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š Varda Partners with NASA
š Varda Partners with NASA
The Space Scoop
Week Ended 08.05.2022
Happy Friday! Its been a huge week on the news front. NewSpace earnings kicked off, SES and Intelsat might merge, Slingshot Aerospace acquired two businesses, a PE firm acquired Descartes Labs, Astra announced a $100M equity facility, SpaceX raised $250M last month, and more. Lets dive in.
š Market Max-Q
S&P 500: 4,145.19 +0.3%NASDAQ: 12,657.56 +2.2%UFO: 21.67 +3.0%ROKT: 38.84 +0.2%ARKX: 15.33 +2.6%SSIT: 70.0 -13.6%MNTS: 2.13 +21.0%SATL: 4.83 +15.3%RKLB: 5.34 +14.4%MYNA: 8.18 -9.5%1W return as of 4:00pm EDT.
š Top Stories
1) Q2 2022 Space earnings season is well under way. Five companies reported this week, including NewSpace kick off with Virgin Galactic and Astra.
$SATS
Revenue: $499.3M, flat YoY
Net Income: $10.4M, -70% YoY
Adj. EBITDA: $167.7M, -10% YoY
Broadband Subscribers: ~1.346M, down 60k from Q1'22
Shares: -1.7%
$SPCE
Cash & Equivalents: $329.9M
Revenue: $357K, -37% YoY
Oper. Loss: $(109.7)M vs. $(73.9)M YoY
Adj. EBITDA: $(92.5)M vs. $(56.4)M YoY
Free Cash Flow: $(91)M vs. $(66)M YoY
Takeaway: Commercial tourism service pushed back to Q2 2023
Shares: -17.5%
$ASTR
Cash & Equivalents: $104.3M
Revenue: $2.7M
Oper. Loss: $(82.6)M vs. $(29.9)M YoY
Adj. EBITDA: $(48.4)M vs. $(21.4)M YoY
Takeaway: Halting launches until 2023 and pivoting away earlier than expected from Rocket 3.3 to 4.0
Shares: -17.7%
$GSAT
Revenue: $36.8M, +22% YoY
Oper. Loss: $(11.4)M
Adj. EBITDA: $14.6M, +49% YoY
Shares: +7.8%
$TSAT
Revenue: CAD$186.6M, -1% YoY
Net Income: CAD$(4.4)M
Adj. EBITDA: CAD$146.3M, -1% YoY
Shares: +8.2%
2) Research analysts were out Friday morning with rating and price target adjustments for Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) following Thursday evenings' negative report.
Truist: Downgraded to 'Sell', PT lowered to $5 from $8.
Wells Fargo: 'Underweight', PT lowered to $3.25 from $4.
Canaccord Genuity: Remain at 'Hold', PT lowered to $7 from $8.
3) SES and Intelsat are reportedly in merger talks, per the Financial Times, in a continued consolidation push among competitors.
The Luxembourg-based SES and U.S. rival Intelsat are in active discussions about the structure of any potential deal. The discussions are reportedly in an early stage and there is no guarantee of a deal being reached.
4) Slingshot Aerospace announced a double acquisition of Numericaās space-domain awareness division and Seradata.
The acquisitions fast track the Company's ability to "drive the space economy towards sustainability by providing satellite and launch operators with robust and authoritative space situational awareness and space traffic coordination solutions." Terms were undisclosed.
5) Varda Space Industries announced a partnership with NASA Ames and NASA Langley to accelerate its re-entry and heatshield technology.
The space manufacturing startup's partnership will allow for the purchasing of heat shield material and IP know-how for future self development needed for their first demonstration missions.
6) SpaceX raised $250M in equity in July.
The detail was disclosed in a Form D SEC filing. The funds came from 5 Investors and the valuation was not disclosed. Further detail to come.
š°ļø In Other News
Xona Space Systems Raises $15M of Funding
The GPS-alternative navigation startup has raised an oversubscribed round led by First Spark Ventures. New investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures, SRI Ventures, Velvet Sea Ventures, Gaingels, Airstream Venture Partners, and Space.VC participated alongside existing investors.
Antarctica Capital Acquires Controlling Stake in Descartes Labs
The private equity firm announced the acquisition of the geospatial intelligence solutions provider for an undisclosed amount, expanding its existing portfolio of NewSpace companies. For a sobering read on what led to this acquisition, check out co-founder Mark Johnson's post..
LiveEO Raises ā¬19M of Funding
The Berlin-based satellite analytics startup has raised capital on the back of strong demand for its earth observation raw data application technology. MMC Ventures is leading the non-specific round investment. The European Commission and Investitionsbank Berlin are also backing the round.
š Chart of the Week
Space Capital released their Q2 2022 Space Investment Quarterly report. In the second quarter, $6.1B has been invested into 92 space companies and the VC firm states it does not believe the space economy is at existential risk with current macro-economic headwinds. Check out the full report here.
š Links
ā¢ Momentus ($MNTS) Provides Fourth Demonstration Mission Updateā¢ Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) Secures Land for New Astronaut Campus and Training Facilityā¢ Sidus Space ($SIDU) Selects AWS for LizzieSat Constellationā¢ Astra ($ASTR) Announces $100M Committed Equity Facility from B. Rileyā¢ BlackSky ($BKSY) Expands Capabilities With Airbus ($EADSY) Reseller Partnershipā¢ Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Successfully Launches Second of Two Back-to-Back NRO Missionsā¢ Spire ($SPIR) Announces Space Services Deal To Scale Constellation for HANCOM inSPACEā¢ Viasat ($VSAT) Initiates Mechanical Integration on ViaSat-3ā¢ Maxar ($MAXR) Awarded GeoXO Spacecraft Phase A Study Contract for NOAAās Weather Monitoring Satellitesā¢ Lockheed Martin ($LMT) Doubles the Size of Its VC Fund To $400M
š£ļø Opinion
ā¢ The Investorās Guide to the Galaxy: Why the Space Industry Should Be Your Next Investmentā¢ Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Is Red-Hot So Why Is Its Stock Ice-Cold?ā¢ Is the Space Tech Bubble Bursting?ā¢ Rocket Lab ($RKLB) vs. SpaceX: Buy 2nd Place for 98% Lessā¢ Iridium ($IRDM): A Great Company at a Fair Price
š Earnings Calendar
ā¢ $VSAT: August 8 - After Market Closeā¢ $LLAP: August 9 - Before Market Openā¢ $MAXR: August 9 - After Market Closeā¢ $BKSY: August 10 - Before Market Openā¢ $SPIR: August 10 - After Market Closeā¢ $MNTS: August 11 - Before Market Openā¢ $RKLB: August 11 - After Market Closeā¢ $SIDU: August 12 - Before Market Openā¢ $MDA: August 12 - Before Market Openā¢ $VORB: August 12 - After Market Closeā¢ $ASTS: August 15 - After Market Close
*Company confirmed dates only.