Rocket Lab (RKLB) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Rocket Lab published the results on November 9, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison.

• Rocket Lab reports in thousands of dollars; figures here are converted to millions. Rocket Lab reports one basic and diluted net loss per share figure and no adjusted EPS.
• Q3 2025 net loss was reduced by a $41.1 million income tax benefit. Q3 2026 included a $27.3 million loss on extinguishment of debt and $21.3 million of transaction costs. Rocket Lab has a pending acquisition of Iridium Communications.

Source: Rocket Lab Q3 2026 results, November 9, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Rocket Lab splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Rocket Lab's Launch Services revenue was $53.1 million in Q3 2026, up 30% from $40.9 million in Q3 2025, 20% of total revenue.
• Rocket Lab's Space Systems revenue was $215 million in Q3 2026, up 88% from $114 million in Q3 2025, 80% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Rocket Lab said:

“Revenue between $270 million and $290 million.”

“GAAP Gross Margins between 34% and 36%.”

“Non-GAAP Gross Margins between 39% and 41%.”

“Adjusted EBITDA loss of between $14 million and $20 million.”

Source: Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Nov 9, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the RKLB forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP total revenues and basic and diluted net loss per share, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Rocket Lab's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Nov 9, 2026

Rocket Lab has two segments. Space Systems, which builds spacecraft, satellite components and subsystems, brought in $214.8 million of $267.8 million total revenues in Q3 2026. Launch Services, its Electron and HASTE rockets, brought in $53.1 million. By type, product revenues were $197.5 million and service revenues $70.3 million. (Rocket Lab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 9, 2026; Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026)

Revenue rose approximately 73% from $155.1 million. Rocket Lab attributed $100.6 million of the increase to Space Systems, driven by satellite manufacturing and acquisitions, and $12.2 million to launch. It completed six Electron launch missions in the quarter, against four a year earlier, when two HASTE missions recognized over time included a cumulative catch-up adjustment of $13.3 million. (Rocket Lab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 9, 2026)

Government work is a large share of Rocket Lab's sales: one government customer accounted for 42% of total revenue over the first nine months of 2026. Twelve Rocket Lab-built spacecraft launched in the quarter, including eight satellite platforms for Globalstar's direct-to-device constellation and the VICTUS HAZE mission for the United States Space Force. (Rocket Lab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 9, 2026; Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026)

Rocket Lab's backlog was $3,573.0 million at September 30, 2026, of which approximately 33% is expected to be recognized within 12 months. It signed approximately $1 billion of new launch contracts across Electron, HASTE and Neutron in the quarter, including over $515M for Neutron, which now has 16 missions in backlog ahead of a first launch targeted for no earlier than 2027. (Rocket Lab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 9, 2026; Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026)

Rocket Lab is not profitable on a GAAP basis. Its net loss widened to $79.7 million, or $0.12 per share, in Q3 2026, from $18.3 million, or $0.03, a year earlier. The operating loss was $79.2 million, with research and development spending of $98.4 million. (Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026)

Below the operating line, Q3 2026 included a $27.3 million loss on extinguishment of debt, from fees and issuance costs on a terminated borrowing facility, and $21.3 million of transaction costs. Q3 2025 had a $41.1 million income tax benefit, against a $3.5 million provision this year. Interest income rose to $28.6 million from $6.7 million as Rocket Lab's cash and cash equivalents grew to $4,447.7 million. (Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026; Rocket Lab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 9, 2026)

Rocket Lab reports no adjusted EPS. Its non-GAAP measure is Adjusted EBITDA, a loss of $18.0 million against a loss of $26.3 million a year earlier, which excludes stock-based compensation of $18.3 million and transaction costs. Weighted-average shares rose to 652,263,684 from 528,725,980 after equity raises, including an at-the-market offering to fund the $54 per share Iridium acquisition. (Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026; Rocket Lab Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 9, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Rocket Lab gives next-quarter guidance in its release. For Q4 2026 it expects revenue of $270 million to $290 million, GAAP gross margins of 34% to 36%, non-GAAP gross margins of 39% to 41%, and an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $14 million to $20 million. It expects 681 million basic weighted average common shares, including approximately 41 million Series A preferred shares. (Rocket Lab Q3 2026 release, Nov 9, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Rocket Lab, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Rocket Lab's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning RKLB is on is RKLB a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the RKLB forecast, and what the company does is on the Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Rocket Lab published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.