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 $440M of the revenue drop to the UK’s renationalization of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)…and $95M to “lower volume” in civil space with the Orion and human lander system (HLS) programs.
- That was partially offset by Lockheed’s 50% equity stake in ULA (or United Launch Alliance) and higher launch volumes for the joint venture.
Operating profit for LM Space grew 8% YoY to $245M. Lockheed’s Space Q1 operating margin—9.6%—was the lowest of any of its business lines. Proves what we all already knew…space is hard.
$IRDM
Iridium, a LEO constellation operator and specialty broadband provider, generated $168M in Q1 revenue, up 15% year over year.
- Commercial service revenue came in at ~$100M (59% of overall Q1 sales). Iridium satcom products/technology can be found in everything from maritime vessels to very large link-belt excavators.
- Government service Q1 revenue totaled $26.5M (+3% YoY).
- Equipment revenue totaled $33.7M (+41% YoY). Iridium makes its own finished products, like the company’s branded satphone product line, in addition to receivers/chipsets that it sells or licenses.
- Engineering/support revenue rounded out the pack at $8.4M (+30% YoY) in Q1.
- Total billable subscribers grew 17% YoY to nearly 1.8M, driven by 24% annual growth in commercial Internet of Things (IoT) subs.
Rest of year: Iridium reiterated its full-year 2022 outlook, with 5–7% growth over last year’s total service revenue of $492M. “Most of my focus is really on Ukraine and supplying the tremendous demand we’ve seen there,” CEO Matt Desch said on yesterday’s earnings call.
+ To go deeper, read our extended Q&A with Desch from Satellite 2022.
