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Sentiment · FY2026 Q2
Rocket Lab delivered its strongest first quarter ever, with record revenue of $200.3 million, up 63.5% year-over-year and just above the high end of guidance, led by Space Systems at $136.7 million (up 57.2%). GAAP gross margin was 38.2% (non-GAAP 43%), both above guidance, and the adjusted EBITDA loss of $11.8 million came in well below the guided range. Backlog jumped to roughly $2.2 billion, up 108% year-over-year, powered by a record quarter of bookings including a $190 million HASTE order and the largest contract in company history: five Neutron plus three Electron flights for a confidential customer through 2029. Rocket Lab was selected with Raytheon for the Golden Dome Space-Based Interceptor program, closed the Mynaric acquisition to establish a European footprint, and announced the Motiv Space Systems deal. Neutron's Stage 1 tank work is progressing on an aggressive schedule toward a first launch later this year, while free cash flow use was $77.4 million and total liquidity exceeded $2 billion; Q2 revenue was guided to $225 million to $240 million.
Product Launch | Demand | Revenue Growth | M&A | Margin | Competitive Dynamics | Innovation & R&D | Regulation Policy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024Q4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 2025Q1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2025Q2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2025Q3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 2025Q4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2026Q1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| '24Q4 | '25Q1 | '25Q2 | '25Q3 | '25Q4 | '26Q1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Launch | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Demand | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Revenue Growth | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| M&A | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Margin | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Competitive Dynamics | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Innovation & R&D | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Regulation Policy | 2 | 3 |
| Analyst | Firm | Questions (Challenge)Percentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions. |
|---|---|---|
| Suji Desilva | ROTH Capital Partners | 7 (0%) |
| Andres Sheppard | Cantor Fitzgerald | 7 (0%) |
| Erik Rasmussen | Stifel |
| Quarter | Revenue | Rev YoY | EPS | EPS YoY | Gross margin | Op margin | Net margin | FCF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 Q4 | $132M | +120.7% | $-0.10 | 0.0% | 27.8% | -38.9% | -39.5% | $-24M |
| FY2025 Q1 | $123M | +32.1% | $-0.12 | -32.9% | 28.8% | -48.3% | -49.5% | $-83M |
| FY2025 Q2 | $144M | +36.0% | $-0.13 |
| 7 (0%) |
| Michael Leshock | KeyBanc Capital Markets | 7 (0%) |
| Edison Yu | Deutsche Bank | 7 (14%) |
| Ryan Koontz | Needham | 6 (0%) |
| Andre Madrid | BTIG | 6 (0%) |
| Gautam Khanna | TD Cowen | 5 (20%) |
| Kristine Liwag | Morgan Stanley | 5 (40%) |
| Jeff Van Rhee | Craig-Hallum | 5 (0%) |
| Firm | Analysts | Questions (Challenge)Percentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions. |
|---|---|---|
| Cantor Fitzgerald | 1 | 7 (0%) |
| KeyBanc Capital Markets | 1 | 7 (0%) |
| Deutsche Bank | 1 | 7 (14%) |
| Stifel | 1 | 7 (0%) |
| BTIG | 2 | 7 (14%) |
| ROTH Capital Partners | 1 | 7 (0%) |
| Needham | 1 | 6 (0%) |
| Morgan Stanley | 1 | 5 (40%) |
| -54.4% |
| 32.1% |
| -41.3% |
| -46.0% |
| $-55M |
| FY2025 Q3 | $155M | +48.0% | $-0.03 | +65.5% | 37.0% | -38.0% | -11.8% | $-69M |
| FY2025 Q4 | $180M | +35.7% | $-0.09 | +7.6% | 38.0% | -28.4% | -29.5% | $-114M |
| FY2026 Q1 | $200M | +63.5% | $-0.07 | +41.7% | 38.2% | -27.9% | -22.5% | $-77M |
| FY2026 Q2 | $234M | +62.0% | $-0.08 | +38.5% | 36.1% | -24.6% | -21.0% | $-110M |
Management’s own words, often on a non-GAAP, constant-currency, or adjusted basis — so these can differ from the GAAP figures above (e.g. constant-currency revenue growth excludes currency swings).
What RKLB and other companies said about each other on FY2026 Q1 earnings calls — extracted verbatim from public transcripts. Mentions from the newest quarter are a Pro feature.
“we understand the value proposition that Neutron brings relative to what is arguably very scarce competition in the market, primarily Falcon 9.”
Adam Spice positions Neutron against Falcon 9 as the primary scarce competitor in medium launch, expecting favorable pricing comparison as cadence builds.
“our $190 million 20launch order through Kratos in the Department of War and MACH-TB.”
Kratos placed a $190 million 20-launch HASTE order, the largest single MACH-TB order to date, reinforcing Kratos as a major defense customer/prime for Rocket Lab.
“you probably saw recently Amazon acquired Globalstar.”
An analyst cites Amazon's acquisition of Globalstar as industry context for spectrum/services consolidation while probing Rocket Lab's views on space services.
“the majority of the revenue is coming from other satellite manufacturers that we sell to like Lockheed and Airbus and others.”
Rocket Lab sells the majority of its solar output to third-party satellite manufacturers including Lockheed Martin, making Lockheed a merchant customer of its Space Systems business.
“This quarter, we also closed our acquisition of Mynaric”
Rocket Lab closed the Mynaric acquisition, adding optical comm terminals and establishing its first European footprint to serve the German and European space market.
“We've entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Motive Space Systems, a Californian-based leader in space robotics, motion control systems and spacecraft mechanisms.”
Rocket Lab agreed to acquire Motiv Space Systems, adding space robotics and precision mechanisms (Mars rover arm heritage) and closing a subsystem it previously bought externally.
“Anduril has booked 3 dedicated HASTE launches to support missions that combine their rapid prototyping with our industry-leading flight cadence”
Rocket Lab is teaming with Anduril, which booked three dedicated HASTE launches, pairing Anduril's rapid prototyping with Rocket Lab's launch cadence for defense tech.
“Rocket Lab and Raytheon have been selected to demonstrate advanced capabilities for the space-based Interceptor program.”
Rocket Lab and Raytheon were jointly selected for the Golden Dome Space-Based Interceptor program, teaming Rocket Lab with RTX on a marquee missile-defense demonstration.
| Company | Score | Trend | Rev YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
RKLB Rocket Lab USA, Inc. | 8 | +63.5% | |
| AXON Axon Enterprise Inc. | 10 | +33.8% | |
| BA The Boeing Company | 7 | +14.0% | |
| GD General Dynamics | 8 | +10.3% | |
| GE GE Aerospace | 7 | +24.7% | |
| HII Huntington Ingalls Industries | 6 | +13.3% | |
| LHX L3Harris | 8 | +11.9% | |
| LMT Lockheed Martin | 4 | +0.3% | |
| NOC Northrop Grumman | 6 | +4.4% | |
| RTX RTX Corporation | 9 | +8.7% | |
| SPCX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. | · | n/a | |
| TDG TransDigm Group | 10 | +18.3% | |
| TXT Textron | 7 | +11.8% |