What Happened?
Shares of earth imaging satellite company Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) jumped 6.5% in the afternoon session after the company announced it had shipped new satellites for an upcoming SpaceX launch and revealed plans to expand its manufacturing capabilities in Europe.
The company reported that its Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 satellites, along with 36 SuperDoves, have arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base for the Transporter-15 Rideshare mission. Planet's CEO, Will Marshall, stated that "incredible demand" for high-resolution data is fueling this growth. Further bolstering investor confidence, Planet Labs will open a new manufacturing facility in Berlin, Germany, to double the production capacity of its Pelican fleet. This move is a response to strong business growth in Europe, highlighted by a multi-year €240 million agreement with the German government and a key contract with NATO. These developments suggest the company is scaling up to meet rising customer demand for its Earth-imaging data and services.
Is now the time to buy Planet Labs? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Planet Labs’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 60 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 5.9% on the news that the company announced plans to open a new satellite manufacturing facility in Berlin, Germany, to double its production capacity for next-generation satellites. This strategic expansion, an investment expected to exceed eight figures, is designed to meet soaring demand from the European market amid rising geopolitical tensions. The move follows significant contract wins, including a multi-year €240 million agreement with the German government and a key contract with NATO. The company's recent earnings report highlighted that its biggest challenge is meeting "exponentially growing" demand, with its order backlog increasing 245% year-over-year. The new Berlin facility will complement its San Francisco factory, where the production line for its new high-resolution Pelican satellites is already fully operational and successfully deploying new spacecraft.
Planet Labs is up 249% since the beginning of the year, and at $13.88 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Planet Labs’s shares at the IPO in April 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $1,401.
Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.
