Rocket Lab Announces Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results, Posts 55% Year-on-Year Growth and Guides to Record Revenue in Q4

Long Beach, California. November 12, 2024 – Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab”, “the Company”, “we,” “us,” or “our”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today shared the financial results for fiscal third quarter, ended September 30, 2024.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, said: “In the third quarter 2024 we once again executed against our end-to-end space strategy with successes and key achievements reached across small and medium launch, as well as space systems. Revenue grew 55% year-on-year to $105 million and we continue to see strong demand growth with our backlog at $1.05 billion. Significant achievements for the quarter included signing a  launch service agreement for multiple launches on Neutron with a confidential commercial satellite constellation customer; successfully launching twelve Electron launches year-to-date, making 2024 a record year for launches with more still to come; signing $55 million in new Electron launches, further cementing Electron’s position as a global launch leader; and being selected by NASA to complete a study contract for a proposal to retrieve samples from Mars and return them to Earth as part of a world-first mission. We expect to close out the year strongly with more Electron launches scheduled in November and December, alongside continued progress across Neutron and space systems, that is behind our guidance for a record $125-$135 million revenue quarter in Q4.”

Business Highlights for the Third Quarter 2024, plus updates since September 30, 2024.

Electron:

• Achieved a new annual launch record of 12 Electron launches to date, with more scheduled across November and December 2024. Electron is the world’s third most-frequently launched rocket annually by vehicle type and remains the United States’ second most-frequently launched rocket annually.
• Signed several new Electron launch contracts in Q3 2024 with a total value of $55m, demonstrating an increased average selling price of $8.4m and showcasing a 67% pricing increase since the rocket’s debut launch.
• Successful Electron launches for three separate commercial satellite constellation operators in Q3, including two missions launched within just eight days. In addition to these, Electron’s most recent mission, launched in the fourth quarter on November 5^th, 2024, included an expedited turnaround of just 10 weeks between contract signing and launch.

Neutron:

• Signed a launch service agreement for multiple launches on Neutron with a confidential commercial satellite constellation operator that signifies the beginning of a productive collaboration that could see Neutron deploy the entire constellation.
• Announced a federal defense contract that supports Neutron and the development of its Archimedes engine with the U.S. Air Force’s Research Laboratory.
• Doubled engine testing cadence for Archimedes over the quarter at Rocket Lab’s engine test site in Mississippi, alongside strong production execution at the Company’s Engine Development Complex in California which included multiple engines manufactured, assembled, and shipped for engine testing.
• Significant progress made across Neutron’s structures and infrastructure, including the completion of construction on the rocket’s Assembly, Integration, and Test (A.I.T.) facility in Virginia.
• Well-positioned to on-ramp to the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Lane 1 program, which began accepting proposals in November 2024 to on-ramp new launch providers to an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at $5.6 billion over a five-year period.

Space Systems:

• Completed production and delivery of two spacecraft on time and on budget for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
• Selected by NASA to complete a study contract for a proposal to retrieve samples from Mars and return them to Earth, a first-of-its-kind mission.
• Completed two new spacecraft for Varda Space Industries to conduct the 2^nd and 3^rd missions to return in-space manufacturing capsules to Earth.
• Executed on schedule against the Company’s $515 million prime contract with the Space Development Agency to build 18 spacecraft for its Tranche 2 Transport Layer program.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Guidance

For the fourth quarter of 2024, Rocket Lab expects:

• Revenue between $125 million and $135 million.
• GAAP Gross Margins between 26% and 28%.
• Non-GAAP Gross Margins between 32% and 34%.
• GAAP Operating Expenses between $84 million and $86 million.
• Non-GAAP Operating Expenses between $75 million and $77 million.
• Expected Interest Expense (Income), net $1.5 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA loss of $27 million and $29 million.
• Basic Shares Outstanding of 501 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 Q4 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 $12 million to $14 million in Q4 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 third quarter, to provide our outlook for the fourth 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

+ Rocket Lab Investor Relations Contact

Adam Spice

investors@rocketlabusa.com

+ Rocket Lab Media Contact

Murielle Baker

media@rocketlabusa.com

+ 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, a 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 198 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’s spacecraft platforms 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.

+ Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding our expectations of financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, launch and space systems operations, launch schedule and window, safe and repeatable access to space, Neutron development, operational expansion and business strategy are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the factors, risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investor Relations section of our website at www.rocketlabusa.com, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. 

+ 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.