Financial Survey: Rocket Lab (RKLB) and Its Rivals

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) is one of 46 public companies in the “AEROSP/DEF EQ” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Rocket Lab to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

71.8% of Rocket Lab shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.1% of shares of all “AEROSP/DEF EQ” companies are owned by institutional investors. 13.7% of Rocket Lab shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of shares of all “AEROSP/DEF EQ” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Rocket Lab and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rocket Lab	$436.21 million	-$190.18 million	-83.65
Rocket Lab Competitors	$3.44 billion	$265.50 million	71.27

Rocket Lab’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Rocket Lab and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rocket Lab	0	5	7	1	2.69
Rocket Lab Competitors	347	1807	2760	93	2.52

Rocket Lab presently has a consensus target price of $28.10, suggesting a potential downside of 16.02%. As a group, “AEROSP/DEF EQ” companies have a potential upside of 0.37%. Given Rocket Lab’s peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Rocket Lab has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Rocket Lab and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rocket Lab	-44.32%	-48.92%	-17.28%
Rocket Lab Competitors	-42.30%	-0.30%	3.35%

Risk and Volatility

Rocket Lab has a beta of 2.08, indicating that its share price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rocket Lab’s peers have a beta of 0.93, indicating that their average share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Rocket Lab peers beat Rocket Lab on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets. It also designs, manufactures, and sells Electron, a reusable orbital-class small rocket; and the Photon satellite platforms, as well as developing the Neutron 8-ton payload class launch vehicle; conducts remote launch activities; and designs and manufactures a range of components and subsystems for the Photon family of spacecraft and broader merchant spacecraft components. The company serves commercial, aerospace prime contractors, and government customers. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.