Palantir Rises 5%, Cloudflare Pops 3% as Investors Pile Into AI Security Plays

The post Palantir Rises 5%, Cloudflare Pops 3% as Investors Pile Into AI Security Plays appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock is up 5% in Monday midday trading, changing hands near $134. The move comes alongside a broad risk-on rally, with the NASDAQ 100 tracking ETF Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) up 3% on the session.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) stock is following the same script, trading higher by 3% to around $235 and change. There’s no identified company-specific catalyst for either name today, which makes the parallel moves notable.

Investors appear to be rotating back into AI and security software exposure as risk appetite returns. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 1.9% intraday, confirming the breadth of the bid.

Risk-On Rally Lifts AI and Security Software

The catalyst is macro-related, not company-specific. A U.S.-Iran peace deal announced Sunday has lifted equities, pushing major indexes back toward highs and reviving appetite for higher-beta growth names.

Palantir fits that profile cleanly. Palantir stock carries a beta of 1.5 and a forward P/E ratio of 88x, and it tends to amplify directional moves in the broader market. Cloudflare stock is even more sensitive, with a beta of 1.7 and a forward P/E ratio of 189x.

Both names sit in the AI infrastructure and security segment. Palantir’s AIP platform powers government and commercial AI deployments, while Cloudflare provides the edge-network and zero-trust security layer that increasingly carries agentic AI traffic. When investors reach for AI and security software exposure, these two are first-call tickers.

Context: A Bounce Inside a Down Year

Today’s pop in Palantir shares lands inside a tough year. PLTR stock is down 24% year to date (YTD) and trades well below its 200-day moving average of $160.42. Still, the company’s fundamentals remain strong, with 85% year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth in Q1 2026, but the valuation has been the sticking point.

Cloudflare has traveled a different path. NET stock is up 20% YTD, helped by the company’s pivot to an agentic AI-first operating model and a $42.5 million annual contract value deal disclosed alongside Cloudflare’s Q4 2025 results.

CEO Matthew Prince has framed the opportunity bluntly, declaring that “AI is driving a fundamental re-platforming of the Internet… it’s shaping up to be the biggest tailwind we’ve ever seen in Cloudflare’s history.” That narrative is doing some of the work on days like today.

What to Watch Now

Both stocks are speculative, high-volatility names that can give back gains as quickly as they take them. Wall Street’s average price target sits at $183.73 for Palantir and $243.11 for Cloudflare, suggesting analysts already see fair value not far from current levels.

Investors can watch for whether today’s gains hold into the close and whether QQQ and SPY maintain their intraday strength. If the macro bid fades, beta names like these tend to lead the retracement on the way down.

The post Palantir Rises 5%, Cloudflare Pops 3% as Investors Pile Into AI Security Plays appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..