Rocket Lab loss doubles but revenue surges

Rocket Lab reported a net loss of US$37.4 million ($58m) for the three months to June 30, more than double the US$16.7m it lost for the same period last year.

But the Kiwi-American firm also reported revenue that surged to US$55.5m, or five times the amount of its Covid-hit second quarter in 2021, and a third above its first quarter of this year.

It forecast third-quarter revenue would grow to between US$60m and US$63m, and said its adjusted earnings loss would be between US$8m and US$12m (from US$8.5m in the second quarter).

“We are encouraged by broad-based momentum that continued across our space systems business which comprised 66 per cent of our revenue in the second quarter,” said founder and CEO Peter Beck.

Shares closed up 1.21 per cent to US$5.86 in regular Nasdaq trading, for a market capitalisation of US$4.72 billion and a 14 per cent gain on the week. The stock slipped 4.7 per cent in after-hours trading after posting its result.

In the June quarter, Rocket Lab launched its first Capstone moon mission for Nasa and began construction on its Neutron production complex in the US state of Virginia.

Beck said his firm was also close to completing a new satellite constellation production facility in Long Beach, California.

The new complex would be used to make satellites for a range of customers, including “17 500kg spacecraft buses for [satellite phone and broadband operator] Globalstar as part of a US$143m subcontract awarded to Rocket Lab in the first quarter of this year”.

The company is also on a recruiting drive to add another 110 staff to the 600 people in its local operation.

Rocket Lab reverse-listed at US$10.00 per share last August and surged as high as US$18.69 before getting caught in the tech wreck downdraft.

The firm got a shot in the arm this week with a positive write-up in the Wall Street Journal’s influential “Heard on the Street” column. The paper praised Rocket Lab’s logistical and financial performance and said it should benefit further from a rise in US defence and aerospace spending.