Palantir Climbs 4% Through $180, BigBear.ai Rises 4%, ServiceNow Holds Flat: How Are Traders Picking the Software Winners?

David Moadel

Fri, August 21, 2026 at 8:10 PM GMT+3 4 min read

Quick Read

Palantir cleared $180 and BigBear.ai each jumped 4% Friday, driven by federal AI spending demand while enterprise-focused ServiceNow sat flat.
The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF fell 4% year to date, closely tracking Palantir's 2026 loss, while BigBear.ai's 4% pop barely dents its 43% drawdown.
The FY2027 Pentagon budget requests $58.5 billion for AI, including $46 billion for a sovereign AI Arsenal, anchoring the fundamental case for government AI names.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and ServiceNow didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Friday's midday bid across AI is concentrated in government-facing names, not enterprise software. Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock is up 4% to $181.25, clearing a $180 level that traders had been watching. BigBear.ai (NYSE:BBAI) stock is rising 4% to $3.20, moving in sympathy with the leader. Meanwhile, ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) stock is unchanged/flat at $129.81 as the company's enterprise workflow business apparently fails to impress today's traders.

Shutterstock / Piotr Swat

Palantir clearing $180 is the headline, but the more revealing number sits in the year-to-date column. Through Thursday's close, Palantir stock was down 2% year to date, which leaves Friday's push looking like reclaimed ground rather than a breakout into new territory.

Government AI Names Get The Bid

Palantir and BigBear.ai sell AI and data analytics into federal and allied-government customers, and both stocks are up 4% on the session. ServiceNow sells workflow software into commercial enterprises and is unchanged on the same tape. Sorting by end customer, not by sector, is the useful observation on Friday.

There's no Palantir company announcement, contract award, filing or analyst action confirmed behind Friday's move. Instead, $180 had been a psychological threshold market participants were focused on, and today's tape carried the stock through it. Recent Reddit chatter around Palantir has skewed cautious, with an investing-subreddit thread asking how long the AI valuation cycle can realistically run (we wrote a free handbook on riding a mania without giving the gains back).

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Budget math still supports the trade. The FY 2027 President's Budget requests $58.5 billion for AI investment at the Department of War, including $46 billion for a multi-year sovereign AI Arsenal and $2.3 billion for Maven Smart System and Joint Fires Network. That pipeline is the fundamental case sitting underneath the government AI trade.

Year To Date Numbers Cut The Other Way

Palantir stock was up 31% over the past month through Thursday's close, but was still down 2% year to date through that same close. A month that strong still leaving 2026 underwater shows how much ground was lost earlier in the year.

BigBear.ai stock was down 43% year to date through Thursday's close, so an identical 4% session means something very different for the two names. ServiceNow stock was down 15% year to date through that same close, and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF was down 4% year to date through Thursday's close, closely tracking Palantir's own 2026 result.

Small-cap dynamics drive a different profile at BigBear.ai. That stock trades as an AI and defense proxy that often moves in sympathy with Palantir, but its 2026 drawdown means today's 4% pop still leaves the name well underwater on the year.

What to Watch

Traders may want to watch whether Palantir stock holds the $180 line into Friday's close, since a slip back below the level would undercut the day's technical story. ServiceNow's next scheduled catalyst is its Q3 2026 earnings report on October 21, well past today's tape.

Investors should size any fresh exposure to Palantir or BigBear.ai shares carefully given each name's very different 2026 base. A 4% print off a 43% year-to-date drawdown at BigBear.ai is a different setup than a 4% print off a 2% drawdown at Palantir, and the risk profiles diverge accordingly.