New York, May 16, 2026, 17:04 EDT
Planet Labs PBC heads into next week after shares slid Friday, giving up some big recent gains. The satellite-imagery company still posted a solid week, as traders reacted to more European contracts, more satellites, and mixed notes from analysts.
Planet ended at $41.62 Friday, off 3.3% after swinging from $40.54 to $43.18. The stock still finished the week up around 6.6%, lifted by a 7.2% gain Monday and a 5.7% move higher Thursday.
Planet shares aren’t trading like a typical Earth-observation name anymore. MarketScreener had the stock up 111% for the year through Friday’s close. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives bumped his price target to $50 from $40, sticking with an Outperform call. That rating means Wedbush thinks the stock will outperform its benchmark.
Defense spending, government work and AI tech are key parts of the bull argument. The AI is for faster satellite data checks and image pattern spotting. Wedbush expects Planet to keep getting better on defense and intelligence jobs, grow its satellite setup, and push what it calls an AI commercial flywheel.
Planet on Thursday said it has released the first images from its three latest Pelican satellites. The batch includes Sweden’s first sovereign satellite, which belongs to the Swedish Armed Forces. The satellites rode a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 3. CEO Will Marshall said the extra satellites mean “more capacity and a higher revisit rate,” referring to how often they can scan the same spot. Business Wire
Sweden has a “sovereign means of identifying and analyzing threats globally,” Rear Admiral Anders Sundeman, the country’s head of space, said. Planet reported it has nine AI-enabled high-res Pelican satellites in orbit, with more launches set for 2026. Nasdaq
Planet picked up a non-defense European contract this week. Its Sinergise unit landed a two-year deal worth seven figures to deliver satellite imagery and AI analytics to the Czech Republic’s State Agricultural Intervention Fund. The system will support payments and monitor around 25,000 agricultural holdings. Diego Vanelli, who runs government sales for Planet in EMEA, said the contract moves oversight “from manual, reactive inspections to proactive, AI-enabled” monitoring. Business Wire
Space-data stocks split on Friday. Investors saw BlackSky drop 9.3%, while Spire Global added 10.3%. BlackSky, which sells real-time tactical ISR powered by AI mainly for defense and security, keeps facing a tough market. Spire Global pitches its space-based data and analytics to both government and commercial buyers. The group is not trading as a block.
Planet’s March report is the key backdrop. The company said fourth-quarter revenue came in at $86.8 million, up 41% year over year. Full-year revenue reached $307.7 million. Planet also turned in adjusted EBITDA of $15.5 million for fiscal 2026. This adjusted EBITDA removes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and some other items, according to the company.
But there are clear risks to the trade. Planet posted a net loss of $246.9 million for the year. Its backlog — future revenue on the books but not yet recognized — has contracts that could be canceled or that rely on government funding. The company said in its own words that government cancellation rules are out of its control, and it might not see the full value from those contracts.
Planet’s next big event is still several weeks away, with fiscal Q1 2027 results set for release after the close on June 4. That leaves Monday’s session leaning on whether traders see Friday’s drop as a buying chance or a signal to stay cautious. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF was down 1.2% Friday, and Invesco QQQ Trust slid 1.5%.
