Palantir's new SEC filing signals valuation of $20 billion ahead of imminent direct listing

• In its newly updated direct listing prospectus, Palantir revealed its sum of fully diluted shares and gave investors the latest hint at its public market valuation.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission filing states the company has about 2.17 billion diluted shares. With an average share price of $9.17, Palantir boasts a potential valuation of $19.9 billion.
• Still, the company's possible valuations vary widely when using the stock's full trading range. Shares traded hands for as little as $4.17 and as much as $11.50, signaling possible market caps of $9.1 billion to $25 billion.
• Investors trying to peg the firm's total value will get their answer next week when Palantir is set to commence its direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Palantir published its third updated public offering prospectus on Monday, revealing its sum of fully diluted shares and giving investors new clarity on where the firm's valuation may land.

The data-mining giant is slated to go public through a direct listing on September 23, but previous Securities and Exchange Commission filings did little to forecast Palantir's public valuation. Monday's filing states the firm has 2.17 billion diluted shares. With a volume-weighted average share price of $9.17, that sum pegs Palantir's valuation at roughly $19.9 billion.

Still, other methods of calculation set a wide range of possible market caps. Shares have traded between $4.17 and $11.50 each through August before stock transfers were paused this month. That range signals a valuation between $9.1 billion and $25 billion when using the most recent count of diluted shares.

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The latest prospectus brings Palantir's potential valuation more in line with its past projections. The company touted a $20.3 billion valuation in 2015 after an $880 million private funding round. Yet the firm's previous filing lacked a diluted share count, leaving potential investors with a wide valuation range of roughly $6.8 billion to $18.8 billion.

Palantir noted that its fully diluted share count as of September 1 would've been closer to 1.9 billion, excluding the more than 250 million shares that have been issued through options and restricted stock units.

Those curious as to how public markets will value the data firm will have an answer soon enough. Palantir's listing on the New York Stock Exchange marks one of the biggest public debuts of the year and boosts the reputation of direct listings. The method differs from traditional initial public offerings in that the company doesn't issue and sell any new shares. Instead, existing shareholders are able to more freely trade the stock.

Palantir will also reserve the right to publicly sell shares later on.

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