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PL
Earnings call · Jul 2026 (Q2 FY27)

Planet Labs PBC Q2 FY27 earnings call PL

Sep 3, 2026 Source

Executive summary

Planet Labs PBC Q2 FY27 — Record Revenue and Strong Satellite Services Pipeline

Planet Labs delivered a strong second quarter, marked by record revenue and significant growth in its Defense & Intelligence segment, driven by successful execution of Satellite Services contracts. The company is strategically investing in next-generation constellations and AI-powered solutions, expanding its international footprint, and leveraging its unique daily scan capabilities to capture a rapidly expanding Earth observation market. Management highlighted the maturation of its Satellite Services pipeline and the increasing demand for AI-enabled insights, positioning Planet for sustained long-term growth despite planned increases in capital expenditures.

Highlights

5

  • Record revenue of $116 million, representing approximately 58% year-over-year growth.

  • Achieved and well exceeded Rule of 40 for the fourth sequential quarter.

  • Defense & Intelligence revenue grew over 90% year-on-year, including a new $8 million contract with NGA.

  • Satellite Services pipeline reached over $4 billion in identified opportunities, with over $1 billion qualified as near-term.

  • Non-GAAP gross margin was 59%, better than expected, demonstrating business model scalability.

Concerns

3

  • Non-GAAP gross margin of 59% was lower than 61% in Q2 FY26, reflecting investments in Satellite Services and AI solutions.

  • Q3 FY27 revenue guidance of $101 million to $105 million implies a sequential decline from Q2's $116 million due to timing of point-in-time revenue recognition.

  • Q3 FY27 adjusted EBITDA loss is expected to be between -$6 million and -$1 million, reflecting increased investment.

Guidance & targets

CategoryTargetConfidence
Q3 FY27 Revenue
$101M-$105M
high materiality
High
Q3 FY27 Non-GAAP Gross Margin
56%-58%
medium materiality
High
Q3 FY27 Adjusted EBITDA Loss
-$6M to -$1M
medium materiality
High
Q3 FY27 Capital Expenditures
$30M-$37M
medium materiality
High
FY27 Revenue
$430M-$441M
high materiality
High
FY27 Non-GAAP Gross Margin
55%-57%
medium materiality
High
FY27 Adjusted EBITDA
$3M-$10M
high materiality
High
FY27 Rule of 40
Achieve Rule of 40
medium materiality
High
FY27 Capital Expenditures
$100M-$115M
high materiality
High
FY27 Adjusted Free Cash Flow
Positive on an annual basis
high materiality
High

Segment performance

SegmentRevenueYoYQoQMargin
Defense & Intelligence
Revenue growth includes Satellite Services revenue.
—90%——
Commercial
Reflects continued focus on landing and expanding large opportunities and leveraging AI-enabled solutions.
—15%——
Civil Government
Continued encouraging momentum in the U.S. and abroad.
—5%——
Latin America
Year-on-year revenue growth.
—3%——
Asia Pacific
Year-on-year revenue growth.
—15%——
North America
Year-on-year revenue growth.
—25%——
EMEA
Year-on-year revenue growth, driven by Satellite Services.
—130%——

PL operating KPIs by quarter

PL operating KPIs stated on its earnings calls, by fiscal quarter
KPI Jan 2026 Q4 FY26 Apr 2026 Q1 FY27This call Jul 2026 Q2 FY27Change vs prior quarter
Backlog
$900M+ End-of-period backlog was over $900 million, approximately 79% growth year-on-year, providing us with excellent visibility to accelerating our revenue growth for the coming fiscal year. Source transcript
~$906M End-of-period backlog was approximately $906 million, equating to approximately 72% growth year-on-year. Source transcript
~$815M We estimate our backlog, which includes contracts with the termination for convenience clause, to be approximately $815 million, up approximately 11% year-over-year. Source transcript
—
Recurring ACV percentage
98% Recurring ACV was 98% of our end-of-period ACV book of business, reflecting our continued focus on selling subscription data contracts and solutions as opposed to onetime professional or engineering services. Source transcript
99% Recurring ACV was 99% of our end-of-period ACV book of business, reflecting our continued focus on selling subscription data contracts and solutions as opposed to onetime professional or engineering services. Source transcript
98% Recurring ACV was 98% of our end-of-period ACV book of business, reflecting our continued focus on selling subscription data contracts and solutions as opposed to onetime professional or engineering services. Source transcript
-1 pt
Annual or multiyear contracts percentage of ACV
~85% Approximately 85% of our end-of-period ACV book of business consists of annual or multiyear contracts, lower than prior periods as we have seen a higher proportion of large shorter-term government contracts signed in recent quarters. Source transcript
~92% Approximately 92% of our end-of-period ACV book of business consists of annual or multiyear contracts. Source transcript
~94% Approximately 94% of our end-of-period ACV book of business consists of annual or multiyear contracts. Source transcript
—
Net dollar retention rate
116% Net dollar retention rate at the end of fiscal year '26 was 116% and net dollar retention rate with win backs was 118%. Source transcript
113% Net dollar retention rate at the end of the first quarter was 113%, and net dollar retention rate with win backs was 114%. Source transcript
109% Net dollar retention rate on ACV at the end of the second quarter was 109% and net dollar retention rate with win backs was 110%. Source transcript
-4 pt
Net dollar retention rate with winbacks
118% Net dollar retention rate at the end of fiscal year '26 was 116% and net dollar retention rate with win backs was 118%. Source transcript
114% Net dollar retention rate at the end of the first quarter was 113%, and net dollar retention rate with win backs was 114%. Source transcript
110% Net dollar retention rate on ACV at the end of the second quarter was 109% and net dollar retention rate with win backs was 110%. Source transcript
-4 pt
Remaining performance obligations
~$852.4M At the end of FY '26, our remaining performance obligations or RPOs were approximately $852.4 million, up about 106% year-over-year, of which approximately 34% apply to the next 12 months and 65% to the next 24 months. Source transcript
~$816M At the end of Q1, our remaining performance obligations or RPOs were approximately $816 million, up over 80% year-over-year, of which approximately 35% apply to the next 12 months and 66% to the next 24 months. Source transcript
~$753M At the end of Q2, our remaining performance obligations or RPOs were approximately $753 million, up approximately 9% year-over-year of which approximately 46% apply to the next 12 months and 68% to the next 24 months. Source transcript
—

Operating figures the company states on every call, checked against each call's transcript. Click a figure to read the sentence. A dash means it was not stated that quarter.

Orderbook & backlog

Remaining Performance Obligations (RPOs) $753M Q2 FY27 end

up approximately 9% YoY

Approximately 46% applies to the next 12 months, 68% to the next 24 months.

Backlog (including termination for convenience clause) $815M Q2 FY27 end

up approximately 11% YoY

Approximately 50% applies to the next 12 months, 70% to the next 24 months. Implies over $400M in revenue over next 4 quarters from existing contracts.

Product announcements

ProductTypeDetails
Pelican tech demolaunch
Tanager hyperspectral satellitelaunch
AI appmilestone
Owl monitoring satelliteroadmap

Deals & partnerships

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Deploy Planet's Global Monitoring Service (GMS) for national defense priorities. $8M

Contract awarded in August (not included in Q2 financials). Planet was the only vendor considered. Program grew out of a successful pilot with the Defense Innovation Unit in support of INDOPACOM.

European defense and intelligence customer Supply high-resolution global Mosaics and support operational planning. 7-figure 1-year

Contract awarded in August (not included in Q2 financials).

German government Dedicated capacity satellite services. EUR 25M (maximum possible value) 5 years

Tender award includes options. This is a civil government Satellite Services deal.

Rwanda Space Agency Provide national high-resolution data and analytics for government ministries, departments, agencies, and public universities.

First national program of its kind in Africa. Data will be used for agriculture, urban management, spatial planning, disaster response.

New Mexico State Land Office Renewal of long-standing partnership to monitor, protect, and manage over 9 million acres of public trust land.

Partnership since 2019, evolved into a sophisticated multiproduct strategy.

Hyperscaler AI developer Global monitoring of data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facility construction. 6-figure

Planet's Pelican high-resolution data used to track construction milestones as indicators of supply chain health and computing capacity.

FarmQA Develop and commercialize AI-powered agronomic intelligence tools for enterprise agriculture.

First application is an AI-driven sugar beet yield estimation model, piloted with multiple cooperatives during the 2026 growing season.

Braga Technologies Integrate Planet's high-frequency satellite data into their spatial intelligence platform.

Enabling automated change detection and near real-time analytics for natural resource management and government applications.

Isar Aerospace Launch partnership for a Pelican satellite.

Isar is scheduled to launch a Pelican next year, which Planet plans to build in its new German satellite manufacturing facility. This would be a national first for Germany.

Capital programs

German Satellite Manufacturing Facility underway

Benefit:Roughly double manufacturing capacity

Project progressing at pace with facility set up and clean room fit-out scheduled for September. Considerable interest from German and European governments.

Pelican and Owl Next-Generation Fleets underway
Period spend: $30M-$37M (Q3 FY27 guide)

Benefit:Meet surging market demand, accelerate Owl program

Investments in procurements for next-generation fleets in response to strong demand. CapEx can vary quarter-to-quarter based on timing.

Risks & headwinds

Variability in point-in-time revenue recognition Quarter-to-quarter

Point-in-time revenue was 12% of revenue in Q2 FY27 vs 1% in Q2 FY26.

Mitigation:Expected as Satellite Services business scales; full-year outlook remains unchanged.

Tightness in launch services market Current

High demand for rideshare missions, driving some challenges for smaller players.

Mitigation:Planet's extensive experience (688 satellites on 42 rockets) and flexibility make it a preferred partner; diversification with new players like Isar Aerospace.

Supply chain constraints for critical components

Not explicitly quantified as a current problem.

Mitigation:Proactive investments to stockpile critical components; advanced procurement of long-lead time items for Pelican and Owl to move at pace of demand.

What to watch in Q3 FY27

German Manufacturing Facility Progress

This year
Current Facility set up and clean room fit-out scheduled for September.
Target Building begins in the facility this year.

Why it matters

This facility is key to doubling manufacturing capacity and serving European customers, impacting future Satellite Services delivery.

This project is progressing at pace with the facility set up and clean room fit-out scheduled for September and plans to begin building in the facility this year.

Q&A highlights

How does the compression of the gap between frontier and open-source AI models impact Planet's efforts, and is it a positive tailwind?

The proliferation of AI models, including smaller ones, accentuates the value of Planet's unique data. Planet aims to be model-agnostic, allowing customers to choose models. The company's daily scan and deep archive provide real-world data essential for training AI, which is largely blind to such information when trained on internet text.

“It's a good point about smaller models. Obviously, I think that we're going to turn to a situation where the system will choose the model that's most appropriate for the question at some point. I'm sure that's where the big companies are going to go as well. But yes, I mean, in a sense that commoditization of those models only accentuates the extra value that we have of our data.”

asked by Xin Yu · answered by William Marshall

2 min read 6 chapters

Detailed narrative

AI Strategy and Market Expansion

Planet is leveraging AI to move upmarket into higher-value segments and expand the Earth observation market by enabling non-geospatial experts to utilize its data. The company's AI app, now in open beta, allows users to query Planet's 10-year archive through natural language, integrating various LLMs. Management believes the proliferation of AI models accentuates the value of Planet's unique daily scan data and archive, which provides real-world information crucial for training AI models beyond internet text.

Satellite Services Pipeline and Differentiation

The Satellite Services pipeline has grown significantly, with over $4 billion in identified opportunities and $1 billion qualified as near-term. This growth is driven by both smaller and larger deals across EMEA, APAC, and North America, and has expanded from defense to civil government. Planet's differentiation stems from its extensive operational history, having launched 688 Earth imaging satellites, and its rapid delivery speed, with first satellites in orbit within 2-4 months of contract awards, compared to years for competitors.

Next-Generation Constellations and Technology Updates

Planet successfully launched its Pelican tech demo in July, paving the way for 30-centimeter class resolution imagery and incorporating advancements in payload, on-orbit compute, and satellite-to-satellite communications. The company also shipped its second Tanager hyperspectral satellite and 18 SuperDoves for launch this fall, doubling capacity for methane/CO2 detection. The upcoming Owl program is expected to deliver 1-meter class resolution imagery, 10x more data, and 10x faster latency, significantly enhancing broad area monitoring and analytics.

International Expansion and Manufacturing

Planet is expanding its international footprint with a new German satellite manufacturing facility, expected to roughly double manufacturing capacity, with setup and clean room fit-out scheduled for September. This facility, along with a launch partnership with Isar Aerospace for a Pelican launch next year, positions Planet to serve critical needs of German and European customers. A new office in London has also been opened to scale European presence and customer relationships.

Financial Performance and Capital Allocation

The company reported record revenue of $116 million, driven by strong execution in Satellite Services and Data & Solutions. Adjusted EBITDA was $13.9 million, better than expected. Planet ended the quarter with $865 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, an increase of over 200% year-over-year. The company raised $120 million through its ATM program at an average price of $31.96 per share, aiming for strategic balance sheet flexibility and to support investments in next-generation fleets and manufacturing capacity.

Competitive Advantage in Daily Scan and Archive

Planet's daily scan capability is a key differentiator, making it the sole provider for certain government contracts, such as the NGA's Global Monitoring Service. This unique ability to monitor consistently and detect new threats is unmatched by competitors. Furthermore, Planet's extensive 10-year archive of daily data provides a significant lead, as it enables AI-powered pattern recognition and historical analysis that new entrants would take years to build, enhancing the value of change detection analytics.

AI-generated summary of the company's earnings call. Not investment advice.