Rocket Lab also provided a major update on the progress of its new rocket Neutron, including that it has completed its first Archimedes engine build and has begun its engine test campaign in Mississippi

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today shared the financial results for fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said: “Rocket Lab has had a strong start to the year, with our four Electron missions in Q1 marking an accelerated cadence of launches this year and maintaining our status as operators of the United States’ second most frequently launched rocket. Most recently we were awarded close to $50 million across two mission contracts post quarter for the United States Space Force’s Space Systems Command: the Victus Haze responsive space demonstration with Electron and a Rocket Lab Pioneer-class satellite that must launch within 24 hours’ notice, and the next mission in the Space Systems Command’s Space Test Program that will lift-off from our launch pad in Virginia. Both missions are a further demonstration of Rocket Lab as a trusted partner to the Department of Defense for assured access to space, coming off the back of our fifth overall national security launch for the National Reconnaissance Office which we flew before quarter-end in March.

“In our Space Systems business, execution on our $515m constellation build program for the Space Development Agency has begun in earnest with a successful program kick-off, completed preliminary design studies for the constellation’s 18 spacecraft, and the selection and onboarding of the program’s subcontractors who will contribute across various mission requirements. Other major spacecraft programs, including our 17 spacecraft constellation build for MDA and Globalstar, our twin spacecraft to Mars for the NASA ESCAPADE mission, and our mission support and reentry spacecraft for Varda, also cleared significant delivery, build, and test milestones that advance the programs and maintain schedule for launches or deliveries this year.

“For Neutron, we’ve also achieved major development milestones to date this year, including the first assembly of an Archimedes engine, now ready for a hot fire engine test campaign at our facilities at NASA Stennis in Mississippi. The Archimedes test site at Stennis is also now commissioned and ready to support the upcoming test campaign, the results of which will be the driver of Neutron’s expected date for first launch. Now with a complete engine, we’re through some of the unknowns in the development program and can update the schedule for first flight accordingly, which we have adjusted to no earlier than mid-2025.

“Other developments across the program include major installations at the Neutron launch pad in Wallops, Virginia, such as completed concrete pours for the site’s launch mount and finalization of the site’s 278 ft water tower, forever changing the Wallops Island skyline and marking an exciting new era in Neutron’s path to first launch.”

First Quarter 2024 Business Highlights:

• Closed Q1 2024 with $1+ billion in backlog.
• Successfully launched four Electron missions for commercial and national security customers across our launch sites in the United States and New Zealand.
• Successful program kick-off as the prime contractor for a $515m Space Development Agency contract to design, build and operate 18 satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta.
• Meaningful progress made on the production and testing of two Rocket Lab spacecraft for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
• Successfully returned a spacecraft to Earth for Varda in a world-first in-space manufacturing mission, enabling Varda’s payload of pharmaceutical crystals made in space to return to Earth.
• Progressed major infrastructure milestones at Launch Complex 3 for Neutron, including foundations for the launch mount, water tower and liquid oxygen tanks.

Business Highlights Since March 31, 2024:

• First launch of the quarter successfully completed for KAIST and NASA.
• Completed the assembly of an Archimedes engine for the first time ahead of upcoming engine test campaign at NASA Stennis in Mississippi.
• Completed major infrastructure installations at Launch Complex 3 for Neutron in Virginia, including the final concrete pour for Neutron’s launch mount and finalization of the site’s 278 ft water tower.
• Awarded a $32 million end-to-end launch-plus-spacecraft contract with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command for a 24-hour notice responsive space demonstration.
• Awarded a second U.S. Space Force launch contract valued at $14.49 million for the Space System Command’s Space Test Program (STP).

Second Quarter 2024 Guidance

For the second quarter of 2024, Rocket Lab expects:

• Revenue between $105 million and $110 million.
• Space Systems revenue between $77 million and $81 million.
• Launch Services revenue between $28 million and $29 million.
• GAAP Gross Margins between 24% and 26%.
• Non-GAAP Gross Margins between 30% and 32%.
• GAAP Operating Expenses between $74 million and $76 million.
• Non-GAAP Operating Expenses between $62 million and $64 million.
• Expected Interest Expense (Income), net $1 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA loss of $23 million to $25 million.
• Basic Shares Outstanding of 494 million.

See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below for an explanation of our use of Non-GAAP financial measures, and the reconciliation of historical Non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures in the tables attached to this press release. We have not provided a reconciliation for the forward-looking Non-GAAP Gross Margin, Non-GAAP Operating Expenses or Adjusted EBITDA expectations for Q2 2024 described above because, without unreasonable efforts, we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the amount and timing of adjustments that are used to calculate these non-GAAP financial measures, particularly related to stock-based compensation and its related tax effects. Stock-based compensation is currently expected to range from $14 million to $15 million in Q2 2024.

Conference Call Information

Rocket Lab will host a conference call for investors at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) today to discuss these business highlights and financial results for our first quarter, to provide our outlook for the second quarter, and other updates.

The live webcast and a replay of the webcast will be available on Rocket Lab’s Investor Relations website: https://investors.rocketlabusa.com/events-and-presentations/events.

About Rocket Lab

Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier, and more affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle, our family of spacecraft platforms, and the Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 180+ satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications. Rocket Lab spacecraft have been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a third launch pad in Virginia. To learn more, visit www.rocketlabusa.com.

+ FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained in this press release, including statements regarding our expectations of financial results for the second quarter of 2024, strategy, future operations, future financial position, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. Words such as, but not limited to, “anticipate,” “aim,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “design,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “suggest,” “strategy,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions or phrases, or the negative of those expressions or phrases, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on Rocket Lab’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (many of which are beyond Rocket Lab’s control), or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this release, including risks related to delays and disruptions in expansion efforts; delays in the development of our Neutron rocket; our dependence on a limited number of customers; the harsh and unpredictable environment of space in which our products operate which could adversely affect our launch vehicle and spacecraft; increased competition in our industry due in part to rapid technological development; technological change in our industry which we may not be able to keep up with or which may render our services uncompetitive; average selling price trends; general economic uncertainty and turbulence which could impact our customers’ ability to pay what we are owed; failure of our launch vehicles, spacecraft and components to operate as intended either due to our error in design, in engineering, in production or through no fault of our own; launch schedule disruptions; supply chain disruptions, product delays or failures; launch failures; natural disasters and epidemics or pandemics; any inability to effectively integrate recently acquired assets; a US government shutdown or delays in government funding; changes in governmental regulations including with respect to trade and export restrictions, or in the status of our regulatory approvals or applications; or other events that force us to cancel or reschedule launches, including customer contractual rescheduling and termination rights; risks that acquisitions may not be completed on the anticipated time frame or at all or do not achieve the anticipated benefits and results; and the other risks detailed from time to time in Rocket Lab’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rocket Lab’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on February 28, 2024, and elsewhere. There can be no assurance that the future developments affecting Rocket Lab will be those that we have anticipated. Except as required by law, Rocket Lab is not undertaking any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Notes to Editor: All dollar amounts in this press release are expressed in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise stated.

+ USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

We supplement the reporting of our financial information determined under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”) with certain non-GAAP financial information. The non-GAAP financial information presented excludes certain significant items that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, results from our ongoing business operations. We believe that these non-GAAP measures provide investors with additional insight into the company's ongoing business performance. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measures, and other companies may define such measures differently. We encourage investors to review our financial statements and publicly filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure. Reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial information to the corresponding GAAP measures for the historical periods disclosed are included at the end of the tables in this press release. We have not provided a reconciliation for forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures because, without unreasonable efforts, we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the amount and timing of adjustments that are used to calculate these non-GAAP financial measures, particularly related to stock-based compensation and its related tax effects. The following definitions are provided:

+ ADJUSTED EBITDA

EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA further excludes items of income or loss that we characterize as unrepresentative of our ongoing operations. Such items are excluded from net income or loss to determine Adjusted EBITDA. Management believes this measure provides investors meaningful insight into results from ongoing operations.

+ OTHER NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Non-GAAP gross profit, research and development, net, selling, general and administrative, operating expenses, operating loss and total other income (expense), net, further excludes items of income or loss that we characterize as unrepresentative of our ongoing operations. Such items are excluded from the applicable GAAP financial measure. Management believes these non-GAAP measures provide investors meaningful insight into results from ongoing operations.

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+ Rocket Lab Investor Relations Contact

Adam Spice

[email protected]

+ Rocket Lab Media Contact

Murielle Baker

[email protected]

Source: Rocket Lab USA, Inc.