Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) has spent the past two weeks doing exactly what a company wants to do heading into an earnings report: winning business. After a brutal correction that saw the stock fall more than 50% from its May high, a rapid succession of major contract awards has put the spotlight back on the fundamentals. The stock jumped 5.75% on Tuesday to close at $74.48, and with Q2 results due Aug. 10, the timing of these wins could hardly be better.
A $397 Million Space Force Award
The largest of the recent wins landed Monday. Rocket Lab announced a $397 million contract from the U.S. Space Force under the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator, or SB-AMTI, program. The award was part of a larger $615 million allocation split among three companies, and Rocket Lab took the lion's share.
Under the deal, the company will develop, launch, and operate multiple next-generation "Flatellites," flat satellites optimized for large constellations, carrying space-based sensors designed to detect and track airborne threats in real time. Critically, those satellites will fly on Rocket Lab's upcoming Neutron rocket, adding a marquee national security customer to Neutron's manifest before the vehicle has even flown.
A Record $266 Million Launch Contract
Just days earlier, on July 27, Rocket Lab secured what it called the largest launch contract in company history: a $266 million agreement with the U.S. Space Force for 12 dedicated suborbital launches supporting missile defense, with options for six more.
The missions will primarily fly from Rocket Lab's new Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska, expanding the company's growing launch footprint. It is a powerful signal of the government's confidence in Rocket Lab's ability to deliver responsive, high-cadence launch capability for urgent national security needs.
A Commercial Win, Too
The momentum has not been limited to defense. On July 30, Rocket Lab announced a multi-launch deal with Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS for three dedicated Electron missions. The agreement underscores the continued strength of Rocket Lab's core Electron business, which remains the world's second-most-active launch vehicle, even as the company pushes into larger and more strategic programs.
Together, these three awards in under two weeks reinforce a business winning across commercial, civil, and national security markets simultaneously.
What to Watch on Aug. 10
With the contract news setting a positive tone, attention now turns to the Q2 report. Investors should focus on several things. First, revenue against guidance. Rocket Lab posted record Q1 revenue of $200.35 million, up 63.5% year over year, and the market will want to see that growth trajectory continue. Second, backlog. The figure stood at a record $2.2 billion last quarter, and the recent contract haul should push it meaningfully higher, one of the clearest reasons to tune in.
Third, and most important, Neutron. The medium-lift rocket remains on target for its debut in the fourth quarter of 2026, and CEO Peter Beck has cited flight hardware reaching the test stands as the key marker of progress. Any update on that timeline will move the stock.
Finally, investors will want commentary on the pending $8 billion Iridium acquisition, which is expected to close in mid-2027 and would transform Rocket Lab into a vertically integrated space company with a recurring-revenue satellite network.
The Setup Into the Print
The backdrop remains a study in contrasts. Whilst the stock is back in positive territory for the year, it remains below a flattening 200-day simple moving average. The new area of support the bulls will need to defend going forward is July’s low near $60, which has formed a major support level that aligns across higher timeframes.
Rocket Lab still trades at a rich valuation, more than 70 times trailing sales, and is not yet profitable, which is precisely why the stock corrected so hard alongside the broader space sell-off. Yet the consensus rating among 22 analysts remains Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $110.29, implying nearly 48% upside from current levels.
The recent flurry of contract wins does not resolve the valuation debate, but it does answer the more important question of whether demand for Rocket Lab's services is real and growing. Heading into Aug. 10, the business is executing at a high level, and the order book is the proof. Now the earnings need to match the momentum.
The article "Rocket Lab Lands a Wave of Contracts Ahead of Earnings" first appeared on MarketBeat.
