This article first appeared on GuruFocus .
Rocket Lab ( NASDAQ:RKLB ) shares climbed about 7% on Friday after the aerospace company secured hundreds of millions of dollars in new U.S. Space Force contracts and completed another Electron rocket mission, as investors turned their attention to next week's earnings report.
Rocket Lab completed its 92nd Electron launch from New Zealand, marking the company's 13th Electron mission of 2026. The flight deployed satellites for Japan-based Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS), extending the Earth observation constellation.
Rocket Lab also landed a $397 million U.S. Space Force contract to develop, launch and operate Flatellite spacecraft for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program. Combined with another recent launch-services award, the company's latest Space Force contracts total about $663 million, lifting its backlog to roughly $2.2 billion. Some future missions are expected to use the Neutron rocket, which remains under development.
Rocket Lab is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Aug. 10. Wall Street expects a loss of $0.07 per share on revenue of $231.8 million, compared with a loss of $0.13 per share and revenue of $144.5 million a year earlier. Analysts generally maintain a constructive view on the company, with several firms recently raising price targets.
