SpaceX is dominating financial headlines with a record-breaking IPO, a rumored $2 trillion valuation, and a Starlink/Starship hype loop that has retirement-focused investors scrambling for pre-IPO access. The more compelling opportunity sits in plain sight on the public market.
The SpaceX trade fails the retirement portfolio test on arithmetic alone. Retail buyers cannot touch the shares directly, secondary-market vehicles charge punitive premiums, and the offering is priced at a dangerous, highly speculative revenue multiple that leaves retail buyers with zero margin of safety ahead of its August lock-up expiration. Insiders exit, retail holds the bag. That movie has run before.
The better ticker is already public, already profitable, and already selling the data a launch business cannot monetize. Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) runs the picks-and-shovels layer of the space economy: an Earth-observation satellite fleet plus an AI-enabled geospatial data subscription business.
1. A high-margin subscription model that funds itself
Planet Labs is a software business wrapped inside a satellite operator. In Q1 FY2027, revenue hit a record $94.15 million, up 42% YoY, with GAAP gross margin at 54% and non-GAAP gross margin at 56%. About 99% of annual contract value is recurring. Non-GAAP EPS came in at -$0.03, with the reported GAAP loss distorted by a $106.47 million non-cash warrant revaluation that is now behind the company.
2. A backlog that reads like a defense contractor
Forward visibility is the number retirement investors should care about. Planet exited the quarter with backlog above $906 million, up 72% YoY, and remaining performance obligations of $816.01 million, up 81% YoY. The customer roster includes a €240 million German government deal, Sweden’s first sovereign reconnaissance satellite, NATO expansions, NGA, NRO, and the U.S. Navy. Signed contracts backed by government budgets carry different risk than IPO speculation.
3. AI optionality built into the data layer
CEO Will Marshall summarized the strategy in the most recent quarter: “By investing in AI, we are positioning Planet at the forefront of the industry and pioneering ways to make planetary-scale insights available and actionable to more users than ever before.” The company has an R&D partnership with Google on Project Suncatcher data centers in space, a natural-language query beta, SuperRes AI upscaling, and Pelican satellites moving toward 30cm-class imagery. Every rocket the launch industry puts in orbit ultimately feeds a data layer this business already owns.
The profitability inflection closes the case. FY2026 delivered $52.87 million in free cash flow and $15.49 million of adjusted EBITDA profit, the first full year of both. FY2027 guidance calls for $425 million to $441 million in revenue and up to $10 million of adjusted EBITDA profit.
The obvious pushback is BlackSky Technology (NYSE:BKSY), the smaller pure-play competitor. BlackSky’s Q1 2026 revenue was $20.77 million, down 29.7% YoY, missing expectations by 23.8%, with EPS of -$0.82 against a consensus of -$0.40. Roughly one-tenth Planet Labs’ $10.64 billion market cap, negative operating cash flow at -$2.36 million, and revenue moving the wrong direction.
For investors weighing the SpaceX pre-IPO scramble, Planet Labs belongs on the research short list.
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