So, Rackspace Technology (RXT) is having quite a Friday. Shares were up a whopping 42% at $1.73. That's a move that gets your attention, especially when the broader market is just... there. The Nasdaq was up 0.93% and the S&P 500 up 0.53%, but Rackspace was in a league of its own.

Why the party? It all goes back to Wednesday, when the company announced it's teaming up with the data analytics powerhouse, Palantir Technologies (PLTR). This isn't just a handshake deal. The plan is to accelerate the deployment of Palantir's flagship software—its Foundry and Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP).

Here's the interesting part about where this software will live. Rackspace is going to host it within its own Private Cloud and its UK Sovereign data centers. This is a classic move for the "trust us, but not the public cloud" crowd. Think banks, governments, healthcare—industries with rules so strict they make your head spin. They want the power of Palantir's AI and data crunching, but they need it locked down in a private, controlled environment. Rackspace is essentially building the high-security vault for Palantir's tools.

To make this work, you need people who know how to use the tools. Rackspace currently has 30 engineers already trained on Palantir's systems. Their pledge? To blow that team up to 250 within the next year. That's a serious commitment to making this partnership more than just a press release.

What the Charts Are Saying

Let's look at the tape. Technically, this move is explosive. The stock is trading a staggering 112.1% above its 20-day simple moving average. That's a sharp, short-term extension. It's also 21.7% above its 100-day average, which suggests the intermediate-term trend is improving. Context is everything, though. Even with this pop, shares are still down 57.47% over the past year. They're closer to the 52-week low of 39 cents than the high of $3.03.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is sitting at 70.05, which puts it in what traders call "overbought" territory. That often suggests the stock might need to catch its breath—a pullback or some consolidation could be in the cards. On the other hand, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is flashing a bullish signal, with the MACD line above the signal line.

For the traders watching levels: $1.50 is seen as a key resistance point to watch on the upside, while $1.00 is a notable support level.

The Upcoming Report Card

All this excitement is happening just before the company has to show its report card. Rackspace is scheduled to report earnings on February 26th. Here's what the analysts are expecting:

• Earnings Per Share (EPS) Estimate: A loss of 1 cent. That's actually an improvement from the loss of 2 cents a year ago.
• Revenue Estimate: $672.56 million. That's a slight dip from the $685.60 million reported in the same quarter last year.

Since the company isn't currently profitable, traditional valuation metrics like the P/E ratio aren't really in play here. The focus for investors will be on the progress of this new Palantir partnership and whether it can start moving the needle on the top and bottom lines.