Rocket Lab eyes large protection alternatives with new acquisition

Rocket Lab is signaling to buyers, but once more, that it’s greater than “simply” a rocket firm.

Rocket Lab’s second-quarter outcomes, which have been posted Thursday, present revenues proceed to be pushed by its area methods enterprise quite than launch. The outcomes additionally highlighted the corporate’s acquisition technique and the way its buy of a brand new optical payloads firm will make it extra aggressive for profitable authorities contracts.

The corporate’s area methods introduced in $97.9 million of the $144.5 million in whole revenues for the second quarter. Rocket Labs’ whole income, its highest quarterly income within the firm’s historical past, jumped 36% from a 12 months in the past. The corporate’s web loss widened to $66.4 million.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck highlighted the “busy quarter of M&A exercise” as the corporate will get near closing its deal to purchase Geost, an organization that builds optical payloads. By that acquisition, which is able to shut at $275 million in money and fairness, Rocket Lab is opening a brand new enterprise unit referred to as Optical Programs to scale electro-optical and infrared sensor manufacturing.

These sensors are utilized in missile warning, monitoring, and area area consciousness. The acquisition can be one half of a bigger play from Rocket Lab — spelled out fairly explicitly within the firm’s earnings presentation — to bid for multibillion-dollar DOD initiatives like Golden Dome.

Rocket Lab has already gained some main protection contracts, together with a $515 million, 18-satellite construct contract to help the House Improvement Company’s constellation of missile-tracking satellites. The corporate has moved into manufacturing on these satellites, following affirmation that they meet the DOD’s mission necessities, Rocket Lab mentioned.

Down on Earth, Rocket Lab says it’s progressing nicely towards the primary launch of its bigger Neutron rocket. The rocket’s launch complicated in Virginia is predicted to be full within the third quarter of this 12 months, with hardware en route and the brand new rocket engine, referred to as Archimedes, present process a number of checks per day.

The corporate is staying obscure concerning the actual launch date, saying solely within the presentation that it’s pushing an “all-out effort to get Neutron to the launch pad earlier than the tip of 2025.”

Rocket Lab ended the quarter with $564 million in money and money equivalents and estimates revenues will hit between $145 to $155 million subsequent quarter.