Rocket Lab Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results, Posts Record Quarterly Revenue of $180M, Record Annual Revenue of $602M, Delivering Annual Growth of 38% and Growing Backlog 73% Year-on-Year to $1.85B

Guides to record Q1 revenue of $185M - $200M, representing year-on-year growth of 57% at the midpoint of the range

LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab”, “the Company”, “we,” “us,” or “our”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today shared the financial results for fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, said: “2026 was a record-breaking year for Rocket Lab financially and operationally. We delivered record quarterly revenue of $180 million, which brought our full year revenue to a record $602 million, representing 38% growth year on year. We reached a new annual launch record, flying 21 missions across Electron and HASTE with a 100% success rate for the year, and also reached significant qualification milestones in the development of Neutron, our new medium-lift launch vehicle. At the same time we were awarded Rocket Lab’s largest single contract to date, an $816 million contract from the Space Development Agency to design and manufacture 18 satellites for the Tracking Layer Tranche 3 program under the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. It was also the quarter in which two spacecraft we built for NASA and the University of California Berkeley were successfully launched toward Mars for the historic ESCAPADE mission, proving Rocket Lab can deliver decadal class science missions on rapid timelines for a fraction of the cost of traditional interplanetary programs. We ended the year with a record $1.85 billion in backlog, representing 73% year-on-year growth, a figure we look forward to building upon in 2026.”

Business Highlights for the Fourth Quarter 2025, plus updates since December 31, 2025.

• Launched seven missions in Q4 2025, a new quarterly record, and also achieved a new annual launch record with 21 Electron missions flown in 2025 with 100% mission success. Three of these 2025 launches were HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) missions delivering hypersonic suborbital test launch capability, a key priority for the Department of War needed to support initiatives such as Golden Dome.
• Signed more than 30 new launch contracts in 2025 with a diverse customer base spanning U.S. national defense and security, commercial constellations, and new and returning customers.
• Awarded $816m prime contract by the Space Development Agency to design and build a constellation of 18 advanced missile warning, tracking, and defense spacecraft. The contract further cements Rocket Lab’s position as the disruptive and preferred new prime, winning contracts historically reserved for legacy aerospace contractors.
• Twin spacecraft designed, built, and operated by Rocket Lab were successfully launched for NASA and University of California Berkeley’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
• Completed production of LOXSAT, an advanced spacecraft designed and built by Rocket Lab to enable an on-orbit cryogenic fueling demonstration for NASA.
• Introduced new advanced silicon solar arrays to power gigawatt-scale space-based data centers spanning kilometers in orbit, harnessing infinitely abundant solar energy to support surging A.I. and compute demand on Earth.
• Acquired Optical Support Inc, a leader in design and manufacture of custom, high-precision optical and optomechanical instruments. It’s the latest move in Rocket Lab’s vertically integration strategy, bringing high-performance optical payload technology into the Company to unlock high value national security and commercial spacecraft opportunities.
• Acquired Precision Components Limited, expanding Rocket Lab’s high volume, precision manufacturing capabilities.
• Selected by the Missile Defense Agency for the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) program, positioning Rocket Lab to compete for future launch and space systems contracts up to a total of $151 billion to deliver capabilities to the warfighter with increased agility.
• Welcomed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to Rocket Lab’s Engine Development Complex in Long Beach as part of the Arsenal of Freedom Tour, highlighting the critical support Rocket Lab provides for defense and national security priorities.
• Successfully qualified Neutron’s Hungry Hippo fairing and delivered it to the Assembly and Integration Complex in Virginia ready for final integration and end-to-end systems testing.
• Completed successful qualification for Neutron’s thrust structure and entered qualification phase for the interstage, both critical development milestones for the Neutron development program.
• Updated the Neutron development schedule following the stage 1 tank test failure, with Neutron’s first launch now targeted for Q4 2026.
  

First Quarter 2026 Guidance
For the first quarter of 2026, Rocket Lab expects:

• Revenue between $185 million and $200 million.
• GAAP Gross Margins between 34% and 36%.
• Non-GAAP Gross Margins between 39% and 41%.
• GAAP Operating Expenses between $120 million and $126 million.
• Non-GAAP Operating Expenses between $106 million and $112 million.
• Interest Income, net $8.0 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA loss of between $21 million and $27 million.
• Basic Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding of 605 million, including approximately 46 million of Series A Convertible Participating Preferred Shares.

See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below for an explanation of our use of Non-GAAP financial measures, and the reconciliation of historical Non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures in the tables attached to this press release. We have not provided a reconciliation for the forward-looking Non-GAAP Gross Margin, Non-GAAP Operating Expenses or Adjusted EBITDA expectations for Q1 2026 described above because, without unreasonable efforts, we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the amount and timing of adjustments that are used to calculate these non-GAAP financial measures, particularly related to stock-based compensation and its related tax effects. Stock-based compensation is currently expected to range from $16 million to $18 million in Q1 2026.

Conference Call Information
Rocket Lab will host a conference call for investors at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) today to discuss these business highlights and financial results for our fourth quarter and full year 2025, to provide our outlook for the first quarter 2026, and other updates.

The live webcast and a replay of the webcast will be available on Rocket Lab’s Investor Relations website:

Rocket Lab Investor Relations Contact
Patrick Vorenkamp

Rocket Lab Media Contact
Morgan Connaughton

About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is a leading space company that provides launch services, spacecraft, payloads and satellite components serving commercial, government, and national security markets. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is the world’s most frequently launched orbital small rocket; its HASTE rocket provides hypersonic test launch capability for the U.S. government and allied nations; and its Neutron launch vehicle in development will unlock medium launch for constellation deployment, national security and exploration missions. Rocket Lab’s spacecraft and satellite components have enabled more than 1,700 missions spanning commercial, defense and national security missions including GPS, constellations, and exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and Venus. Rocket Lab is a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq stock exchange (RKLB). Learn more at www.rocketlabcorp.com.

ROCKET LAB CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
FOR THE THREE MONTHS AND YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2025 AND 2024
(unaudited; in thousands)

The tables provided below reconcile the non-GAAP financial measures Adjusted EBITDA, Non-GAAP gross profit, Non-GAAP research and development, net, Non-GAAP selling, general and administrative, Non-GAAP operating expenses, Non-GAAP operating loss and Non-GAAP total other income (expense), net with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. See above for additional information on the use of these non-GAAP financial measures.

	Three Months Ended December 31,								Years Ended December 31,
		2025				2024				2025				2024
NET LOSS	$	(52,922	)		$	(52,345	)		$	(198,209	)		$	(190,175	)
Depreciation		7,308				5,854				25,369				20,367
Amortization		7,436				3,285				18,566				13,288
Stock-based compensation expense		18,205				16,872				71,099				56,816
Transaction costs		767				2,187				12,271				2,594
Interest expense		5,019				6,714				26,489				26,179
Interest income		(9,589	)			(4,936	)			(25,512	)			(22,225	)
Change in fair value of contingent consideration		(10,624	)			—				(10,624	)			(218	)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes		11,278				675				(27,688	)			764
Loss (gain) on foreign exchange		228				(378	)			463				87
Accretion of marketable securities and cash equivalents purchased at a discount		(658	)			(650	)			(2,468	)			(2,922	)
Loss (gain) on disposal of assets		257				(472	)			2,613				(2,828	)
Employee retention credit		—				—				515				—
Loss on extinguishment of debt		5,926				—				5,926				1,330
ADJUSTED EBITDA	$	(17,369	)		$	(23,194	)		$	(101,190	)		$	(96,943	)