Terran Orbital facility in Irvine, California. Photo: Terran Orbital

Terran Orbital cut its revenue guidance for 2023 nearly in half as Rivada Space Networks has not made a milestone payment for its constellation deal. 

Terran Orbital announced its third quarter results on Tuesday, cutting its revenue guidance for 2023 from $250 million to “in excess” of $130 million. Rivada was expected to make milestone payments in the second half of this year, but Terran Orbital recently disclosed the payment is delayed.

“Due to the delay and uncertainty regarding the timing of performance related to our contract with Rivada versus our original [2023] expectations, we are removing any further revenue contribution from this contract in our current year forecast but continue to expect revenue contribution in future years,” the company said in a statement. 

The $2.4 billion Rivada constellation is a large portion of Terran Orbital’s backlog, which now stands at $2.6 billion. The contract is structured so that Terran Orbital is paid in advance of work being performed. Rivada’s funding sources are private. Terran Orbital CEO Marc Bell recently described Rivada’s backer as a “large sovereign that has not yet publicly announced their support for the project.” 

“We remain engaged with Rivada on a regular basis and have  been reassured as recently as today by Rivada that we should expect to receive our contractual milestone payments this year,” Bell told investors on Tuesday. “We continue to believe our Rivada contract will provide significant future revenue and cash flows, the timing whichever is uncertain, and we want to be conservative in our guidance going forward.”

Despite the Rivada payment delay, Terran Orbital had a strong quarter of revenue growth, reporting $43.9 million of revenue in Q3, up 58% year-over-year. Net loss during the quarter was $26.4 million. The company reported it had more than $70 million of cash on hand as of October 31.

“I am pleased to report our company’s continued growth in revenue, which highlights the confidence and trust our customers have in us. In addition, we are seeing improvements in our gross profit and adjusted gross profit margins,” Bell said, commenting on the quarter. 

Terran Orbital’s stock is at risk of being delisted. The company got a notice from the New York Stock Exchange in October that its share price is too low and it could be delisted if it cannot raise the average price over $1.