Planet Labs PBC Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ryan Koontz - Needham & Company LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks for the question. Terrific quarter, guys, just outstanding in the October quarter. I wanted to ask about the guide a little bit here. In terms of the revenue and the margin guide down, is the revenue down on one-time benefits on usage in the past quarter? And then the gross margin guide down, is that mostly tied to some of your large international programs you're ramping?

Question: Ryan Koontz - Needham & Company LLC - Analyst : Great, Ashley, thanks. And just a clarification on those partner fees, are those front loaded in some way before revenue hits? Or how should we think about how those kind of behave in the future?

Question: Ryan Koontz - Needham & Company LLC - Analyst : Okay, got it. Got it. Perfect. And maybe a quick question on the acquisition of Bedrock. I mean, which sectors are these guys focused on and what sort of data does Bedrock integrate? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 10, 2025 / 10:00PM, PL.N - Q3 2026 Planet Labs PBC Earnings Call

Question: Ryan Koontz - Needham & Company LLC - Analyst : Got it. And what sort of data do they deal with? Is it all primarily your data or they bring other data sources together?

Question: Ryan Koontz - Needham & Company LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks, Will. Thanks, Ashley.

Question: Edison Yu - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Hi, thank you and congrats on the very impressive quarter. Want to ask about Project Suncatcher. There, there's been a lot of talk, a lot of excitement about data centers in space. Can you give us a sense on how you think about just the feasibility and viability of this and how does one kind of measure that going forward?

Question: Edison Yu - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Just one follow-up. I think you mentioned in the prepared remarks that you're using the same bus as Owl.

Question: Edison Yu - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Are there any special kind of design changes you need to make on the bus. Anything you do differently, just from, I guess, engineering perspective, given it's a TPU?

Question: Edison Yu - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Thank you very much.

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : Thank you. Apologies, Zoom mechanics. So just going back to the pipeline that you put together for the Investor Day, called it 20 contracts, average contract value of $170 million, that tracks pretty closely to kind of the [EF35] friends and family. So as we think of kind of drawing comparisons between that portfolio of opportunities and the companies that we're looking at, how do you kind of think about the sizing and magnitude of those awards? I mean, is it fair to assume that like we could see 20% of that of that pipeline convert? And maybe the magnitude of that pipeline looking similar, as a factor of the JSAT and Germany deal such that maybe it's like $100 million awards up front? Like how do we think about kind of just the timing and magnitude of that pipeline?

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : Yeah. No worries. I think timing probably might be a little bit too aggressive in terms of answering the question, so good to hear that you're well positioned and looking forward to seeing those awards. Maybe pivoting to putting some numbers around Suncatcher. LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 10, 2025 / 10:00PM, PL.N - Q3 2026 Planet Labs PBC Earnings Call

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : So if we think of the 881 cluster concept, let's call it, $250,000 to $300,000 per satellite, $1 million per cluster. Is it fair to assume that that has some value capture tail on top of that such that it can be above, called it, an initial award of $81 million? And then just a high level question as we think of Google's R&D budget of called $30 billion a year and the concept that a lot of these AI, people that are basically chasing data centers and the like, are now pivoting that R&D spend from the development of the systems to the scaling of systems, and that scaling of systems likely going through space infrastructure versus terrestrial. So maybe $81 million, is that fair? Or is it above that? And how do we think of kind of that longer-term scaling opportunity into that Google R&D wallet?

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : Yes, I think so. So thank you for the call. As always, appreciate it.

Question: Kristine Liwag - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Great, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Look, you've delivered four consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA and the loss for 4Q is really driven by incremental investments which are all good problems. I was wondering, can you parse out how much these investments are for 4Q, their duration into fiscal year '27? And if we take out these investments, would fiscal year '27 be adjusted EBITDA profitable? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 10, 2025 / 10:00PM, PL.N - Q3 2026 Planet Labs PBC Earnings Call

Question: Kristine Liwag - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Yes, super helpful. And if I could do a follow on, the AXA contract that you mentioned earlier, if you think about the opportunity set for that kind of insurance-type business, when you sign on incremental customers, how scalable is your capability set there regarding profitability? Like would you sign on new customers and have incrementally higher profit? Like how do we think about that versus incremental investments you would have to make if you sign on customers similar to what they're already doing?

Question: Kristine Liwag - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Thank you. Very excited about that.

Question: Trevor Walsh - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Can you guys hear me okay? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 10, 2025 / 10:00PM, PL.N - Q3 2026 Planet Labs PBC Earnings Call

Question: Trevor Walsh - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Cool. Thanks for taking the questions. I guess around the Luno B contract and the upside in the quarter, for Will or for Ashley, jump ball, but can you maybe explain or go in a little bit more detail as to how -- that just seems like a very from kind of signing the contracting quarter and then having it immediately kind of lead to recognizing whatever it just seems like a nicer, just better, I guess execution? And is that more -- is that actually what happened or was there some details around the POC being set up beforehand and just kind of getting off with that customer right away specific to NGA? Or I guess I'm trying to understand if there's going to be more kind of potential with that with some of these D&I customers where you kind of sign the deal and then leads to kind of immediate revenue impacts in that actual quarter? Thanks.

Question: Trevor Walsh - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Terrific. Great. Thanks, Will. That's really helpful color. Ashley, follow-up maybe for you, just circling back to JSAT and the Pelican revenues. Understand that the JSAT is not included in your ACV metrics as far as the recurring piece of revenue, but can you just help us understand or remind us exactly how -- as you build the 10 or so satellites specific to JSAT and that revenue flows in, is that going to create kind of a one-time, non-recurring type of bump in a particular quarter, which we won't really see in that ACV metric cause you're not including that in there? And so in other words, you'd have a big revenue bump, but you still have -- that's not recurring, but you have 97% kind of similar to this quarter type of a metric? So not a good way to necessarily kind of track that, if that makes sense. Can you maybe just help us understand the dynamics there?

Question: Trevor Walsh - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Awesome. Super helpful. Thanks both for the questions.

Question: Gregory Pendy - Clear Street - Analyst : Hey guys, thanks for taking my question and congrats on the quarter. Just a real quick one, I think you mentioned there was some weakness in agriculture on the commercial side and some seasonality. Is that just the overall pressure we're hearing about in the agricultural sector? And could you just provide a little bit of color on that?

Question: Gregory Pendy - Clear Street - Analyst : That's very helpful. Thanks a lot.

Question: Chris Quilty - Quilty Analytics LLC - Analyst : Thanks, guys. Following on the earlier, talk of the pipeline, $170 million deals and the fact that you're doing the factory expansion in Berlin, what do you expect you'll need in terms of production rate? And is that where are you at today and where do you expect to scale in the next year? And is that sufficient capacity with those two facilities should the opportunity show?

Question: Chris Quilty - Quilty Analytics LLC - Analyst : Got you. But again, Will said he doubled -- you'll double production to no number given, but I was just asking for a number.

Question: Chris Quilty - Quilty Analytics LLC - Analyst : No, fair enough. And, again, on the Tanager, any update there? Are you finding a killer app market or application with the hyperspectral? What are your thoughts on scaling with the technology?

Question: Chris Quilty - Quilty Analytics LLC - Analyst : Great. And congrats on the Pelican turnaround on first light, I think, was it a record? It was certainly --

Question: Chris Quilty - Quilty Analytics LLC - Analyst : Got you. And we've got the -- is it the next two satellites going up will be next gen 30-centimeter? And can you just remind us what is the fundamental difference in the driver for the improvement? Is it altitude? Taking the satellites down below 420? Or is it some change to the payload itself that you've learned from the first iteration?

Question: Chris Quilty - Quilty Analytics LLC - Analyst : Very cool. Looking forward to it. Thanks. LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 10, 2025 / 10:00PM, PL.N - Q3 2026 Planet Labs PBC Earnings Call