Tech Stock Roundup: Palantir Extends Dips, Block Misses Estimates, Intel May Sell Units

Key Takeaways

• Palantir stock dropped by 14% in a week due to concerns over defense cuts and CEO selling shares.
• Block’s fourth-quarter earnings missed Wall Street’s expectations, with a notable stock drop following the release.
• Intel is considering selling parts of its business, with Broadcom, TSMC, and Silver Lake marked as potential buyers.

Palantir stock dropped last week, impacted by defense cut concerns. Despite this, it’s still a top performer in 2025.

Block missed fourth-quarter earnings expectations, with stock falling 7% for the day and 19% for the week.

Intel is in talks to sell parts of its business to Broadcom, TSMC, and Silver Lake, but its cross-licensing deal with AMD could block the sale.

Palantir Extended Losses

Palantir (PLTR) , heavily reliant on government contracts, saw its stock drop 10% on Wednesday and another 5% on Thursday, marking a 14% loss for the week—one of its worst.

Despite this, Palantir remains the second-best performer in the S&P 500 for 2025, up 40% year to date and 350% over the past year.

The stock decline is linked to potential risks from defense cuts following the Trump Administration’s order to reduce  the Pentagon budget by 8% annually over five years, with exemptions for border security and missile defense.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has set a deadline of Feb. 24 for a detailed plan.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp and President Stephen Cohen have set up Rule 10b5-1 trading plans , allowing them to sell up to 10 million and 4 million shares under specific conditions through September 2025.

Block Earnings Missed Market Expectations

Block’s fourth-quarter earnings and revenue missed Wall Street expectations , causing the stock to drop over 7% after the results. The XYZ stock dropped by 19% during the whole week.

Adjusted earnings rose 51% to 71 cents per share, falling short of the expected 88 cents, while net revenue grew 4% to $6.03 billion, missing the $6.3 billion forecast.

Despite this, the company’s gross payment volume from merchant transactions grew 10%, surpassing expectations.

Management remains optimistic, citing new product launches and the integration of Afterpay into Cash App as key drivers for future growth.

CEO Jack Dorsey highlighted the potential of merging Cash App and Square into a unified ecosystem, reducing the need for multiple apps.

The company is also expanding its Bitcoin investment with an open mining system, which it expects to have a significant market impact.

Analysts are still positive about Block’s future , projecting over 15% growth in 2025 and long-term stock potential reaching $364 by 2036.

Intel, AMD, Broadcom, TSMC Quadrangle

Intel is reportedly considering selling parts of its business, with Broadcom, TSMC, and Silver Lake among the potential buyers. However, Intel’s complex cross-licensing agreement with AMD could complicate the sale, as AMD could potentially block the deal.

After Intel’s stock lost about half its value in 2024, rivals started showing interest. Intel rejected an offer from Qualcomm and an Arm proposal to buy its product division.

Following CEO Pat Gelsinger‘s departure in December, Intel’s future as both a chip designer and manufacturer is uncertain. Intel is reportedly in talks to sell its design business to Broadcom and its foundry unit to TSMC, while Silver Lake seeks a majority stake in Intel’s Altera subsidiary.

Intel and AMD’s intellectual property agreement gives AMD the right to terminate the license if Intel is acquired, meaning AMD could block a sale of Intel’s design business.

While Broadcom’s acquisition would not directly impact AMD’s manufacturing business, it would make Broadcom a stronger competitor to AMD in the CPU market.

AMD could potentially leverage this situation to secure compensation or collaboration opportunities with Broadcom.