Ticker Teardown Dossier
Rocket Lab USA ($RKLB), taken apart the way the desk does.
Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) Teardown Dossier · As of 2026-11-02, refreshed after Q2 2026 results
The RKLB dossier is the desk's Rocket Lab USA teardown written out as a document, plus what a five-minute video cannot carry: the last eight quarters of Rocket Lab USA's own SEC filings in one table (fiscal years for a foreign filer whose quarterly reports carry no structured data), a peer comparison with numbers, the level map rebuilt from the latest close, and a link to every filing used. Rebuilt after each quarterly print.
Look inside before you buy
1,932 words · about 8 min to read · 9 sections · data as of 2 November 2026 · last refreshed after Q2 2026 results
Table of contents
- What is in this dossier
- What this is not
- 1. The teardown
- The setup
- The business: Q2 2026
- The bull case: the order book
- The guide: Q3 2026
- The bear case: Neutron
- One good sign: October 27
- The bear case: the cost
- The price: estimates
- The tape: October 30 close
- The level: be honest
- The verdict: a delay priced hard
- 2. What changed since it was written
- 3. The filings: the last eight quarters
- 4. Valuation against the peers
- 5. Level map
- 6. Sources
- 7. What this dossier cannot do
Excerpt
1. The teardown
Written 2026-11-02, with prices as of 2026-10-30. Figures in this part are as the desk read them that day; parts 2 to 5 carry the numbers as of 2026-11-02.
The setup
Rocket Lab closed Friday at $54.73. That is 64% under its May high. Yet its order backlog just hit a record $2.36 billion. Is this a broken rocket company, or a delay the market has priced too hard?
The business: Q2 2026
Rocket Lab flies the Electron rocket and builds satellites, spacecraft and parts for other companies. Company figures for the second quarter: record revenue of $234 million, up 62%. Gross margin was about 36%. The net loss shrank to $49 million, from $66 million a year earlier.
The bull case: the order book
The bull case is the order book. Backlog reached $2.36 billion, up 137% in a year. The company expects about 45% of it to turn into revenue within twelve months. It signed more than $437 million of new launch contracts, for more than ninety launches in all. And it held $2.1 billion of cash at the end of June.
The guide: Q3 2026
For the third quarter, Rocket Lab guided revenue of $250 million to $265 million. It guided an adjusted EBITDA loss of $17 million to $23 million. Those are guides, not results. The report lands Monday, November 9, after the close.
One table from the document
3. The filings: the last eight quarters
| USD millions, period ended | 2024-09-30 | 2024-12-31 | 2025-03-31 | 2025-06-30 | 2025-09-30 | 2025-12-31 | 2026-03-31 | 2026-06-30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal period | Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 |
| Source filing | 10-Q 2024-11-12 | 10-K 2025-02-27 | 10-Q 2025-05-08 | 10-Q 2025-08-07 | 10-Q 2025-11-10 | 10-K 2026-02-26 | 10-Q 2026-05-07 | 10-Q 2026-08-10 |
| Revenue | 104.8 | 132.4 | 122.6 | 144.5 | 155.1 | 179.7 | 200.3 | 234.1 |
| Gross margin | 26.7% | 27.8% | 28.8% | 32.1% | 37.0% | 38.0% | 38.2% | 36.1% |
| Operating income | -51.9 | -51.5 | -59.2 | -59.6 | -59.0 | -51.0 | -56.0 | -57.5 |
| Net income | -51.9 | -52.3 | -60.6 | -66.4 | -18.3 | -52.9 | -45.0 | -49.3 |
| Operating cash flow | -30.9 | -2.4 | -54.2 | -23.2 | -23.5 | -64.5 | -50.3 | -84.1 |
| Capex | -11.0 | -21.6 | -28.7 | -32.0 | -45.9 | -49.7 | -27.1 | -26.0 |
| Free cash flow | -41.9 | -23.9 | -82.9 | -55.3 | -69.4 | -114.2 | -77.4 | -110.1 |
| Cash and equivalents | 292.5 | 271.0 | 303.1 | 564.1 | 807.9 | 828.7 | 1,205 | 2,129 |
| Debt (book, excl. leases) | 61.2 | 345.4 | 345.9 | 346.5 | 347.0 | 152.4 | 36.9 | 13.1 |
| Diluted shares (M) | 497.7 | 495.9* | 505.6 | 515.1 | 528.7 | 530.7* | 605.4 | 629.7 |
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What the dossier has that the video does not
The filings themselves: revenue, gross margin, operating income, net income, operating cash flow, capex, free cash flow, cash, debt and diluted shares, quarter by quarter, each column dated with the filing it comes from. A foreign filer whose quarterly reports carry no structured data gets its fiscal years, and the dossier says so.
Never stale
Every dossier carries an "as of" date and the quarter it was last refreshed after. It is rebuilt after each print, and the desk's daily check flags any dossier left more than 45 days without a refresh. The written teardown keeps its date, and a "what changed since" section gives the move in the price and the filings since.
What is inside
- The teardown in writing: the business, the bull case, the full bear case and the verdict, dated.
- What changed since it was written: the price move and every SEC filing since.
- Eight quarters of the company's own SEC filings in one table, each column dated, with a plain read of what the table says.
- Peers with numbers: market cap, revenue growth, operating margin, EV / sales and distance from the 52-week high.
- The level map rebuilt from the latest close: where the price sits against the 52-week range and each level.
- Sources: a link to every filing and results release used.
Buy it if
- You hold or watch $RKLB and want a structured read before acting.
- You want levels you can check on the chart, not an opinion.
Skip it if
- You want a buy signal. A dossier explains and maps; it does not signal.
- You want every name on the desk. The Teardown Library covers every dossier, current and future, for less than four dossiers.
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An educational research publication, not investment advice, trade signals, a managed account, or an advisory service. Nothing in it is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. See our disclosures.