# Rocket Lab USA (RKLB.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/RKLB

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:31:35.712Z. Financial observations: FY2019–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $55.25 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 1 revenue decline in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 8 years

- Years with declining revenue: 1

- Years with a net loss: 8

- Operating margin variation: 0.61×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -0.68×

- FY2020: -1.56×

- FY2021: -1.64×

- FY2022: -0.64×

- FY2023: -0.73×

- FY2024: -0.44×

- FY2025: -0.38×

- LTM to Jun 2026: -0.29×

### moat: fail

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: -35.8%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -41.6%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -19.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 15.0%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 34.4%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 1

- Capital spending / revenue: 24.2%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -40.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -38.6%

- FY2020: 0.0%

- FY2021: -87.1%

- FY2022: -37.7%

- FY2023: -33.8%

- FY2024: -41.6%

- FY2025: -24.0%

- LTM to Jun 2026: -17.2%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$872M

- Net income, five-year total: -$872M

- Return on incremental invested capital: -21.1%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -3.9 pp

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: -$136M

- FY2023: -$183M

- FY2024: -$190M

- FY2025: -$198M

- LTM to Jun 2026: -$165M

### management: fail

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -38.6% vs -33.8%

- Per-share earnings: -0.12 to -0.38 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 3.4%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 3.4%

- Per-share value change: -$0.26

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$0.12

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.38

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -1.00

- Average buyback yield: 1.0%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- ROIC, first three-year median: -38.6%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -33.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -$0.08

- FY2020: -$0.12

- FY2021: -$0.26

- FY2022: -$0.29

- FY2023: -$0.38

- FY2024: -$0.38

- FY2025: -$0.37

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -1.4%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.80×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.25×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -4.5%

- FY2020: -14.5%

- FY2021: -4.6%

- FY2022: -3.0%

- FY2023: -8.9%

- FY2024: -11.9%

- FY2025: -1.4%

## Holders

- [Robert Torray](https://gigainvestors.com/T): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Dan Davidowitz](https://gigainvestors.com/pcm): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 61% since May 2026 · "Rocket Lab (RKLB) Stock Fair Value Edges Lower As Neutron And Deal Risks Weigh" (finance.yahoo.com, Oct 2026) · sales +27.8%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:30.399Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-06-14: Rocket Lab's SWOT analysis: space firm's stock soars on acquisitions, neutron hopes ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/swot-analysis/rocket-labs-swot-analysis-space-firms-stock-soars-on-acquisitions-neutron-hopes-93CH-4096066))

- 2025-10-07: Rocket Lab Secures Latest Multi-Launch Contract with iQPS for Three Dedicated Electron Missions ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rocket-lab-secures-latest-multi-213000445.html))

- 2025-11-19: Rocket Lab (RKLB) Valuation Revisited Following Neutron Rocket Launch Delay to 2026 ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rocket-lab-rklb-valuation-revisited-111425139.html))

- 2025-12-20: Rocket Lab (RKLB) Soars 17.7% on Potential Billion-Dollar Contract with US SDA ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rocket-lab-rklb-soars-17-131316979.html))

- 2026-04-01: Rocket Lab's Backlog Provides a Clear Path to 2026 Revenue Growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/rocket-labs-backlog-provides-clear-143000423.html))

- 2026-05-08: Stock Market Today, May 8: Rocket Lab Surges After Record Quarterly Revenue Beats Expectations ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/stock-market-today-may-8-222636344.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +27.8%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1819994/000181999426000013/rklb-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2019: $48M 

- FY2020: $35M 

- FY2021: $62M 

- FY2022: $211M 

- FY2023: $245M 

- FY2024: $436M 

- FY2025: $602M 

- FY2026: $769M 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 37.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1819994/000181999426000013/rklb-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2022: 9.0% 

- FY2023: 21.0% 

- FY2024: 26.6% 

- FY2025: 34.4% 

- FY2026: 37.3% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in aerospace & defense; annual sales are USD 601.8 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1819994/000181999426000013/rklb-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: revenue 601799000; grossProfit 207181000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); RKLB.US: Rocket Lab Corporation, a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions in the United States, Canada, Japan, and internationally. The company operates through launch services and space systems segments. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, optical systems, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets and develops flight and ground software. It also designs, manufactures, and sells Electron, an orbital small launch vehicle for small spacecraft launch services, as well as develops Neutron launch vehicles for large constellation deployments, interplanetary missions, and potentially for human spaceflight. In addition, the company designs and manufactures a range of components and subsystems for its launch vehicles and spacecraft. It serves commercial, aerospace prime contractors, and government customers. Rocket Lab Corporation was formerly known as Rocket Lab USA, Inc. and changed its name to Rocket Lab Corporation in August 2021. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 21% to 34.4% during 2023–25; it lost 35.8% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 21%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 26.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1819994/000181999426000013/rklb-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 34.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); 8-year return on capital observations [[2019,-0.3857585879279119],[2020,0],[2021,-0.8705807336378459],[2022,-0.37718735212481197],[2023,-0.33832938169021204],[2024,-0.4155105247406225],[2025,-0.23992878396564218],[2026,-0.17232334589449214]]; median -0.357758366907512. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 2 of 7 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Dividend observations: [[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,11568000],[2022,31608000],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.8% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); RKLB.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.795 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What could break it

"We have a history of losses" (SEC filing, Feb 2026)

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1819994/000181999426000013/rklb-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); We have a history of losses

### What the price says

The price is 48.7 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Closing price 55.25 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 1.1340473714233543; price multiple 48.719305200324364. FY2025 cash earnings/share -0.3735107493406464. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2020-11: $9.95 per share

- 2020-12: $10.11 per share

- 2021-01: $10.38 per share

- 2021-02: $10.25 per share

- 2021-03: $11.84 per share

- 2021-04: $10.46 per share

- 2021-05: $9.98 per share

- 2021-06: $10.89 per share

- 2021-07: $10.17 per share

- 2021-08: $10.03 per share

- 2021-09: $16.13 per share

- 2021-10: $14.05 per share

- 2021-11: $15.86 per share

- 2021-12: $12.28 per share

- 2022-01: $9.04 per share

- 2022-02: $9.54 per share

- 2022-03: $8.05 per share

- 2022-04: $7.38 per share

- 2022-05: $4.76 per share

- 2022-06: $3.79 per share

- 2022-07: $4.67 per share

- 2022-08: $5.50 per share

- 2022-09: $4.07 per share

- 2022-10: $5.09 per share

- 2022-11: $4.19 per share

- 2022-12: $3.77 per share

- 2023-01: $4.97 per share

- 2023-02: $4.50 per share

- 2023-03: $4.04 per share

- 2023-04: $3.92 per share

- 2023-05: $4.58 per share

- 2023-06: $6.00 per share

- 2023-07: $7.37 per share

- 2023-08: $6.31 per share

- 2023-09: $4.38 per share

- 2023-10: $4.23 per share

- 2023-11: $4.38 per share

- 2023-12: $5.53 per share

- 2024-01: $4.85 per share

- 2024-02: $4.59 per share

- 2024-03: $4.11 per share

- 2024-04: $3.76 per share

- 2024-05: $4.37 per share

- 2024-06: $4.80 per share

- 2024-07: $5.24 per share

- 2024-08: $6.27 per share

- 2024-09: $9.73 per share

- 2024-10: $10.70 per share

- 2024-11: $27.28 per share

- 2024-12: $25.47 per share

- 2025-01: $29.05 per share

- 2025-02: $20.49 per share

- 2025-03: $17.88 per share

- 2025-04: $21.79 per share

- 2025-05: $26.79 per share

- 2025-06: $35.77 per share

- 2025-07: $45.92 per share

- 2025-08: $48.60 per share

- 2025-09: $47.91 per share

- 2025-10: $62.98 per share

- 2025-11: $42.14 per share

- 2025-12: $69.76 per share

- 2026-01: $80.07 per share

- 2026-02: $69.10 per share

- 2026-03: $64.22 per share

- 2026-04: $82.51 per share

- 2026-05: $143.48 per share

- 2026-06: $101.65 per share

- 2026-07: $64.95 per share

- 2026-08: $63.92 per share

- 2026-09: $69.68 per share

- 2026-10: $64.22 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1819994/000181999426000013/rklb-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-26.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.