Planet Labs PBC Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. - Analyst : Hi. Thanks for the question. Focusing on the [free cash flow] for dynamics, if we could maybe just kind of flesh out the bridge including what's moving in and out of CapEx and gross margin, as well as some of the working capitals assumptions you're making in '26. And then given that the company made some commentary on '27, if we can kind of just flesh out a little bit what the cadence looks like to getting to free cash flow positive. Thanks.

Question: Edison Yu - Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. - Analyst : Hey, good afternoon. Thank you for taking our questions. Want to ask on the AI deal with Anthropic. In terms of the discussions you have with them, how are you thinking about the ultimate monetization of these, whether it's using to -- a model or whether it's just selling data to them? How are you sort of thinking about the way to actually make a lot of money off this?

Question: Mike Latimore - Northland Securities, Inc. - Analyst : All right. Great, thanks. Yeah, Ashley, at the end of your remarks there, you talked about AI, Pelican, Tanager, and new satellite service wins as a revenue opportunity in '27. Would those be incremental to the doubling of the growth rate or are those included in that doubling of the growth rate?

Question: Mike Latimore - Northland Securities, Inc. - Analyst : Great. And then just to be clear, when you say positive cash flow, are you talking free cash flow or cash flow from operations?

Question: Jason Gursky - Citi Investment Research - Analyst : Great. Thank you. If you don't mind, just a couple of quick clarification questions, and then one more meaty one. On the clarification, on the doubling of the growth rate, is it that at the midpoint of the range in 2026? You double off of the midpoint, or could we grow off the -- could we double off the top end of your range? That's the clarification -- one clarification question. And then the other clarification one, on the increased expenses that you expect here in '26, is that kind of like a one time in nature kind of thing and that rolls down in '27, or do we need to see revenue growth for margin expansion? And then the meatier question is just the monetization of the non-JSAT areas of the world. Just kind of curious, will you be going out and looking to try to find people that are going to take down dedicated access over a region of the world, or is this all going into the library and you're trying to monetize the library? I'm just kind of curious how you're thinking about the monetization outside of that part of the world. Thanks.

Question: Ryan Koontz - Needham & Company, LLC - Analyst : Great. Thank you and sorry about the background noise if there's some. But with regards to the revenue guide, Ashley, how much does that contemplate the current chaotic situation in Washington? Obviously, it's a very dynamic situation, but it seems that there are already impacts. I assume you're contemplating some impact in that revenue guide just the state of things there, either on the civil -- especially on the civil side I'm guessing. Any color you can share there?

Question: Jeff Van Rhee - Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC - Analyst : Great, thanks. Thanks for taking my questions, guys. A couple for me. Maybe first just, Will, on space services, just to be clear, this is sticking to existing configuration footprint capabilities. So this is Doves, Pelicans, et cetera, just being sold on essentially a different delivery model. Sort of phrased differently, this isn't space services with a vision to customization?

Question: Trevor Walsh - Citizens JMP Securities, LLC - Analyst : Great. Hey, team. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just to kind of piggyback a little bit off your comments, Will, and Ashley, obviously chime in, but around this space services opportunity, it sounds like -- I think you had mentioned 10 satellites associated with JSAT, so by my math at least 22 kind of authorized Pelicans. Does that footprint of 10 kind of -- is that a good proxy for kind of what other kind of mini constellations, let's call them, for other types of deals that would kind of need to look like that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, PL.N - Q4 2025 Planet Labs PBC Earnings Call And then I guess secondary question with that is how easy or could you kind of boost that 32 regulatory approved number, if the opportunity demand comes in and how easy you are how much -- how quickly could you move on that kind of aspect of things? Thanks.

Question: Josh Sullivan - The Benchmark Company, LLC - Analyst : Hey. Good evening. Just as far as the focus on larger -- just the focus on larger customers while directing some of the smaller customers, third parties, but when's the pig through the snake there? Maybe when do we see the customer count stabilize?

Question: Anthony Valentini - Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC - Analyst : Hey, you all. Thanks for taking my questions. Ashley, I'm just curious -- you've done a great job explaining the new strategy of going after larger new customers, and I think you had mentioned in your prepared remarks that you guys are looking to march your way back to like industry-leading net dollar retention ratios. Could you maybe just like talk a little bit about the strategy of like how you're actually going to achieve that? And then am I thinking of it correctly that because you guys are going after larger customers that are new customers, that's almost like a -- like that's the offset of the lever on the NDRR that it's kind of going to be lower because of that? Just if you could talk through that would be helpful. Thanks.

Question: Gregory Pendy - Clear Street LLC - Analyst : Hey. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to know on commercial you mentioned stabilization that you're seeing earlier in your comments. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? Thanks.

Question: Caleb Henry - Quilty Analytics, LLC - Analyst : Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Just had two questions. First is sort of on the existing changes in the US government. On the Spire call, there was conversation about seeing a lot more funding headed towards kind of commercial weather and then kind of anticipating a pretty dramatic change in uptake on their side. I'm wondering on the electro-optical side or in any of the sensor types that Planet offers if you -- if management is kind of anticipating any similar meaningful changes from the new administration in terms of how they make use of commercial satellite imagery.

Question: Caleb Henry - Quilty Analytics, LLC - Analyst : Okay. Thanks. And then just one clarification on the JSAT contract. What's the rough timeline for when you start launching those satellites? Is that something where you want to get a minimum number of dedicated planet satellites up first, and then you shift to JSAT, maybe intersperse, or -- when do you start rolling out the JSAT portion of the Pelican fleet?

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. - Analyst : Hey. Thanks for the follow-up. If maybe we could just talk a little about the contract opportunities that Will talked about. Handful of opportunities. Sounds like they're pretty similar. Obviously, you have a little bit of a split across the types of satellites that might be procured, but if you could maybe talk through what the total size of that bid pipe looks like and how that splits out relative to the services pipeline?