Rocket Lab to launch next mission in two days
The company states: 'Rocket Lab (RKLB) announced a swift turnaround in Electron's launch manifest to fly the next mission in a multi-launch contract for geospatial analytics company HawkEye 360. The mission will fly from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in just two days' time. The mission, named 'Get The Hawk Outta Here', is scheduled to launch no earlier than Thursday, June 26th UTC from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, ahead of a previous Electron mission that has been rescheduled to allow for additional checkouts. This unprecedented announcement-to-launch timeline underscores Rocket Lab's responsiveness amid a back-to-back launch schedule that requires peak operational efficiency and flexibility. The dedicated launch for HawkEye 360 will deploy four satellites built to extract mission-critical intelligence from the radiofrequency spectrum in support of national and global security: a trio of microsats called Cluster 12 to collect and geolocate radio frequency signals from around the world, and Kestrel-0A, an experimental satellite designed to evaluate emerging capabilities and future technology enhancements.'
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Should You Buy Rocket Lab While It's Below $40?
Rocket Lab stock is soaring on optimism over the rocket launch provider. The company is planning to unveil its next-generation rocket called the Neutron later this year. Rocket Lab stock looks overvalued at today's price levels. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Space and defense stocks have gone to the moon this market cycle (pun intended). Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) is one of the great beneficiaries of this trend, as the rocket launch, space systems, and defense company has seen its stock soar close to 600% in the last 12 months, absolutely crushing the broad market indices. It recently surpassed a price of $33, hitting a new all-time high in recent weeks. Investors are optimistic about the future of this space flight disrupter as it aims to compete with SpaceX. Should you buy the stock while it is still below $40? Or is it too late to add Rocket Lab to your portfolio? The answer may surprise you. Rocket Lab is the only independent space provider to come anywhere close to competing with SpaceX, the dominant player in the sector. It began its journey developing the small and nimble Electron rocket, which ferries commercial and defense payloads into space with extreme accuracy. Earlier this month, the 65th Electron rocket was launched into space, with many more waiting in Rocket Lab's backlog. The next step for Rocket Lab is the debut of its larger Neutron rocket, which will directly compete with SpaceX in size and capabilities. The Neutron will have a much higher payload capability than the Electron, which means more potential revenue per rocket launch. A Falcon 9 launch at SpaceX can cost over $50 million, which should be a comparable figure for the Neutron once it starts performing for customers. Management believes the Neutron will debut its first launch in 2025, with commercial launches planned in the years after. Rocket Lab's total revenue was only $466 million over the last 12 months, meaning that just a few annual Neutron launches could be quite meaningful to top-line growth. On top of launches, Rocket Lab has built and bought capabilities in the space systems sector, which encompasses items that you put onto payloads in space such as satellites and solar arrays. It just acquired a company called Geost to help further its vertical integration into the defense satellite sector, a highly important capability to have today. In fact, over 70% of Rocket Lab's Q1 revenue came from the space systems segment, making it a much larger market opportunity than just rocket launches. A vertically integrated space company is an ambitious goal, and Rocket Lab is aiming to build it from launch to space gear to eventually software services, according to management. It has a nice narrative, but it is not guaranteed to work. For one, the Neutron rocket has never even performed a test launch. As investors have recently seen with SpaceX and its Starship tests, mishaps in testing can lead to disastrous (and expensive) results. Rocket Lab is currently unprofitable, burning $177 million in annual free cash flow as it builds out the Neutron and other space system segments. With just over $500 million in cash and equivalents, the company is only a few years of cash burn and failed tests of the Neutron rocket from running into a liquidity concern. These are unproven markets, and while Rocket Lab is innovating in a field that could potentially be worth tens of billions of dollars someday, its business plan comes with a lot of risks. After soaring 600% in the last 12 months, Rocket Lab now trades at a market cap of $15 billion. That brings its trailing price-to-sales ratio (P/S) to a sky-high level of 36. For reference, the S&P 500 trades at an average P/S ratio of 3, or about 10% the level of Rocket Lab. Yes, Rocket Lab has a higher growth potential than the average stock, and could easily be generating billions of dollars in revenue in the future. It is not guaranteed to do so, though. Even if Rocket Lab reaches $3 billion in sales -- close to 10x today's level -- it is unclear how much of that would translate to bottom-line profits due to its low gross margins below 30%. If it achieves a bottom-line profit margin of 10%, that would equate to $300 million in annual earnings, or a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of over 50 compared to its current market cap. And these earnings will not materialize for many years, if they end up doing so at all. However you slice it, Rocket Lab looks like an overvalued stock that has gotten ahead of itself in the last year or so. Avoid buying Rocket Lab for your portfolio. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. 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Rocket Lab launches 'Get the Hawk Outta Here' mission from New Zealand (video)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Rocket Lab has launched a quartet of satellites for Virginia-based company Hawkeye 360. An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab's Pad-A at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand today at 1:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT; 5:28 a.m. local New Zealand time on June 27). The rocket carried Hawkeye 360's "Get the Hawk Outta Here" mission. Inside Electron's payload fairings were three radio frequency geolocation microsatellites and a fourth experimental satellite dubbed "Kestrel-0A". The group was released into a polar low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of about 320 miles (520 kilometers). Hawkeye 360 specializes in providing radio frequency geospatial analytics. The constellation trio aboard Get the Hawk Outta Here is designed to triangulate the origin of radio frequencies across the globe and is part of the company's "Cluster 12." The satellites will fill a "critical coverage gap," according to Rocket Lab's mission description, granting Hawkeye 360 the ability to "extract RF intelligence in regions of strategic interest." Kestrel-0A, meanwhile, is designed to "evaluate emerging capabilities and future technology enhancements," according to Rocket Lab. Related stories: — Rocket Lab launches Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit — Rocket Lab launches private Earth-observing satellite to orbit (video) — Rocket Lab unveils plan to land Neutron rockets at sea, 1st launch in 2025 Get the Hawk Outta Here is the second of three missions for Hawkeye 360 that Rocket Lab plans to launch. In total, Rocket Lab will ultimately deliver 15 satellites to LEO for Hawkeye 360. The first mission, dubbed "Virginia Is For Launch Lovers," served as Electron's debut mission and launched in Jan. 2023 from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia. This mission marks the 67th overall launch of Electron and ninth launch of 2025 for Rocket Lab — and the company shows no signs of a slowing cadence. Rocket Lab still has at least half a dozen launches left on its docket for this year, including the debut of its larger, more powerful Neutron rocket that's designed to be partially reusable. Rocket Lab also flies a suborbital variant of Electron called HASTE, which serves as a testbed for hypersonic technologies.
