Planet Labs Stock: To The Moon And Back(log)

In its fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings call Thursday evening, Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) outlined its shift from satellite company to data-intelligence provider. Investors responded by piling into the defense tech stock, sending it soaring in Friday's early trading. PL stock is climbing. See the chart and price action here. ‘Intersection of Space and AI' As Planet reported record annual revenue of $308 million and its first full year of adjusted EBITDA profitability, the narrative centered on a powerful new fusion of industries. "We sit uniquely at the intersection of space and AI revolutions, and Planet Labs PBC is the first space-and-AI company," CEO Will Marshall declared on the call. This isn’t branding, but a response to a geopolitical landscape defined by volatility. Marshall noted that in an increasingly complex world, static maps are insufficient. And governments and defense agencies are seeking predictive power. According to Marshall, “Our customers rely on us to help identify unknown unknowns, detect changes and warning signals that they did not know to look for before they escalate into crises.” Planet's Q4 results underscore this demand. Driven by a 50% year-over-year surge in the Defense and Intelligence segment Planet's backlog has swelled to approximately $900 million. The growth is being fueled by satellite services deals with nations like Germany and Sweden, which are seeking sovereign space capabilities—the ability to own their own eyes in the sky while leveraging Planet’s automated analytical layer. Marshall highlighted Planet's deepening relationship with tech giants like Google and NVIDIA, particularly its SunCatcher partnership with Google, which explores putting TPUs directly into orbit. The long-term vision for this is staggering. "As Sundar [Pichai] put it, I think within ten years, he expects most compute spending to go into orbit, and that is a big amount of money. That is a huge, huge market to go after, but we are at very early days," Marshall noted. Financial Outlook Building on its $900 million backlog (up 79% year-over-year), Planet Labs issued a bullish forecast for the 2027 fiscal year, citing significant growth acceleration. The company expects full-year revenue between $415 million and $440 million, representing 39% growth at the midpoint—a notable jump from the 26% growth in 2026. To meet the massive demand for sovereign space systems, the company has earmarked $80 million to $95 million in capex to double its manufacturing capacity and roll out the high-resolution Pelican and next-gen Owl fleets. PL Price Action: Planet Lab shares were up 28.44% at $34.74 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo: DC Studio / Shutterstock