Remember when everything touched by the letters “A” and “I” felt unstoppable? Yeah, November 2025 just served a cold reminder that gravity still exists—even in tech.
I opened my trading app on the morning of November 28th and did a legitimate double-take. Palantir, the stock that had been marching upward like it was personally offended by the concept of pullbacks, was down another 4%. That made it officially 16% lower for the month—the worst stretch since the dark days of August 2023. And it wasn’t alone.
Something shifted this month. The AI trade, for the first time in what feels like forever, looked… mortal.
The November Bloodbath No One Saw Coming
Let’s be honest—Palantir started November on a downright triumphant note. They dropped third-quarter numbers that crushed estimates across the board. Second consecutive billion-dollar revenue quarter? Check. Commercial growth still accelerating? Absolutely. The earnings call even had that cocky energy we’ve come to expect from Alex Karp and the team.
Then reality barged in wearing Michael Burry’s trademark scowl.
Burry—the guy who called the housing crash, the guy Christian Bale played in The Big Short—didn’t just maintain his short position on Palantir. He doubled it. And for good measure, he kept his bearish bet against Nvidia too. When that 13F hit the wires, you could almost hear the collective gasp across trading floors.
When the “Smartest Guy in the Room” Bets Against You
Look, I’m not saying Michael Burry is infallible. Far from it. But when he plants a flag, people notice. And this time his timing felt eerily precise.
Within days the analyst notes started pouring in:
- Jefferies calling the valuation “extreme”
- RBC worrying about “increasingly concentrated growth”
- Deutsche Bank straight-up admitting they can’t get their heads around the multiple
And just like that, the narrative flipped. The same investors who were happy to pay any price for AI exposure three months ago suddenly remembered what a forward earnings multiple is.
233 times forward earnings. Let that sink in for a second.
– What every value investor was screaming into the void this month
By comparison, Nvidia—actual Nvidia—was trading around 38x at the end of the month. Alphabet? About 30x. Even after the beating, Palantir still costs more than six Nvidias on a forward P/E basis. That’s the kind of math that keeps portfolio managers up at night.
Alex Karp Goes Full Combat Mode
If you thought the CEO was going to take this lying down, you clearly haven’t been paying attention for the last decade.
Alex Karp did not one but two CNBC hits in the same week—something that almost never happens. And he came out swinging.
“The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy.”
Alex Karp, essentially daring the bears to bring it
He accused Burry of market manipulation. Called the short thesis “egregious.” At one point he basically told anyone who missed the run to grab some popcorn and enjoy the tears of the non-believers. Vintage Karp.
Honestly? I kind of love the chaos. In a world of polished, focus-grouped CEO speak, watching Karp just absolutely unload is refreshingly human.
It Wasn’t Just Palantir—The Entire AI Complex Got Smoked
Let’s zoom out for a second because this story is bigger than one company.
November 2025 will be remembered as the month the AI trade finally met resistance:
- Nvidia down over 12%
- Microsoft and Amazon both off about 5%
- Quantum computing pure-plays like Rigetti and D-Wave? Down more than a third
- The only Magnificent 7 winners? Apple and Alphabet
For the first time since the ChatGPT mania began, investors asked the question out loud: Are we in a bubble?
And the answer, at least for November, was a resounding “maybe.”
The Deals Kept Coming—But No One Cared
Here’s the wild part: Palantir actually announced some legitimately impressive wins during the month. A multi-year partnership with PwC to accelerate AI adoption across the UK. A deal with FTAI for aircraft engine maintenance. The commercial segment is still growing like a weed.
None of it mattered. The stock barely budged on the announcements. When valuation fear takes over, fundamentals take a backseat.
I’ve been through enough of these cycles to know the script. Growth stocks run far ahead of fundamentals, the multiple expands to absurd levels, something (or someone) lights the fuse, and then the purge begins. We’re in the purge phase right now.
So… Is This the Top?
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Yes, 233x forward earnings is objectively insane. Yes, Michael Burry will be insufferable if he’s right again. Yes, the AI trade needed a breather.
But also—Palantir is printing real money now. The government business is essentially a locked-in annuity. The commercial side is inflecting in a way almost no one believed possible two years ago. And the ontology/AIP platform actually seems to be resonating with Fortune 500 types who were previously skeptical.
In other words, the bull case hasn’t disappeared—it just got a lot cheaper.
“We are every day making this company better and we’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries.”
Alex Karp, reminding everyone this isn’t just another software company
Whether you love him or hate him, the guy believes. And history has shown that founder-led companies with a near-religious mission tend to outperform over long periods—especially when they reach profitability escape velocity.
What Happens Next?
My gut? We’re probably not done with the pain yet. December often brings tax-loss harvesting, and a lot of 2025’s monster winners are ripe for selling. Palantir could easily test the 200-day moving average (somewhere in the mid-70s right now) before finding a real floor.
But here’s the flip side: every great growth story has at least one “wait, is this over?” moment. Amazon had several. Tesla had a dozen. The companies that matter don’t stay down forever.
If Palantir can keep executing—if Q4 shows continued commercial acceleration and margin expansion—this drawdown will look like the gift it probably is in hindsight.
Or Michael Burry will be right again and we’ll all be shaking our heads in 2027 wondering how we fell for the AI hype twice.
Either way, November 2025 just gave us the kind of volatility that makes markets interesting again.
Buckle up. The next chapter is going to be wild.
