One of Silicon Valley's oldest private startups has filed confidentially to go public, and may follow Spotify and Slack in opting for direct listing. Co-founded in 2003 by famed investor Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies conducts sensitive and extensive data-mining work for large companies and government agencies. Reports suggest that Palantir has yet to turn an annual profit, though it has been valued privately at as much as $20B and is in the midst of raising nearly $1B in new capital, separate from an IPO. (SA)

Deal-making is back… Sunrun, the largest U.S. residential solar company, is acquiring a leading competitor, Vivint Solar, to form one of the world's largest providers of solar equipment with about 500K customers. The all-stock deal, unanimously approved by the companies' boards, is valued at $3.2B including debt, and is expected to deliver annual cost savings of about $90M. Vivint shareholders will get 0.55 shares of Sunrun for every share held, representing a premium of 10.4% to Vivint's close yesterday. (FT)

Shares of Tesla jumped for a fourth straight session on Monday, soaring another 13.5% to $1,371, and underscoring some concern on Wall Street about the “lofty” valuation of the automaker.  The California-based carmaker is now valued at more than $260 billion, well ahead of Toyota's $206 billion and more than four times the combined market value of Ford and General Motors. (FT)

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Josh Fenili.