Earth imaging satellite company Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) reported Q1 CY2026 results topping the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 42.1% year on year to $94.15 million. Guidance for next quarter’s revenue was optimistic at $104.5 million at the midpoint, 2.2% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP loss of $0.03 per share was $0.01 above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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“Planet’s excellent start to the year is a testament to the mission-critical nature of our data in an increasingly complex world,” said Will Marshall, Planet’s Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson.

Company Overview

Pioneering the concept of "agile aerospace" with hundreds of small but powerful satellites, Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) operates the world's largest fleet of Earth observation satellites, capturing daily images of our planet to provide insights on deforestation, agriculture, and climate change.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.

With $335.6 million in revenue over the past 12 months, Planet Labs is a small player in the business services space, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from economies of scale and numerous distribution channels. On the bright side, it can grow faster because it has more room to expand.

As you can see below, Planet Labs’s 23.8% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was incredible. This is a great starting point for our analysis because it shows Planet Labs’s demand was higher than many business services companies.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Planet Labs’s annualized revenue growth of 21.2% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand.

We can dig further into the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its backlog, or the value of its outstanding orders that have not yet been executed or delivered. Planet Labs’s backlog reached $906.1 million in the latest quarter and averaged 143% year-on-year growth over the last two years. Because this number is better than its revenue growth, we can see the company accumulated more orders than it could fulfill and deferred revenue to the future. This could imply elevated demand for Planet Labs’s products and services but raises concerns about capacity constraints.

This quarter, Planet Labs reported magnificent year-on-year revenue growth of 42.1%, and its $94.15 million of revenue beat Wall Street’s estimates by 4.3%. Company management is currently guiding for a 42.4% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.

Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 38.8% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is eye-popping and indicates its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Planet Labs’s high expenses have contributed to an average adjusted operating margin of negative 31.1% over the last five years. Unprofitable business services companies require extra attention because they could get caught swimming naked when the tide goes out.

On the plus side, Planet Labs’s adjusted operating margin rose by 59.9 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage. Still, it will take much more for the company to reach long-term profitability.

In Q1, Planet Labs generated a negative 19.6% adjusted operating margin.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Although Planet Labs’s full-year earnings are still negative, it reduced its losses and improved its EPS by 50.5% annually over the last four years. The next few quarters will be critical for assessing its long-term profitability. We hope to see an inflection point soon.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For Planet Labs, its two-year annual EPS growth of 48.9% was lower than its four-year trend. We still think its growth was good and hope it can accelerate in the future.

In Q1, Planet Labs reported adjusted EPS of negative $0.03, down from $0 in the same quarter last year. Despite falling year on year, this print easily cleared analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Planet Labs to perform poorly. Analysts forecast its full-year EPS will tumble from negative $0.06 to negative $0.07.

Key Takeaways from Planet Labs’s Q1 Results

It was good to see Planet Labs beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also glad its revenue guidance for next quarter exceeded Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this was a good print with some key areas of upside. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 2.8% to $42.33 immediately following the results.

So should you invest in Planet Labs right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).