- Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard reiterated Overweight and a $122 price target on Rocket Lab, calling Neutron the only viable alternative and most direct commercial competitor to SpaceX's Falcon 9 once operational, and framing the current level as an attractive entry point ahead of the rocket's debut.
- Rocket Lab posted record Q2 FY26 revenue of $234.07 million, up 62.0% year over year, with non-GAAP gross margin of 41.5% and backlog up 137% to $2.36 billion including more than 90 launches; Q3 guidance is $250 million to $265 million.
- The U.S. Space Force named Rocket Lab an NSSL prime contractor in its FY2027 budget, and the company booked more than $1 billion in new Q3 contracts including a $397 million Flatellite award for the SB-AMTI program.
- Rocket Lab completed key Neutron pre-flight testing, including the reusable Hungry Hippo fairing and a second-stage test stand, and has five missions booked from a confidential customer; management targets a $50 million to $55 million average launch price, but the timeline has slipped and a 2026 launch is no longer assured.
- Cantor models the combined Rocket Lab and Iridium company doubling annual revenue once the deal closes, cementing an end-to-end space platform spanning launch, satellites and services.
- Rocket Lab joined the Nasdaq-100 on June 22 and said Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand holds more Electron rockets than ever ahead of a run of back-to-back launches, with more than 80 launches completed and 250-plus satellites deployed.
Quotes
“more than $1 billion in new contracts across launch and space systems already entered into in Q3”
“It seems like Neutron's going to have a very nice spot in this market going forward once we can actually get it to a point where it can scale rapidly”
“This is a landmark moment for Rocket Lab”
“More rockets in the hangar at LC-1 than we've ever had before. We're lining up a busy few weeks of back-to-back-to-back-to-back launches from the world's first private orbital launch site.”