Terran Orbital Grows Backlog 200% in Q1 

Terran Orbital production building rendering. Photo: Terran Orbital

Terran Orbital reported first quarter 2022 financial results on May 13, its first financial report since going public on March 28. The small satellite manufacturer reported $13.1 million of revenues, a 25% increase from the first quarter of 2021.

Backlog at the end of the quarter was a record $222 million, up 200% from December 31, 2021. Terran Orbital described its backlog as the estimated dollar value of executed contracts, including both funded and unfunded portions of such contracts, for which work has not been performed. Backlog increase was driven primarily by contract awards during the quarter, including the Lockheed Martin contract to build 42 satellites for the Space Development Agency‘s Tranche 1 Transport Layer.

With supply chain pressures, the company had to adjust its estimate-at-completion (EAC) on certain firm fixed price contracts, reducing revenues by approximately $3 million for the quarter. 

Terran Orbital reported an increase in selling, general and administrative expenses, with $20.2 million in Q1 compared to $6.7 million in the same period last year. The increase was due to $15.1 million of non-recurring share-based compensation expense with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, increases in salaries and wages, facility costs for expansions and professional fees associated with becoming publicly traded. 

Net loss was $71 million, compared to $77 million in the same time last year. Net loss decreased because of a reduction in loss on extinguishment of debt. 

As of March 31, 2022, Terran Orbital had $76.7 million of cash on hand and approximately $204.5 million in gross debt obligations.

 “We are focused on delivering satellites and expanding our production capacity to satisfy our growing customer demand. Market demand signals for small satellites have been increasing rapidly in 2022 as evidenced by the growth in defense budgets. We continue to see tremendous demand for our satellite manufacturing business going into 2022 and have built our pipeline to over $12 billion of opportunities,” commented Marc Bell, co-founder, chairman and CEO. 

Terran Orbital did not provide revenue guidance for 2022, but anticipates capital expenditures for the fiscal year to be between $15 million to $20 million.