Wedbush’s widely followed analyst Dan Ives raised his outlook for Palantir , seeing the software maker as an essential winner in the artificial intelligence boom. “We believe Palantir has a ‘golden path to become the next Oracle’ over the coming years and while the valuation is expensive today we see the Messi of AI as a core winner in the trillions of AI spend over the next few years,” Ives said in a note to clients. The tech analyst hiked his 12-month price target to $160 from $140 after recent checks strengthened his confidence in the firm. Palantir’s shares have skyrocketed nearly 90% this year alone to about $143 apiece. Ives’ new target represents a 12% upside. PLTR YTD mountain Palantir year to date Palantir, founded in 2003 by a group that included Peter Thiel, the company’s chairman, and CEO Alex Karp, has benefitted from a booming government business , which includes a $178 million contract to build artificial intelligence-enabled systems for the U.S. Army . “PLTR continues to see unprecedented demand for AIP based on our recent checks in the field across both commercial and government landscapes by taking AI solutions that solve meaningful problems across organizations at enterprise scale driving new customer conversions and existing deal expansions,” Ives said.