RKLB
Pre-earnings jitters, the sequel
Rocket Lab is taking a hit ahead of its first-quarter earnings report, and honestly, this is the market version of pacing in the hallway before a final exam. Shares were down 6.24% as traders got a little less brave with the clock ticking toward the after-the-bell release.
The bar is set annoyingly high
Analysts are looking for a loss of 8 cents per share on $189.68 million in revenue, which lands almost exactly in the middle of Rocket Lab’s own $185 million to $200 million outlook. Translation: this isn’t a “wow us” quarter so much as a “please don’t trip” quarter.
That’s happening after a pretty flashy 2025. Rocket Lab just logged record fourth-quarter revenue of $180 million, finished the year with a record $1.85 billion backlog, and posted full-year revenue of $602 million, up 38%. When a company comes out swinging like that, investors tend to show up to the next earnings call expecting fireworks, not a polite update.
What investors will actually be watching
Beyond the headline numbers, the real nerd candy is Neutron. Investors want any clue about its first planned launch, because that’s the kind of milestone that can move this story from “cool space stock” to “serious scale-up.” The company is also still pouring money into manufacturing and hypersonic launch capabilities, which means margin chatter will matter too.
Big picture: Rocket Lab’s long-term story still looks sturdy, but the stock is acting like a kid who knows the report card is coming. If the numbers merely match expectations, that might be enough to keep the peace — not necessarily to launch the stock back into orbit.