So here's what happens when a satellite imaging company reports numbers that are better than expected and then tells everyone the future looks even brighter: the stock goes up. A lot. Planet Labs PBC (PL) shares jumped nearly 30% on Friday, hitting a fresh 52-week high after the company delivered a quarterly performance that had investors cheering.
The story is pretty straightforward. Planet Labs reported fourth-quarter revenue of $86.82 million. That wasn't just a beat versus what analysts were expecting; it was also a sharp increase from the same period last year. For the full fiscal year, revenue came in at about $307.7 million, which works out to roughly 26% growth year-over-year. The fourth quarter itself saw sales climb 41%, suggesting the growth is actually accelerating.
But the numbers that might matter just as much to investors looking for a sustainable business are the profitability metrics. The company achieved its first full fiscal year of adjusted EBITDA profitability. It also generated positive free cash flow. That's a big deal for a company that's in a heavy investment cycle, building out its satellite fleet and technology. It means the business is starting to fund its own growth, which is a much more comfortable place to be than constantly going back to the capital markets.
The Road Ahead Looks Even Brighter
If you just beat expectations, the polite thing to do is guide conservatively for the next quarter. Planet Labs did not do the polite thing. Management expects first-quarter revenue to land between $87 million and $91 million, which is above what analysts were projecting.
Then they went a step further and gave a peek all the way out to fiscal 2027. They're forecasting revenue in the range of $415 million to $440 million. That's a significant jump from where they are now and signals management has a lot of confidence in the growth trajectory. When a company gives guidance that far out and it's strong, it tells the market they see the demand pipeline clearly.
Why the Business Is Gaining Altitude
So where is all this growth coming from? On the earnings call, CEO Will Marshall called the past year "transformational," pointing specifically to strong traction in defense and intelligence markets. Government contracts are a major engine here.
Marshall explained the logic of their satellite services contracts in a way that makes the business model sound clever. "We continue to find that our Satellite Services contracts are a win-win-win," he said. "The customer guarantees their sovereign space capabilities in their desired area of interest; our other clients will benefit from increased capacity and revisit rates in the rest of the world; and Planet Labs PBC receives capital to forward fund our fleet buildouts." In other words, one government customer paying for dedicated coverage helps fund the broader constellation that serves everyone else.
The other big tailwind is artificial intelligence. Planet Labs isn't just selling pretty pictures of Earth; it's selling data and insights. AI-powered analytics are becoming a bigger part of the package, helping customers in defense, climate monitoring, and infrastructure make sense of the massive amount of data the satellites collect. That's a higher-value product.
