Equities
Stories about space companies’ finances, including earnings reports and M&A news.
ARKX Q1 Recap
ARK Space Exploration & Innovation (ARKX) is an ETF managed by the eponymous, iconoclastic, and currently down-bad NYC fund manager ARK Invest. The space ETF launched at the end of last March, so it just recently celebrated its first bday. Time for a check in… At the end of Q1, ARKX’s assets under management stood…
Lockheed, Iridium Report Q1 Earnings
Yesterday, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Iridium (NASDAQ:IRDM) reported Q1 2022 financial results. To set the scene, Lockheed has a $122.6B market cap and is up 29.4% this year. Iridium is at a $5.4B market cap and up 3.3% YTD. $LMT LM Space recorded $2.6B in Q1 revenue, a 15% annual drop. The defense contractor attributed…
A Convo with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck on Reusability, Launch Demand, and More
Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) will attempt to pluck a booster from the skies via helicopter later this month. The effort, if successful, would represent the first time that a small launch vehicle’s booster is recovered. “It’s actually, by far, the hardest thing to do,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck told Payload Friday. The company…
BlackSky’s Brian E. O’Toole on Space’s “Internet Moment”
BlackSky (NYSE:BKSY) is a geospatial intelligence and continuous monitoring company. The Herndon, VA-based space company has been in the news at fairly regular intervals in recent months, due to its role in supplying open-source imagery and intelligence related to Ukraine. Payload sat down with BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole at Space Symposium earlier this week to…
Planet (NYSE:PL) Releases Q4 ’22 and FY’22 Earnings
On Thursday, Planet released Q4 and full-year (for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022) financial results. Planet booked $131.2M in revenue last year, the company said yesterday in Q4 & FY 21 financial results. The planet-scanning company is growing at a healthy clip: 2021’s results represent a 16% jump over 2020. Q4 was Planet’s…
AST SpaceMobile Releases Q4 and Full-Year 2021 Financial Results
Midland-based AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) isn’t in the business of pumping petroleum. Rather, the $1.8B Texas company wants to build a space-based, satellite-to-phone cell phone network. Financial results Headed into 2022, AST had $325M in cash/equivalents and $5M of debt. FY and Q4 ‘21 OpEx were $91.6M (+235% YoY) and $31.3M (+35% YoY), respectively. AST SpaceMobile…
Astra Releases Q4 and Full-Year 2021 Financial Results
Image via Astra. Note: This slide was pulled from Astra’s Dec. ’21 investor deck, not IR materials presented Thursday. Astra (Nasdaq:ASTR) recorded a net loss of $257.8M in 2021, the company said Thursday. That’s a 278% annual increase, but to be fair, Astra was making and launching more rockets last year than it was in…
Virgin Orbit Reports FY 2021 Financial Results
Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB) lost $157M in 2021 on $7.4M in revenue, the company said yesterday. $VORB finished the day up 8.4%. KPIs at a glance: Adj. EBITDA: -$140M (vs. -$158M in 2020) Cash on hand: $194M Backlog: $575M, 26% of which is covered by binding agreements, and good for a 500% YoY increase. Context: This…
A Q&A with @Iridiumboss Matt Desch
Matthew Desch is the CEO of Iridium (NASDAQ:IRDM), a $5.1B satellite operator based in McLean, VA. Payload recently caught up with Desch across town at Satellite 2022. Over the course of an hour, we chatted about (shocker) satellites, constellation strategy, corporate reinvention, Iridium’s moat, “commodity broadband,” Ukraine, dual-use tech, SPACs, and more. There are three…
Tomorrow.io SPAC Called Off
Pine Technology Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PTOC) and Tomorrow.io (née ClimaCell) have called off their SPAC merger, the two said yesterday. $PTOC closed the day down ~1.4%. Announced Dec. 7, the transaction was expected to give the weather forecasting company (and nascent constellation developer) a $1.2B post-deal valuation, while providing Tomorrow.io with up to $420M in gross…
Canaccord Genuity Initiates Coverage of Virgin Orbit with ‘Buy’ rating and $20 PT
Last Monday, Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB) with a ‘Buy’ rating and $20 price target. Shares of $VORB were $6.92 when Canaccord published its research. This morning, they sat at $6.57. Defense: In the Feb. 28 note seen by Payload, CG Analyst Austin Moeller refers to the air launcher as an “emerging…
Rocket Lab Launches Synspective Satellite; Announces Q4 Financial Results
Image via Rocket Lab Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) doesn’t procrastinate on Mondays. The launcher had a busy day. In NZ: Rocket Lab launched “The Owl’s Night Continues” from its new Pad B. An Electron successfully deployed a StriX-β satellite for Japanese SAR operator Synspective. To date, Rocket Lab has now deployed 110 satellites. In VA: As…
BlackSky Reports Q4, Full-Year 2021 Financial Results
This morning, Seattle-based BlackSky (NYSE:BKSY) reported Q4 and full-year 2021 results. Q4 financial highlights: BlackSky recorded $11.5M in revenue, up 79% year-over-year Operating loss stood at $31.9M; Adj. EBITDA loss was $14.4M (more on that below). Going into 2022, BlackSky had $168M in cash. In Q4, BlackSky recorded $14.4M in capex spend. Financial highlights for…
