Planet Labs PBC Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Planet Labs posted record Q1 revenue of $94 million, up about 42% year over year, and raised its full-year fiscal 2027 sales outlook to $425 million–$441 million. The company said demand was especially strong from defense and intelligence customers, helping it achieve its “Rule of 40” target for a third straight quarter.
• Backlog and government demand remain a major growth driver, with backlog rising to about $906 million and remaining performance obligations topping $816 million. Planet highlighted new and renewed contracts with U.S. and international government customers, including the Navy, NGA, Greece and Sweden.
• AI and next-generation satellite products are expanding Planet’s offering, including private beta testing of a natural-language search app and the launch of its SuperRes imaging enhancement. Management said these products, along with new Pelican satellite launches, should support future growth and lower-latency, higher-resolution imagery.

Planet Labs PBC NYSE: PL reported record first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue and raised its full-year sales outlook, citing strong demand from defense and intelligence customers, international governments seeking sovereign space capabilities, and expanding use of its AI-enabled geospatial products.

Will Marshall, Planet’s CEO, chairperson and co-founder, said the company generated $94 million in revenue in the quarter, up approximately 42% year over year. Non-GAAP gross margin was 56%, and Planet achieved its “Rule of 40” target for the third consecutive quarter, which the company defines as revenue growth rate plus adjusted EBITDA margin.

Planet ended the period with approximately $906 million in backlog, up about 72% year over year. Ashley Johnson said remaining performance obligations were approximately $816 million, up more than 80% year over year, with about 35% expected to apply to the next 12 months and 66% to the next 24 months.

Defense and Intelligence Drives Growth

Marshall said defense and intelligence remained a major source of strength for Planet, with first-quarter revenue in the sector growing more than 65% year over year. He said the growth was supported by demand for data subscription solutions and satellite services amid an uncertain geopolitical backdrop.

Planet highlighted several recent U.S. government wins, including a six-month, $7.5 million contract renewal with the U.S. Navy for vessel detection and monitoring across areas of interest in the Pacific. Marshall also said the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency awarded Planet a $21.9 million one-year contract extension for maritime surveillance under the Luno B IDIQ, as well as a new award for global monitoring services to support crisis response.

International government demand also remained strong. Marshall said Planet signed a new eight-figure, one-year dedicated capacity contract with an international defense and intelligence customer, providing immediate access to dedicated satellite capacity and analytics across the company’s Pelican, SkySat and PlanetScope constellations.

Planet also launched three additional Pelican satellites during the quarter, including one for the Swedish Armed Forces. Marshall said the satellite, Sweden’s first sovereign reconnaissance satellite, launched just four months after the contract was signed. He described the speed of delivery as a differentiator for Planet, saying customers can receive immediate access to data services while sovereign satellites are prepared for orbit.

Commercial Revenue Rebounds, Civil Government Flat

Johnson said commercial sector revenue grew more than 20% year over year, while civil government revenue was approximately flat, primarily because of a reduction in Planet’s NASA contract. Marshall said the commercial growth reflected a focus on larger opportunities and AI-enabled solutions, with positive trends in agriculture and an initial maritime domain awareness sale in the energy sector.

In agriculture, Planet said it received a John Deere Supplier Sustainability Award for 2025 and renewed its relationship with Nave Analytics, which uses Planetary Variables including soil water content and biomass proxy data. Planet also signed WatchDuty, a nonprofit public safety platform focused on wildfire tracking and emergency alerts, as a new customer.

In civil government, Planet pointed to momentum in Europe, including:

• A two-year, seven-figure agreement with the Greek government, signed through the European Space Agency, to support national satellite monitoring and rapid response workflows.
• A two-year, seven-figure contract with the State Agricultural Intervention Fund of the Czech Republic to support agricultural payments and monitoring for approximately 25,000 agricultural holdings.
• A seven-figure award involving the Scottish Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate and partner Computacenter for PlanetScope data and analytics tied to agricultural reform.

AI and Satellite Product Updates

Marshall said Planet has begun private beta testing of a new AI app that is designed to make the company’s global satellite data archive searchable through natural language. He said the tool is intended to help non-technical users search data across space and time, run time-series analysis and generate insights or reports.

Planet also launched SuperRes, an AI-powered feature that improves PlanetScope imagery into a 2-meter class resolution visual product. Marshall said the company previously improved its daily scan product from 3.7-meter to 3-meter class resolution and plans for its future Owl constellation to upgrade daily monitoring data to a 1-meter class resolution product.

The company also announced that Pelican-11, the first Gen 2 Pelican technology demonstration satellite, was shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of a SpaceX Transporter-17 launch. Marshall said Gen 2 Pelicans are expected to progress toward providing up to 30-centimeter class imagery and lower-latency analysis.

Guidance Raised for Fiscal 2027

For the second quarter, Planet expects revenue of $102 million to $107 million, representing approximately 42% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. The company guided for non-GAAP gross margin of 52% to 55% and adjusted EBITDA ranging from breakeven to a $5 million profit. Capital expenditures are expected to be $21 million to $27 million in the quarter.

For the full fiscal year, Planet raised its revenue outlook to $425 million to $441 million, representing approximately 41% growth at the midpoint. The company expects full-year non-GAAP gross margin of 52% to 54% and maintained its adjusted EBITDA outlook of breakeven to $10 million in profit.

Johnson said Planet expects capital expenditures of $80 million to $95 million for the year as it invests in next-generation satellites, manufacturing capacity in San Francisco and Berlin, AI-powered solutions, and its global sales and marketing organization. She said the company still expects to be free cash flow positive on an annual basis in fiscal 2027.

Planet ended the quarter with approximately $731 million in cash equivalents and short-term investments, an increase of more than $500 million from a year earlier. Johnson attributed the increase to convertible debt issuance, positive trailing 12-month free cash flow and about $108 million in proceeds from exercises of public warrants.

Management Discusses Pipeline and Market Demand

During the question-and-answer session, Marshall and Johnson said the pipeline for international defense and intelligence opportunities remains robust and geographically balanced. Marshall said Europe remains a particularly strong region, supported by demand for sovereign space capabilities, but added that interest is global, including in Asia and North America.

Asked about commercial sector growth, Marshall said the drivers appear sustainable, particularly after Planet adjusted its agriculture business model to better align with customer outcomes. Johnson said AI-enabled products such as global monitoring and maritime domain awareness could broaden adoption among commercial customers, including in sectors that have not traditionally used geospatial data in modeling and analysis.

Marshall closed the call by pointing to Planet’s record revenue, backlog, satellite launches and AI product progress, saying the quarter reflected “really good momentum” across the business.

About Planet Labs PBC NYSE: PL

Planet Labs PBC is a public benefit corporation that operates one of the largest fleets of Earth-imaging satellites, providing high-frequency, high-resolution imagery and data analytics to a broad range of industries. The company's multi-spectral satellite constellation captures daily snapshots of the planet, enabling clients to monitor changes in agriculture, forestry, urban development, energy infrastructure and environmental conditions. Planet's imagery platform is designed to support timely decision-making by transforming raw satellite data into actionable insights for business and government users.

Founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler and Chris Boshuizen, Planet Labs grew from a small startup into a key provider in the satellite imaging sector.

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