Inside a Planet Labs office. Photo: Planet

Earth imagery and data company Planet Labs (Planet) saw its fiscal first-quarter 2024 (Q1 2024) revenue total jump 31% year-over-year (YoY) and crossed a threshold of 900 global data subscribers, according to its latest financial results released late Thursday. These results were largely in line with investors’ forecasts. However, a tepid response to Planet’s future revenue forecast caused the company’s stock to drop after the initial release of the results.

Planet, which has been gaining more and more public attention as climate change data and images of global events become regular visuals on major news networks, brought in $52.7 in Q1 2024 revenue and expanded its GAAP gross margin 53% YoY, compared to 41% in the same quarter last year.  Planet now expects to generate between $53 million and $55 million in revenue in Q2 2024, which would represent 11% year-over-year growth at the midpoint.

Investors noted the caution in language used by Planet’s Chief Financial and Operating Officer Ashley Johnson in the results, which described Planet’s market as a “challenging” macroeconomic environment.

“We remain focused on the path to profitability that we shared last quarter,” said Johnson. “We are prioritizing our investments behind the customers and opportunities where we see the highest returns. Our balance sheet is strong with $376 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of the end of the quarter and no debt.”

Planet Co-Founder and CEO Will Marshall added that despite the macro challenges, the company continues to see strong demand for proprietary data solutions, driven by global events and the growing awareness of its capabilities.

Planet enjoyed a particularly busy quarter in the government sector. The company recently closed two large multi-year deals with international defense and intelligence organizations, announced an extension of its climate data partnership with France-based consultancy AXA Climate, and formed partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency to build a regional satellite data-driven loss and damage atlas for climate change resilience. The Welsh Government awarded a multi-year, seven-figure contract to Planet to support their EO program testing remote sensing techniques. Planet also closed government and organizational partnership deals in the Netherlands and Bolivia.

Planet is also exploring the potential of AI, recently announcing a partnership with AI startup Synthetaic to use their AI models for object detection and classification services that can be integrated with Planet’s satellite data.

Planet forecasted its Q2 2023 adjusted EBITDA loss to be in the range of approximately ($20) million and ($17) million. Capital Expenditure as a Percentage of Revenue is expected to be in the range of approximately 19% to 25% for the quarter. For fiscal year 2024, ending January 31, 2024, Planet expects revenue to be in the range of approximately $225 million to $235 million.