MICROSOFT CORPORATION vs Palantir Technologies Inc., two Software stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Economically these are two different kinds of software company before any ratio is named. Microsoft is a broad stack of cloud, licenses, and subscriptions sold at scale, which shows up as a 68% gross margin, a 46% operating margin, and a 36% net margin spread across an enormous base. Palantir is a narrower, deployment-heavy data-platform business, higher at the gross line near 87% and similar at the operating line near 46%, with a 44% net margin and no debt against a current ratio near 7. Their returns on equity nearly match, 28% for Microsoft and 27% for Palantir, yet the prices do not: Microsoft near 25 times earnings, Palantir near 144. The market pays Microsoft for cash it already generates, a 2.5% free-cash yield, and pays Palantir almost six times the multiple for growth it has yet to bank.
Comparison updated 2026-06-15.
| Metric | MSFT | PLTR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $385.09 | $126.75 |
| Market cap | $2.87T | $325.9B |
| Sector | Software | Software |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +15.0% | — |
| P/E | 22.9 | 142.4 |
| P/B | 6.92 | 38.08 |
| P/S | 9.01 | 62.38 |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.8 | 160.3 |
| Revenue growth | +17.9% | +66.4% |
| Gross margin | 67.6% | 86.8% |
| Operating margin | 46.3% | 46.2% |
| Net margin | 36.0% | 43.7% |
| Return on equity | 27.6% | 26.7% |
| Return on assets | 16.5% | 22.4% |
| Return on invested capital | 26.0% | 23.0% |
| FCF yield | 2.5% | 0.8% |
| Dividend yield | 0.9% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.12 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 1.28 | 6.91 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.32 | 7.35 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 5 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.