August 19th, 2025 | 07:20 CEST
JD.com, NetraMark, Palantir – Opportunities in the second tier
The extremely high valuations of the big players in artificial intelligence are a thorn in the side of many analysts. The sharp rise in share prices of Nvidia and Palantir, the latter of which has already reached dot-com status with a current price-to-earnings ratio of no less than 242, means that a healthy consolidation is long overdue. In contrast, AI companies from the second and third tier are standing out, whose potential has so far been largely overlooked by investors.
time to read: 3 minutes
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Author:
Stefan Feulner
ISIN:
JD.COM. INC. A | KYG8208B1014 , NETRAMARK HOLDINGS INC | CA64119M1059 , PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC | US69608A1088
Table of contents:
"[...] Defence will continue to develop its Antibody Drug Conjugates "ADC" and its radiopharmaceuticals programs, which are currently two of the hottest products in demand in the pharma industries where significant consolidations and take-overs occurred. [...]" Sébastien Plouffe, CEO, Founder and Director, Defence Therapeutics Inc.
Author
Stefan Feulner
The native Franconian has more than 20 years of stock exchange experience and a broadly diversified network.
He is passionate about analyzing a wide variety of business models and investigating new trends.
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Palantir – High flyer before a sell-off?
Caution is advised with data specialist Palantir, the stock market star of recent months, from both a technical and fundamental perspective. After reaching a new all-time high of USD 190.00, the stock was sold off over the next three trading days. Both the trend-following indicator, MACD, and the Relative Strength Index issued sell signals. The first target is the price gap that opened at USD 160.66 at the beginning of August.
According to short seller Andrew Left, the downside risk for Palantir is even more significant than many assume. With an expected price-to-earnings ratio of 242 and an extremely high price-to-sales ratio of 137, the stock is, in his view, significantly overvalued. While he expresses admiration for CEO Alex Karp, the Citron Research analyst warns that the share price could fall by two-thirds in the best-case scenario, which would still leave Palantir valued at 35 times its revenue.
According to Left, no big data company can reasonably ask investors to ignore fundamental valuation metrics. He calls such multiples historically unsustainable, stating: "There has never been a company with such a P/E ratio that has not corrected by at least 50%."
He also points to the looming competitive pressure from Databricks, which may go public this year and already serves a large number of corporate customers. Left believes a fair valuation for Palantir would be between USD 40 and USD 50.
NetraMark – Next piece of the puzzle
While Palantir commands an astronomical market valuation of USD 420 billion, Canadian innovator NetraMark, specializing in generative AI and machine learning for the pharmaceutical industry, is currently capitalized at just USD 98.30 million. Yet, the market it serves is massive, and its proprietary NetraAI platform could prove to be a real game changer.
The NetraAI platform leverages advanced AI algorithms to identify reliable patterns even from the smallest data sets. This technology makes it possible to predict the success of therapies at an early stage, identify risks in good time, and shorten the duration of clinical trials by up to 30%. At the same time, the dropout rate is significantly reduced, saving not only time but also considerable costs.
A key milestone in the Company's development was the strategic partnership with Worldwide Clinical Trials (WCT). Through WCT's global network, NetraAI will be used in Phase 2 trials for neurological and oncological drugs. Additional collaborations are in place, including with the renowned National Institute of Mental Health and a leading global pharmaceutical company.
NetraMark's latest achievement is the signing of a contract with Asklepion Pharmaceuticals to support data analysis for a key Phase III pediatric clinical trial.
NetraAI's innovative AI technology will be used to evaluate patient data in the CIT-003-01 study. The study, initiated by Asklepion, aims to test the efficacy of intravenously administered L-citrulline. The goal is to prevent acute lung injury in children who require cardiopulmonary bypass due to a congenital heart defect.
JD.com - New strategy shows results
JD.com, one of China's largest e-commerce companies with a nationwide logistics network, significantly exceeded market expectations in the most recent quarter. Revenue rose 22.4% to USD 49.8 billion, the strongest growth since the fourth quarter of 2021. Analysts had only expected USD 46.7 billion.
Growth was driven primarily by new business areas such as food and hot meal delivery services, which grew by 198.8% to USD 1.9 billion, thanks to the existing infrastructure. The core business also significantly exceeded expectations. E-commerce revenue rose by 20.6% to USD 43.4 billion, while the logistics division grew by 16.6% to USD 7.2 billion.
At USD 0.69, JD.com exceeded expectations of USD 0.49 per share, but fell short of the previous year's figure of USD 1.31. This was due to higher expenses, with marketing in particular seeing a 127.6% increase to USD 3.8 billion compared to the same period last year. Net profit thus halved to USD 862 million, while free cash flow fell slightly to USD 3.1 billion.
Nevertheless, the balance sheet remains strong. Over USD 31 billion in cash and cash equivalents enable share buybacks of USD 1.5 billion in the quarter and a constant dividend of USD 0.25 per ADR, corresponding to an annual yield of 3.1%. Despite the strong figures, JD shares struggled to hold their ground in the market and are currently trading at USD 31.70, only marginally above their low for the year of USD 30.60.
According to analysts, Palantir is significantly overvalued with a disproportionately high P/E ratio. JD.com's share price failed to benefit despite strong figures. NetraMark has secured a significant contract with Asklepios.
Conflict of interest
Pursuant to §85 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), we point out that Apaton Finance GmbH as well as partners, authors or employees of Apaton Finance GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "Relevant Persons") may hold shares or other financial instruments of the aforementioned companies in the future or may bet on rising or falling prices and thus a conflict of interest may arise in the future. The Relevant Persons reserve the right to buy or sell shares or other financial instruments of the Company at any time (hereinafter each a "Transaction"). Transactions may, under certain circumstances, influence the respective price of the shares or other financial instruments of the Company.
In addition, Apaton Finance GmbH is active in the context of the preparation and publication of the reporting in paid contractual relationships.
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