Rocket Lab’s ($RKLB) first quarter revenue exceeded expectations, the company reported on Tuesday’s earnings call.
By the numbers:
- Revenue = $54.9M, a 6% increase from last quarter due to increased launch cadence and lower launch pricing
- Backlog = $494.2M in backlog, a $9.4M decrease from the previous quarter
- Cash and cash equivalents = $450M
Launch made up 36% of revenue, and space systems comprised 64% this quarter. Investments in Neutron and Photon drove faster cash burn.
Looking forward: Rocket Lab projects revenue to jump to $60M-$63M next quarter, with the split between launch services and space systems to remain similar.
Neutron progress
Rocket Lab is making headway on developing Neutron, its medium-lift, next-gen rocket. Neutron hit a payment milestone this quarter with a $24M development contract from the US Space Force. The company completed full scale molds of the rocket’s first stage and assembly of a full scale second stage are underway.
Rocket Lab plans to perform a flight hardware tank test in the second quarter and is continuing construction at its NASA Wallops Flight Facility pad.
+ What else? Neutron’s development costs could lead total losses to surpass $100M for the year.
