . However I’m not prepared to purchase it simply but.
