🚀 Sierra Space Preps For IPO

🚀 Sierra Space Preps For IPO

February 02, 2024

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 02.02.2023

Happy Friday! The Q4 earnings calendar continued to fill out this week as the Primes have completed reporting, Rocket Lab launched Electron for the first time in 2024 and Star Lab plans to launch via Starship. Lets dive in!

Market Max-Q

Top Stories

1) Sierra Space continues to prepare for and ahead of an IPO listing.

  • The Colorado-based cargo space plane and LEO habitat company is making preliminary plans to hit the public markets while also exploring potential acquisitions. 

  • The company has begun laying the groundwork internally, CEO Tom Vice told Bloomberg News on Thursday. While exact timing has yet to be determined in this quiet period for IPOs, Sierra plans to take the step “when the market looks like it’ll give us the right credit for valuation.”

  • "We want access to the public markets. We’ve been working for a year and a half to make sure that we are public company ready," Vice said. The Company is looking to a successful inaugural Dream Chaser spaceplan flight to “give us another data point that the Board will take into consideration as we look at a potential IPO,” Vice concluded.

  • Sierra's valuation hit more than $5B as of September 2023 after its latest capital raise.

 2) Q4 2023 space earnings continued with Boeing reporting as well as Rocket Lab providing preliminary results following the first Electron mission of 2024. 

  • $BA Defense, Space & Security:

    • Revenue: $25B, +8% YoY

    • Oper. Earnings: $(1.7)B vs. $(3.5)B YoY

    • Oper. Margin: (7.1)% vs. (15.3)% YoY

    • Backlog: $520B, +29% YoY

  • $RKLB (Preliminary):

    • Revenue: $59 - 61M

    • Net Loss: $(53) - (49)M

    • Adj. EBITDA: $(30) - (28)M

 3) Momentus ($MNTS) has completed all necessary requirements of its National Security Agreement.

  • The Company has been informed by the U.S. Dept of Treasury that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has approved the exit from the agreement and its termination, following the completion all requirements of the NSA entered into July 2021.

  • “The end of the CFIUS process is an enormous positive step for Momentus that culminates more than two years of intensive work by everyone in the Company. . . Momentus has now emerged from this rigorous process clear of any lingering security concerns," said CEO and Chairman John Rood.

  • Shares closed +41.8% on Wednesday and finished +30.4% for the week.

In Other News

Quindar Raises $6M Seed Extension Round 

The satellite operations automation startup provides the ability to operate multiple satellite busses and payloads from their single platform. The oversubscribed round was led by FUSE, with continuing investment from Y-Combinator and Funders Club.

Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology Raises ÂĄ6.7B Series A 

SSST, the Shanghai municipal government-backed company, raised $933M USD for the construction of a low-orbit satellite constellation, one of its investors stated. The raise was led by a fund set up by the National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund (NMTUF). Other participants include Guosheng Capital, Hengxu Capital, and CAS Capital, an investment firm associated with Chinese Academy of Science.

Chart of the Week

January 2024 Performance: The first month of the new year has concluded and Intuitive Machines ($LUNR) is off and running at +45% YTD while certain usual suspects like Momentus ($MNTS) and Sidus ($SIDU) are down -40% and -50%. AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) leads them both to the downside at -52%.

Links

• Sidus ($SIDU) Announces Closing of $5.6M Public Offering• Northrop Grumman ($NOC) Prices $2.5B Debt Offering and $1B Share Repurchase Agreement• EchoStar ($SATS) Announces Termination of Exchange Offers and Consent Solicitations for Certain Existing Senior Notes Issued by DISH• BlackSky ($BKSY) Wins Third and Final Phase Contract From IARPA of Multi-Year SMART Program• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Successfully Launches First Electron Mission of 2024• Starlab Space Station Buys Starship Launch for Later This Decade• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Announces Pricing of Upsized Offering of $300M Convertible Senior Notes• SDA Awards Momentus ($MNTS) Contract Modification To Develop Defense Applications for Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Awards IDIQ Contract With $794M Ceiling to Solis Applied Science Team

Opinion

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB): A Strong Buy on Growth Prospects and Backlog Strength• SpaceX & Blue Origin Race to the Moon Pays Off for Manufacturers• Space Applications for Large Terrestrial Markets – Thinking About Space Investing• Space, the Final (Construction) Frontier• Interview with Jonathan Lacoste of The Space.VC

Earnings Calendar

• $VSAT: Feb 6 - After Market Close• $IRDM: Feb 15 - Before Market Open• $RKLB: Feb 27 - After Market Close

• $MDA: Feb 28 - Before Market Open• $LLAP: Mar 26 - Before Market Open

*Company confirmed dates only.