MSFT vs PLTR Stock Comparison

Microsoft and Palantir Technologies Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MSFT Microsoft Corp
$524.51 +4.8% 1M +0.8% 1Y
Market cap
$3.96T
P/E
29.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$331.84B
Div. yield
0.01%
Cloud Platforms Technology
5 wins

Head to Head

9 decided of 12

Microsoft leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Microsoft 5, Palantir Technologies 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionMSFTPLTRLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.96T $477.64B MSFT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 29.6x 158.3x MSFT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 25.7x 118.5x MSFT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +17.8% +78.9% PLTR
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 40.3% 49.0% PLTR
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 26.7% — –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.2x — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +0.8% +9.0% PLTR
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +11.2%/yr +51.8%/yr PLTR
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 32.7% 59.5% MSFT
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 79/100 68/100 MSFT

Percentile Scorecard

MSFTPLTR

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisMSFTPLTR
Valuation 54 #18 of 38 22 #79 of 101
Growth 77 #9 of 36 100 #1 of 97
Profitability 97 #2 of 34 96 #5 of 94
Financial Health 84 #7 of 38 98 #3 of 109
Shareholder Returns 81 #5 of 22 25 #48 of 64
Overall 79 68
  • MSFT ranked among 39 companies in Cloud Computing
  • PLTR ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodMSFTPLTRSPY
1 month +4.8%+2.6% -1.0%
3 months +37.4%+60.1% +2.9%
6 months +23.5%+37.5% +6.4%
Year to date +8.5%+10.7% +11.4%
1 year +0.8%+9.0% +13.1%
3 years +58.7%+1,082.4% +79.4%
3 years, per year +16.7%+127.9% +21.5%
5 years +69.7%+705.4% +67.7%
5 years, per year +11.2%+51.8% +10.9%
10 years +779.2%— +255.2%
10 years, per year +24.3%— +13.5%

Risk

MeasureMSFTPLTRSPY
Volatility, 1Y 32.7%59.5% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 30.9%56.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.001.98 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.020.15 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -37.6%-77.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -3.5%-5.9% -2.5%
52-week high $543.45$209.05 $779.14
52-week low $352.83$107.27 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleMSFTPLTR
P/E now vs peer median 29.1xmedian 29.1x 156.5xmedian 29.9x
P/S now vs peer median 11.7xmedian 4.5x 76.8xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 19.4xmedian 21.5x 174.0xmedian 17.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 58.2xmedian 17.3x 140.8xmedian 16.9x
P/B now vs peer median 8.8xmedian 3.9x 47.8xmedian 3.1x
PEG now vs peer median 1.28median 0.33 0.55median 0.86

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsMSFTPLTR
Revenue $331.84B $6.16B
Gross profit $225.47B $5.22B
Operating income $155.24B $2.63B
Net income $133.75B $3.03B
Free cash flow $66.99B $3.36B
R&D $35.56B $641.24M
EPS (diluted) $17.95 $1.17
Cash & equivalents $20.94B $2.03B
Total debt $164.03B –
Shares (diluted) 7.45B 2.57B
Enterprise value $3.88T $446.59B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricMSFTPLTR
P/E 29.1x 156.5x
P/FCF 58.2x 140.8x
P/Operating cash flow 21.3x 139.0x
P/S 11.7x 76.8x
P/B 8.8x 47.8x
P/Tangible book 9.2x 47.8x
EV/EBITDA 19.4x 174.0x
EV/EBIT 24.9x 175.9x
EV/Revenue 11.6x 75.3x
EV/FCF 57.6x 138.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 21.1x 136.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.28 0.55

Growth

14 metrics
MetricMSFTPLTR
Revenue growth (1Y) 17.8% 78.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 16.1% 44.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 16.3% 89.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 15.6% 47.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) 20.8% 362.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 20.6% 247.7%
Net income growth (1Y) 31.3% 292.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 22.7% 308.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 31.6% 294.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 22.8% 286.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 34.4% 96.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 27.8% 103.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -6.5% 96.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 4.0% 107.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricMSFTPLTR
Gross margin 67.9% 84.8%
EBITDA margin 59.9% 43.3%
Operating margin 46.8% 42.8%
Pretax margin 50.0% 49.9%
Net margin 40.3% 49.0%
FCF margin 20.2% 54.6%
Operating cash flow margin 55.1% 55.2%
Return on equity 31.2% 32.9%
Return on assets 18.4% 27.7%
Return on invested capital 26.7% –
Return on capital employed 27.8% 28.0%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 1.1x
Stock comp / revenue 3.7% 13.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricMSFTPLTR
Debt / assets 5.3% –
Debt / equity 0.1x –
Net debt / EBITDA -0.2x –
Debt / FCF 0.6x –
Liabilities / assets 41.7% 15.4%
Equity / assets 58.3% 84.6%
Interest coverage 50.9x –
Current ratio 1.2x 7.2x
Quick ratio 0.9x 7.1x
Cash ratio 0.5x 6.1x
Altman Z-score 9.18 160.20

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricMSFTPLTR
Dividend yield 0.7% –
Net buyback yield 0.5% 0.0%
Shareholder yield 1.2% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) 19.8% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 39.5% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 9.8% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 10.1% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusMSFTPLTR
Forward P/E 25.7xFY2027 118.5xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $20.38FY2027 $1.66FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +17.9%FY2027 +121.3%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +11.5% +45.8%
Revenue, next fiscal year $402.02BFY2027 $8.41BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +21.1%FY2027 +87.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +12.7% +37.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersMSFTPLTR
Held by institutions 73.9% 60.3%
Institutions holding 6,227 2,836
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.3% +10.9%
Institutions buying 3,432 1,480
Institutions selling 2,425 1,093
Buyers to sellers 1.42 1.35

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

MSFTPLTR
MSFT 1.00 0.42
PLTR 0.42 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, MSFT and PLTR?

Microsoft (MSFT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Microsoft (MSFT) $3.96T, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) $477.64B.

Which stock is cheaper, MSFT and PLTR?

Microsoft (MSFT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Microsoft (MSFT) 29.6x, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 158.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Microsoft (MSFT) is cheapest (Microsoft (MSFT) 25.7x, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 118.5x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Microsoft (MSFT) +17.8%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +78.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has the highest net margin (Microsoft (MSFT) 40.3%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 49.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Palantir Technologies (PLTR) returned the most: Microsoft (MSFT) +0.8%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +9.0%. Over five years, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) compounded fastest (Microsoft (MSFT) +11.2%/yr, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) +51.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Microsoft (MSFT) 0.01%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 0.00%. Palantir Technologies (PLTR) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Microsoft (MSFT) has been the steadiest (Microsoft (MSFT) 32.7%, Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 59.5%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do MSFT and PLTR move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.42, a moderate positive relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, MSFT and PLTR?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Microsoft (MSFT) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.