Planet Labs strong Q4 prompts price target raise from Wedbush

Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) reported strong fourth quarter results and raised its fiscal year 2027 guidance, prompting Wedbush to maintain an ‘Outperform’ rating and lift its price target from $30 to $40.
Shares of Planet Labs surged almost 28% to about $34 on Friday morning.
The firm highlighted the company’s robust revenue growth, expanding backlog, and accelerating demand across government and commercial sectors.
The company posted total revenue of $86.8 million, up 41% year-over-year, exceeding both Street estimates of $78.2 million and company guidance of $76 million to $80 million. Growth was led by the Defense & Intelligence segment, which expanded more than 50% in fiscal year 2026 amid strong geopolitical tailwinds.
Total remaining performance obligations (RPO) reached roughly $852 million, a 106% increase year-over-year, with backlog surpassing $900 million, up 79%.
The quarter included a nine-figure contract with the Swedish Armed Forces, the third such large-scale satellite services deal in the past year following agreements in Japan and Germany. Wedbush noted that “both deal count and average size in the satellite services pipeline has grown appreciably since Investor Day in October.”
Profitability exceeded expectations, with non-GAAP gross margins of 57.5%, above guidance of 50% to 52%, and adjusted EBITDA of $2.3 million, beating guidance of -$7 million to -$5 million and the Street’s estimate of -$6 million. Fiscal year 2026 marked the company’s first full year of positive adjusted EBITDA, the analysts noted.
Management emphasized artificial intelligence as a key driver of future growth, describing Planet Labs’ “proprietary data archive as “foundational infrastructure for real-world AI models,” and highlighting partnerships with Anthropic and Google on scalable earth intelligence applications.
Looking ahead, Planet Labs provided fiscal year 2027 revenue guidance of $415 million to $440 million, well above Street expectations, supported by strong backlog visibility. Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $0 million to $10 million was below analyst forecasts, while non-GAAP gross margin guidance of 50% to 52% reflects near-term investment in next-generation satellite infrastructure. Capital expenditures are projected at $80 million to $95 million, above Street estimates of $51.3 million.
“Overall, we view this as another major step in the right direction as PL continues to prove it can deliver leading advanced satellite data capabilities allowing it to capitalize on this growing TAM at the intersection of Space/AI,” Wedbush concluded.