VIDEO: What to Expect at Palantir’s AIPCon Event

In today’s Daily Rundown video, Chris Versace explains why the market has shrugged off the softer-than-expected print found in today’s February Producer Price Index report, and why we’re not all that surprised. He goes on to explain why we will stick to our plan for TheStreet Pro Portfolio focusing on these three criteria as we look for fresh candidates for the portfolio and the bullpen. 

After touching on Wednesday’s Alert for Eaton Corp. ETN, Chris shifts gears and explains what we’re looking to hear at Palantir’s PLTR AIPCon 6 event this afternoon.

Transcript

CHRIS VERSACE: Hey, everybody. Chris Versace here, Thursday, March 13, or, as I like to think about it, one day before 3.14, or March 14, which, for all you math fans out there probably know it is pi day, hence the 3.14. My suggestion is get yourselves ready. Get some pie in advance.

Now, with that little bit of fun out of the way, let's get back to the market. And as we're halfway through the trading day today, despite the softer-than-expected PPI data for February, especially that modest contraction that we saw on the sequential core PPI figures, as we discussed in our opening comments, tariffs and the continued uncertainty continue to rattle markets.

Yesterday, when the market was rebounding, we shared that despite the move higher from oversold levels, well, the reality is it's going to take more than one or two good data points, like we saw yesterday with the February CPI or even the PPI reports, to get the market moving on a sustained basis higher. And, candidly, if we think about the timing of the last couple of weeks, what we heard on tariffs versus the February CPI and PPI reports, the reality is that those figures for those inflation reports are a little rear-view-mirrorish at this point. And folks are concerned about what's mounting ahead of us, especially given what's on the docket for potentially April.

So remember, we're going to continue to pay close attention to this. Could some of this be more escalated negotiating tactics? Certainly possible. But I think that as we move forward and get closer, we're going to have to examine the possibilities of what these tariffs will actually mean on different companies as well as inflation prospects and the consumer. We've had some concerns that we've started to discuss with you about the June quarter earnings guidance. We'll have more comments on that in tomorrow's weekly roundup.

But I will share this with you, that today's renewed market pressure has pushed the S&P 500 back into oversold territory. Yes, it did bob above an RSI level of 30 yesterday. But again, today's renewed market pressure is pushing it back below 30. So what are we going to do? Well, given our expectation that we were likely to see market choppiness over the next couple of days, next few weeks, depending on what happens, we will continue to stick to our plan. Well, what is that?

We're going to continue to evaluate new positions for the portfolio in the bullpen, sticking to our multi-pronged criteria. What is that criteria? Multi-year tailwinds, structural changes, superior EPS prospects. And we'll be, of course, not chasing stocks. But we will be picking our spots along the way when we see compelling risk-to-reward entry points or pick-up points for existing positions in the portfolio.

So as we think about those criteria, really that multi-pronged criteria, multiyear tailwinds, structural changes, superior EPS prospects, I have to think about the alert that we shared with you yesterday following Eaton's Investor Day. It's simply a great example when we walk through what's powering the structural change in terms of spending for electric, power, and demand. Simply, you really have to read the alert. But it's also much more than that because of the amount of megaprojects and the backlog of those megaprojects coming into this year.

So we're inclined to be patient investors with Eaton. We picked up some shares recently. And I think that given where the shares are, for members, either if you're new members or if you're folks that are underweight Eaton shares, it's a good place to be picking them up. Remember when we talked about the moves we made yesterday, we said that Eaton would be a good position.

For the portfolio, it's just we already have a sizable position, so we're barring anything else. We're a little happy with the position size that we have. But again, for newer folks or folks who are underweight, a great pickup point. And again, read that alert. It really speaks to that multi-pronged criteria I was just describing.

But coming up today, we do have Palantir's AIPCon number 6 coming up. Now, what is AIPCon? Well, if you think of Apple's WWDC event or Meta's Connect Event or some of the other events that companies tend to have, like Google does their annual IO Event, for example, this is an event where Palantir showcases new tools, new capabilities, and potentially new customer announcements.

So we suspect that, just given the timing of this, that the management team, well, they're likely to come out swinging, especially given the drop that we've seen in Palantir shares really over the last several weeks. And it's, again, that drop that allowed us to kind of step in and start building a position in Palantir. Now, what do I think the message is going to be? Well, I think it's going to be one that is a combination of AI adoption, productivity gains for the customers, and how that continues to drive a very favorable outlook-- revenue, earnings, call it what you will-- for Palantir.

And again, as I just said, we've built a relatively small size in Palantir shares. And while we're not going to chase them, would we be interested in scooping up more for the portfolio? Sure we would, but it's going to be at the right price.

So we will continue to watch the technical setup that we addressed with you when we first added the shares earlier this week. But we will also be listening to what we hear this afternoon with an eye towards our initial price target of $87. If we hear certain things, perhaps we will need to adjust that price target higher by a few dollars.

But what that means is that, as we write our comments following today's event, you have to continue to check your emails. So be sure to do that. Be sure to read our opening comments from this morning. And yes, we will be having much more coming at you later today. So check your emails, check your emails. And I would just say thanks for watching today's video.

At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long ETN.