AXON vs PLTR: Axon vs Palantir Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Axon is a public safety hardware+software company with AI expanding its platform into cloud evidence management and report writing, while Palantir is a pure AI/data analytics platform serving government and commercial customers. Axon has more tangible hardware revenue and law enforcement dominance; Palantir has broader AI platform potential across government and enterprise.
Use this AXON vs PLTR comparison to evaluate two different government AI investment approaches. Axon offers a hardware+software platform with high switching costs in law enforcement; Palantir offers a pure-play AI analytics platform with both government and commercial growth.
PLTR holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. PLTR has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+5.63% vs -38.38%), though AXON has the better forward P/E setup (45.33x vs 80.50x for PLTR). PLTR leads on both revenue growth (92.80%) and operating margin (47.12%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for AXON (+47.33%) than for PLTR (+2.89%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want government AI exposure anchored by a dominant hardware platform (body cameras, TASERs) with recurring cloud revenue
- Value Axon's tangible product moat and deep law enforcement relationships that create high switching costs
- Believe AI-powered public safety tools (Draft One, drone-as-first-responder) represent large TAM expansion
- Prefer a company with proven product-market fit in a specific vertical rather than a horizontal AI platform
- Want the broadest AI platform exposure across government defense/intelligence and commercial enterprise
- Believe AIP's ability to deploy AI on enterprise data represents a massive commercial TAM
- Prefer a pure software/AI company without hardware manufacturing complexity
- Are comfortable with a premium valuation for a high-growth AI platform with government contract durability
| Metric | AXON | PLTR |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 68.5 | 70.7 |
| AI ranki | #46 | #37 |
| Latest closei | $430.11 | $189.67 |
| 1M returni | -29.20% | +6.86% |
| 6M returni | +0.04% | +32.58% |
| 1Y returni | -38.38% | +5.63% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | AXON | PLTR |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $6.04K (-39.6%) started 2025-09-25 | $10.59K (+5.9%) started 2025-09-25 |
| 5Y ago | $24.03K (+140.3%) started 2021-09-27 | $69.05K (+590.5%) started 2021-09-27 |
| 10Y ago | $151.98K (+1419.8%) started 2016-09-26 | $199.65K (+1896.5%) started 2020-09-30 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | AXON | PLTR |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $38.94B | $447.67B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 199.72 | 159.22 |
| Forward P/Ei | 45.33 | 80.50 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 96.76 |
| EV/Revenuei | 12.46 | 71.25 |
| Analyst targeti | $706.21 | $191.68 |
| Target upsidei | +47.33% | +2.89% |
| Metric | AXON | PLTR |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 35.30% | 92.80% |
| Earnings growthi | -18.20% | 215.40% |
| EPS growthi | -18.20% | +215.40% |
| FCF margini | +6.90% | +35.07% |
| Operating margini | 5.17% | 47.12% |
| Profit margini | 6.19% | 49.01% |
| ROIC proxyi | 6.22% | 38.10% |
| Return on equityi | 6.22% | 38.10% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 1.40 | 1.56 |
| Debt/equityi | 50.36 | 2.14 |
| Current ratioi | 2.15 | 7.23 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.58 | 7.09 |
Over the past year, AXON and PLTR have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.48), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | AXON | PLTR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -39.60% | +5.89% |
| CAGRi | -39.65% | +5.90% | |
| Volatilityi | 62.21% | 60.57% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.57 | 0.31 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.81 | 0.50 | |
| Max drawdowni | 54.45% | 48.22% | |
| Current drawdowni | 43.36% | 8.45% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 29.87% | 22.91% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 32.94% | 25.99% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.28% | 11.62% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 26.04% | 17.88% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +140.26% | +590.46% |
| CAGRi | +19.18% | +47.23% | |
| Volatilityi | 50.61% | 66.95% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.51 | 0.84 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.78 | 1.34 | |
| Max drawdowni | 60.28% | 78.16% | |
| Current drawdowni | 50.62% | 8.45% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 18.61% | 32.63% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 25.04% | 40.89% | |
| Max daily dropi | 16.42% | 21.31% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.05% | 38.89% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +1419.82% | +1896.53% |
| CAGRi | +31.28% | +64.90% | |
| Volatilityi | 50.44% | 70.02% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.70 | 0.99 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.08 | 1.64 | |
| Max drawdowni | 60.28% | 84.62% | |
| Current drawdowni | 50.62% | 8.45% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 17.67% | 39.60% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 22.88% | 47.55% | |
| Max daily dropi | 16.42% | 21.31% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.05% | 38.89% |
| Category | AXON | PLTR |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Axon Enterprise, Inc. | Palantir Technologies Inc. |
| Sector | Industrials | Technology |
| Industry | Aerospace & Defense | Software - Infrastructure |
| Core business | Public safety technology company providing body cameras, TASER devices, cloud evidence management (Axon Evidence), drone-as-first-responder (DFR), AI-powered report writing (Draft One), and the Axon Fleet vehicle camera system. | AI and data analytics platform serving government (Gotham) and commercial (Foundry, AIP) customers with data integration, operational analytics, and AI/ML deployment tools. |
| Investor focus | Cloud software (Axon Evidence) recurring revenue growth, AI product adoption (Draft One), TASER device upgrades, drone program expansion, and international market penetration. | AIP (Artificial Intelligence Platform) commercial adoption, government contract expansion, Rule of 40+ growth-margin profile, and international market penetration. |
- Dominant market position in body cameras and TASER devices with deep law enforcement relationships and high switching costs
- Axon Evidence cloud platform creates sticky recurring revenue with growing AI capabilities (Draft One AI report writing)
- Drone-as-first-responder program and AI-powered products represent large TAM expansion opportunities
- Deep government relationships with defense, intelligence, and federal agencies — Palantir's platforms are embedded in critical national security workflows
- AIP (Artificial Intelligence Platform) is driving accelerating commercial revenue growth by enabling enterprises to deploy AI on their own data
- Strong Rule of 40+ profile combining revenue growth with high adjusted operating margins
- Government procurement cycles can create lumpy quarterly revenue
- Premium valuation requires sustained double-digit growth in both hardware and cloud software
- International expansion faces different regulatory environments and competitive dynamics than the U.S. market
- Premium valuation is among the highest in enterprise software — requires sustained high growth to justify
- Government contract renewals and budget cycles introduce revenue timing uncertainty
- Commercial AIP adoption must continue accelerating to prove Palantir is more than a government contractor
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