TLDR
- Rocket Lab stock fell 4.5% after hours Monday to $56.24.
- Q3 sales hit a record $268 million, up 73% from a year ago.
- Backlog grew 52% in one quarter to $3.57 billion.
- Net loss widened to $80 million, and the Q4 Ebitda loss guide was wider than expected.
- Neutron’s first launch is still set for no earlier than 2027.
Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock traded at $56.24 after hours Monday, down 4.5%. That came after a third-quarter report that beat Wall Street’s targets.
The drop followed a 10.9% jump in the regular session. The order book grew faster than anything else in the report.
Backlog reached $3.57 billion, up 52% from $2.4 billion three months earlier. Sales came in at a record $268 million, up 73% from a year ago.
Analysts had expected about $257 million in sales. The adjusted Ebitda loss was $18 million, narrower than the $21 million they projected.
Net loss grew to $80 million from $18.3 million a year earlier. Financing and acquisition-related charges drove the jump.
What Is Inside the Backlog
The $3.57 billion includes 117 launches. It also holds $470 million in new Space Systems contracts.
Neutron picked up eight more missions from five constellation operators, worth more than $515 million. That brings its backlog to 16 launches before the rocket has flown once.
Several of the new missions carry a higher base price of $70 million. Neutron’s first flight is still set for no earlier than 2027.
Rocket Lab disclosed that delay in October. It found voids in a section of a composite propellant-tank dome, which calls for an investigation and new hardware.
Guidance and a Choppy Chart
For the fourth quarter, Rocket Lab expects sales of $270 million to $290 million. Wall Street was looking for about $265 million.
The company also guided to an Ebitda loss of $14 million to $20 million. Analysts had penciled in an $11 million loss.
The stock is down about 16% this year through Monday’s close. It hit $151 in May, just before SpaceX’s June IPO.
Last week it closed below $46 before bouncing toward $60. Space names rallied Monday after NASA handed out new work to Voyager Technologies and Firefly Aerospace, which gained about 16% and 15%.
Rocket Lab was not part of those awards. It has launched 18 times in 2026, all from New Zealand, while SpaceX has flown Falcon 9 more than 120 times.
Analysts expect sales of $960 million this year and $1.4 billion in 2027. They project positive Ebitda of $83 million in 2027 and full-year profits once sales reach $1.8 billion in 2028.
