Rocket Lab Corporation Common Stock 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Hello, and welcome to today's conference call to discuss Rocket Lab's second quarter 2026 financial results, business highlights, and other updates. Before we begin the call, I would like to remind you that our remarks may contain forward-looking statements that relate to the future performance of the company, and these statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbor protection from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and factors that could influence our results are highlighted in today's press release, and others are contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such statements are based upon information available to the company as of the date hereof and are subject to change for future developments. Except as required by law, the company does not undertake any obligation to update these statements.

Our remarks and press release today also contain non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of Regulation G, enacted by the SEC, and included in such release and our supplemental materials are reconciliations of these historical non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. This call is also being webcast with a supporting presentation, and a replay and copy of the presentation will be available on our website. Our speakers today are Rocket Lab founder and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Beck, as well as Chief Financial Officer, Adam Spice. They will be discussing key business highlights, including updates on our Launch Services and Space Systems programs, as well as our pending acquisition of Iridium Communications. We will discuss financial highlights and outlook before we finish by taking questions. With that, let me turn the call over to Peter.

It has been another exceptional quarter for Rocket Lab with some great wins after the close. We achieved a record $234 million in Q2 revenue, up almost $90 million or 62% versus the same quarter last year. That is a $34 million increase over last quarter's record revenue. For Launch Services, demand is extreme. In Q2 and since the end of the quarter closed, we have signed more than $437 million in bookings for Electron, HASTE, and Neutron. This includes a record $266 million contract for up to 18 suborbital missions for the U.S. Space Force, our largest launch contract ever. Also, we have seen a massive surge in Space Systems contracts with more than $581 million signed in Q2 and post-quarter.

We ended the quarter with $2.36 billion in backlog. Across Launch Services and Space Systems, we have signed more than $1 billion in new contracts across Q2 and the period since the quarter closed. It was also a milestone quarter for strategic acquisitions, having closed Mynaric and Motiv, and of course, announcing our intentions to acquire Iridium, which will accelerate our future in-space applications and evolve Rocket Lab into a fully integrated space powerhouse. Welcome to the beginning of our new space applications era. Our pending Iridium acquisition is a strategic move that will combine Rocket Lab's launch capability and satellite manufacturing with Iridium's global satellite communications network and rare spectrum. In short, Rocket Lab will become a self-launching tier 1 space power, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide. For years, we have talked about the space value chain in three key verticals.

The first is access to space, and we have that with launch. The second is the hardware to do things in space once you are there. That is the satellites and their components, and we have this too. The third and final vertical is space applications, the entire reason for going to space in the first place. This is part of the space economy that provides data services to millions of people on Earth and delivers strong recurring revenue. With Iridium, Rocket Lab will have all three of these verticals. I have long since said that the most successful space companies will be the ones that have the keys to space, i.e., can build and launch their own satellites. Rocket Lab is one of only two companies capable of this now. By acquiring Iridium, we will accelerate our entrance into the space applications market.

It will take a decade or more to build out a constellation from scratch. With Iridium, we are starting with a constellation of 66 satellites relied upon by more than 2.5 million subscribers and delivering more than $870 million in annual revenue this past year. That is an incredibly strong foundation on which we intend to build. We will not simply continue Iridium's network. We will expand upon it and scale it into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services. Since the transaction is not yet closed, we are still only on the integration and growth planning stages. There are, however, some obvious areas to focus on, and these are aligned with the growth plans that Iridium has already shared. That includes expanding capabilities in IoT, direct to device, and advanced PNT, defense and national security, as well as aviation and marine safety.

We can also introduce efficiencies and streamline the deployment of new infrastructure by building and launching our own spacecraft, limiting the costs and risks associated with third parties. We will fast-track our ability to deliver new and advanced capabilities. It is through these growth areas that Rocket Lab will put Iridium spectrum to more effective use, extracting substantially greater capacity and throughput from the same finite spectrum allocation. We are immensely excited at what the future holds once Iridium is part of the Rocket Lab family. For now, we are steadily working through the customary closing conditions, including approval of Iridium stockholders and all the regulatory review processes. The transaction is expected to be completed in mid-2027. To the extent that we are able, we look forward to sharing updates throughout that process. Okay, onto some Space Systems updates.

Q2 and the weeks after saw us awarded significant contracts across Space Systems, including a $397 million contract to build and launch multiple Flatellite spacecraft for the Space Force Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program. This program is a high priority for the Department of Defense, and it seeks to establish a satellite network to track aircraft, missiles, and airborne threats globally. In another example of our end-to-end space strategy bearing fruit, Neutron will be launching this mission. Flatellite is our high-performance, low-profile spacecraft designed for rapid production and optimized for launch, enabling us deploy large volumes from Neutron and from other launch vehicles. There has been significant interest in Flatellite from commercial and government customers since we first announced it last year, so it's exciting for it to make its debut with such an important program. On to the next contract win.

We signed two deals totaling more than $160 million to build three geostationary satellites, including a prime contract with the Space Systems Command to build two GEO satellites for space domain awareness. What's more, they will incorporate our Heimdall payload from our recently acquired company, GEOST, once again highlighting the success of our vertical integration strategy. Rocket Lab is no stranger to building satellites for low Earth orbit and interplanetary missions, but these contracts are our first step into the government geostationary satellite market. It's an exciting expansion. We don't just win contracts, we execute on them. There's no better mission that demonstrates that than our record-breaking results for the VICTUS HAZE mission in Q2. The mission from Space Force was clear: launch an Electron to orbit in just 24 hours. We did this in 16 hours and 42 minutes, a new record.

We also designed and built the satellite that it launched. The Space Force gave us 72 hours to commission that spacecraft on orbit. We did it in 38. Then we had 84 hours to track, chase, and photograph a non-cooperative satellite. We did it in less than 59. VICTUS HAZE was the first time that the Space Force had ever seen a single prime contractor deliver the rocket, the spacecraft, and the orbit operations for the same tactically responsive space mission. For Rocket Lab to deliver all three, and with record-breaking results, demonstrates the advanced capabilities that we're delivering to The Pentagon at a time when space is a key strategic priority. And finally, Rocket Lab is very clearly a space leader in the U.S., but recently we deepened our roots in Europe with the acquisition of Mynaric.

Whenever Rocket Lab makes an acquisition, we don't just carry on running it. We streamline it, introduce efficiencies, scale production, and in many cases, introduce new capabilities. We're planning to do just that with the official establishment of Rocket Lab Germany. There's a real opportunity here for us to establish a regional hub for constellation class manufacturing as well as full-scale spacecraft assembly, integration, and test. This will enable Rocket Lab to serve commercial, civil, and defense space programs as a domestic European provider. A growing presence there also represents an opportunity to address Europe's launch deficit by bringing a domestic mission-tested launch partner to the region to eliminate space access bottlenecks. Europe faces glaring gaps across both launch and spacecraft manufacturing. Rocket Lab Germany aims to address these directly, providing the region with new domestic strength in a rapidly evolving new space era.

That wraps up the Space Systems for the quarter. Let's move on to launch. There's been huge demand driving record numbers across new contracts and launch backlog, more than $437 million in Q2 and post-quarter, and 26 new launches that grew our backlog to 90-plus launches after the quarter, our highest in history. Operationally, Electron and HASTE continue to lead the industry on small launch. We're at 13 launches this year with 100% mission success and on track to beat last year's launch tally too. NASA has signed on for 3 Electron launches across 2 missions next year. Commercial constellation customer iQPS has signed on for another 3 launches. This is the third time they've done a bulk buy in less than a year, taking their total number of launches with us to 18.

We've had a confidential defense prime sign up for a pair of HASTE launches in 2027. HASTE rapid repeatable flight cadence was the clincher for that deal. A suborbital launch capability anchors our largest launch contracts to date, a $266 million contract from the Space Force for up to 18 missile defense launches. We bid out legacy defense primes for this contract, and it's our second multi-year, multi-launch Department of Defense deal for suborbital missions in 5 months. These launches will mostly fly out of our new launch location in Kodiak, Alaska, which opens up Pacific access for missile defense testing for our government partner. That's now 6 Rocket Lab launchpads across 3 launch sites, giving us unmatched geographical flexibility for all mission types. Speaking of our new launch location, it's time to introduce GHOST. We've mastered the art of building launch sites. Now we're making them deployable worldwide.