The company’s Electron rocket carrying the CAPSTONE mission will lift off from New Zealand on June 28, 2022.
rocket lab
The second quarter was a mixed bag for space companies, with some companies posting steady progress while others faced setbacks.
Most of the space shares, many of which went public last year through SPAC deals, are struggling despite the growth of the industry, which has fallen 50% or more since it first came to market. The changing market environment and rising interest rates affected technology and growth stocks hard, affecting space stocks.
CNBC separates the latest quarterly reports for Aerojet Rocketdyne, AST SpaceMobile, Astra, BlackSky, Iridium, Maxar, Momentus, Mynaric, Redwire, Rocket Lab, Satellogic, Spire Global, Telesat, Terran Orbital, ViaSat, Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit.
Planet Satellite Imagery has yet to announce its latest quarterly results, as the company follows the calendar for the fiscal year that began on February 3. 1.
Rocketdyne aircraft
Year-to-date stock performance: -3%
Aerojet Rocketdyne continues to attract a significant portion of revenue from the aerospace segment. The propulsion specialist takes the majority of second-quarter sales of $528.5 million from defense-related contracts. Notably, President and CEO Elaine Drake confirmed that the Aerojet backlog added the United Launch Alliance contract for the 116 RL10 engines needed to power the Vulcan series of rockets, many of which were ordered by Amazon.
AST SpaceMobile
YTD stock performance: +36%
The satellite-to-smartphone broadband company reported revenue of $7.3 million and total operating expenses of $35.4 million, both metrics slightly higher than the same period the previous year. The company has $202.4 million in cash, as AST continues to work towards the September launch of its Blue Walker 3 experimental satellite. You’ve spent $86.6 million on the demonstration so far.
Astra
Year-to-date stock performance: -88%
Rocket and spacecraft maker Astra reported another huge quarterly loss, with adjusted EBITDA of $48.4 million. The company brought in only $2.7 million in revenue and announced the sudden cancellation of the Rocket 3.3 series along with a hiatus from release until at least 2023 as it focuses on developing the larger version, Rocket 4.0. Astra has $200.7 million in cash on hand.
black sky
Year-to-date stock performance: -52%
Seattle-based satellite imagery company BlackSky reported revenue of $15.1 million for the quarter, nearly double what was posted a year earlier, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $8.8 million. The company scored a big win in the form of an NRO contract for its images, worth up to $1.02 billion over a decade.
iridium
Stock performance to date: +9%
The satellite communications provider generated $174.9 million in revenue, an operating EBITDA of $105.9 million and less than 1.9 million subscribers — up 17%, 12% and 16%, respectively, over the same period the previous year. Matt Desch, Iridium’s CEO, emphasized on the call that “business outperformed nicely,” with “the company well positioned for growth…even if recent fears of an economic downturn begin to pay off.” The company also won a significant award from the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency this quarter, which Dish expects to add $133 million in revenue over seven years.
Maxar
Paid
YTD Stock Performance: -58%
The spacecraft manufacturer brought in just $50,000 in revenue, due to the cancellation of the customer contract, and reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $18.3 million. While Momentus has about $109 million in cash on hand, the company says it plans to reduce its quarterly cash burn by cutting some spending and delaying long-term research and development projects, as it focuses on solving problems identified with its spacecraft during its last mission.
Minarek
Year-to-date stock performance: -41%
The laser communications maker has yet to begin reporting quarterly results, after it went public in November. During the second quarter, Mynaric announced an agreement with defense firm L3Harris, which will acquire 7.2% of the company and invest approximately $11 million.
red wire
Year-to-date stock performance: -54%
The Space Infrastructure Group collected $36.7 million in revenue during the quarter, up 14% from the prior year, with an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.1 million. Notably, Redwire “expects positive adjusted earnings in the second half of 2022,” even as it continues to invest in infrastructure expansions such as its newly opened robotic arm manufacturing facility in Luxembourg.
rocket lab
Year-to-date stock performance: -54%
The multinational builder of small rockets and spacecraft reported revenue of $55.5 million, up 36% from the previous quarter, largely from its Space Systems division. The total backlog also increased to $531.4 million. The company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $8.5 million, but it has more than half a billion cash on hand. Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said on the company’s earnings conference call that Rocket Lab continues to “see strong demand for Electron launches.”
The satellite
Year-to-date stock performance: -53%
The satellite imagery company has yet to begin reporting quarterly results, after it went public in January. During the second quarter, Satellitelogic launched four additional satellites into orbit via SpaceX launches, increasing its fleet to 26 to date. The company aims to have 34 in orbit by early 2023.
Spire Global
YTD Stock Performance: -55%
Small satellite maker and data specialist Spire had revenue of $19.4 million during the second quarter and reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $7.3 million. For the full year of 2022, the company expects to exceed $100 million in annual recurring revenue from subscribers.
Telesat
Year-to-date stock performance: -61%
The Canadian Satellite Communications Corporation reported revenue of about $143 million (converted at current Canadian dollars), down slightly from the previous year, with a contract backlog of $1.5 billion. Telesat reported adjusted EBITDA of approximately $112 million. The company noted that pending final plant agreements and financing, capital expenditures “could increase significantly” to fund development of its Lightspeed network.
Earth orbital
Year-to-date stock performance: -59%
The spacecraft manufacturer reported $21.4 million in revenue for the quarter and reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $14.8 million, while its backlog increased to $224.1 million. Terran Orbital began delivering satellite buses, the spacecraft’s main body, to Lockheed Martin under contract with the Pentagon, and supported the launch of NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft, which it helped build.
Via
Year-to-date stock performance: -16%
The satellite broadband service provider, which is on the calendar for the fiscal year beginning in April, reported quarterly revenue of $678 million and adjusted EBITDA of $132 million — the first, up 2% year over year. The latter is down 17%. Vyasat noted that he is still straining his finances from supply chain shortages and inflation. The company plans to launch the ViaSat-3 satellite later this year.
Virgo Galaxy
YTD Stock Performance: -55%
The space tourism company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $93 million on negligible revenue. Virgin Galactic has announced another delay to the start of commercial service, pushing it into the second quarter of 2023 as the company continues to renew carrier aircraft that begin their spaceflights. Virgin Galactic has $1.1 billion in cash on hand and announced plans to sell up to $300 million in common stock.
Virgin Orbit
YTD Stock Performance: -50%
The replacement rocket launcher did not report any revenue, but it completed its launch the day after the second quarter ended and will estimate $12 million of that in the coming period. Virgin Orbit reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $34.4 million and $122.1 million in cash in the fund. The company expects to complete two more launches this year, for a total of four launches in 2022.