Planet Labs Stock Did It Again. Why Shares Are Headed to the Moon.

A picture of Lhasa Gonggar International Airport in Tibet, China, taken in December 2025, with Planet Labs’ Pelican-6 satellite. (Courtesy Planet Labs)

Key Points

• Planet Labs reported break-even earnings per share on revenue of $81.3 million for its fiscal third quarter.
• The company updates its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to a midpoint of $299 million, up from a previous outlook.
• Shares of Planet Labs are rising sharply after the earnings report.

Planet Labs’ recent quarterly reports have sent its stock to the moon. Its most recent one after Wednesday’s close of trading, might send it to Mars.

For its fiscal third-quarter, the Planet Labs’ announced break-even earnings per share on sales of $81.3 million. Wall Street was looking for a loss of 6 cents a share on revenue of $73.5 million. A year ago, Planet Labs reported a loss of 2 cents on revenue of $61.3 million. Planet Labs’ fiscal year ends in January.

The company also updated its guidance. Prior guidance called for fiscal year 2026 revenue of between $281 million and $289 million. Now the midpoint is $299 million. New guidance implies fourth-quarter revenue of $78 million. Wall Street currently projects $72.2 million.

Planet Labs ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of almost $700 million.

Shares rose 34.9%, closing at $17.47, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% and 1.3%, respectively.

Investors were braced for volatility. Options markets implied the stock would move 16% up or down on Thursday. Shares have moved an incredible 28% on average after the past four quarterly reports. Shares have moved up twice and fallen twice over that span.

Shares jumped 48% after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings in September. The company reported sales of $73.4 million, better than the $66 million analysts projected.

Three months earlier, shares gained 49% after Planet Labs reported fiscal first-quarter numbers in June. Those gains add up. Coming into the week, Planet Labs’ stock was up 216% for the year.

It’s quite a streak of big post-earnings jumps. Moves with Planet Labs stock can be exacerbated by high short interest. Short sellers borrow stock in companies they don’t own and sell it, betting on price declines. About 13% of Planet shares available for trading are sold short. That’s relatively high. The average short interest for an S&P 500 stock is about 4%.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com