Rocket Lab stock soars on record quarterly revenue, constellation plans

Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares jumped over 15% Friday morning after the aerospace company reported record quarterly revenues, led by strong demand for its launch services and space systems products.

“This year’s second quarter was Rocket Lab’s highest revenue quarter in company history at $106M,” CEO Peter Beck said. That implies a 15% quarter-on-quarter increase and a whopping 71% year-on-year increase.

The Launch Services segment delivered revenue of $29.4M, slightly above the company’s guidance, while the space system segment delivered $77M in the quarter, also in-line with its guidance.

The firm ended the quarter with $1.07B of total backlog, with launch backlog of $294M and space systems backlog of $772.6M. “Our current backlog continues to support our current year target average revenue per launch of $7.5M, with some quarterly variability tied to volume purchase discounts, launch location, and mission assurance requirements,” the management said in the earnings call.

Looking ahead, Rocket Lab (RKLB) expects Q3 revenue of $100M-$105M (consensus estimate: $110.54M) and adjusted gross margin of 30% to 32%. Non-GAAP gross margin was 30.7% in Q2, in-line with the company’s prior guidance range of 30% to 32%.

Beck also shared a glimpse of where Rocket Lab is headed in the future, particularly plans for a company-owned and operated satellite constellation, which is part of the executive’s strategy to become an “end-to-end space company.”

“By owning launch and spacecraft, we’re at a distinct advantage when it comes to establishing our own space capabilities or constellations. We can build and launch our own spacecraft at cost and we don’t have to wait in-line for limited launch capacity,” Beck said.