Can Planet Lab's $900M Backlog, Nvidia Deal Make It The Breakout Space Tech Company Of 2026? Retail Sees It Emulating ASTS, RKLB

• The company pegged its backlog at $900 million, reflecting about 79% year-on-year growth.
• Planet Labs’ cash reserves expanded 188%, ending the year with about $640 million.
• The company has partnered with Nvidia to accelerate processing and analysis of Earth observation data.

Planet Labs PBC (PL) stock is drawing retail investors’ attention on Friday morning as the company touts strong demand for its satellite-based data services along with a partnership with a heavyweight like Nvidia.  

“Defense & Intelligence was a major area of strength for us in FY '26, underpinned by global dynamics. Full year D&I revenue grew over 50% year-on-year, driven by strong performance in our data subscriptions, solutions, and satellite services.”

-Will Marshall, CEO, Chairperson, and Co-Founder, Planet Labs. 

Revenue Growth And Expanding Pipeline

The company pegged its backlog at $900 million, reflecting about 79% year-on-year (YoY) growth. Of this, around 37% is expected to be realized within the next 12 months, while about 67% extends over a 24-month period.

In the fourth quarter (Q4), Planet Labs posted a 41% YoY increase in revenue to a record $86.8 million, above Street expectations of $78.17 million, according to Fiscal AI data. 

Its cash reserves expanded 188% YoY, ending the year with about $640 million, providing financial flexibility for future investments. The company sees capital expenditures in fiscal year 2027 to be between $80 million and $95 million.

Planet Labs’ stock traded over 17% higher in Friday’s premarket. 

Enhancing Imagery With Generative AI 

On Monday, Planet Labs entered into a new collaboration with Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) to dramatically speed up the processing and analysis of Earth observation data. 

A major component of the collaboration involves applying Nvidia’s CorrDiff model, a generative AI tool, to Planet’s satellite data. The companies are also developing systems to convert vast daily streams of images into AI-powered “embeddings.”

“By developing a GPU-native AI engine, we are unlocking the full potential of our petabyte-scale archive, delivering orders of magnitude speed improvements and physics-informed generative AI products that were previously impossible,” said Marshall. 

What Are Stocktwits Users Saying? 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock remained in ‘neutral’ territory amid ‘high’ message volume levels. 

The stock saw a 962% increase in retail message volume over 24 hours. 

A Stocktwits user said Planet Labs’ satellite fleets are second only to Tesla’s Starlink and on par with China. 

Another bullish user said the stock could grow like AST Spacemobile and Rocket Lab did last year. 

PL stock gained over 535% in the last 12 months. 

Also See: Amazon Rekindles Smartphone Ambitions After A Decade With AI-Driven ‘Transformer’ Project: Report

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.