Contrasting Rocket Lab (RKLB) and Its Rivals

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Rocket Lab and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rocket Lab	0	4	7	1	2.75
Rocket Lab Competitors	349	1815	2783	97	2.52

Rocket Lab currently has a consensus price target of $30.40, suggesting a potential downside of 22.25%. As a group, “AEROSP/DEF EQ” companies have a potential upside of 0.26%. Given Rocket Lab’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Rocket Lab has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rocket Lab	$466.02 million	-$190.18 million	-97.75
Rocket Lab Competitors	$3.49 billion	$265.08 million	77.48

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.8% of Rocket Lab shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.1% of shares of all “AEROSP/DEF EQ” companies are held by institutional investors. 13.7% of Rocket Lab shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of shares of all “AEROSP/DEF EQ” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Rocket Lab has a beta of 2.15, suggesting that its share price is 115% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rocket Lab’s competitors have a beta of 0.98, suggesting that their average share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Rocket Lab and its competitors’ 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	-42.27%	-0.19%	3.44%

Summary

Rocket Lab competitors beat Rocket Lab on 7 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.