Key Points
It’s hard to overstate the impact of Space Exploration Technologies and its record-setting IPO on the stock market. SpaceX raised nearly $86 billion in its IPO on June 12, making it the largest IPO in history and giving Elon Musk’s company a $2 trillion valuation.
SpaceX has arguably been the biggest narrative in the stock market this summer, as even some major indexes have changed their rules to allow large IPO stocks like SpaceX to join more quickly than usual. But it’s far from a perfect stock — SpaceX already carries an extremely high valuation, and it will be years before it turns a profit. Meanwhile, IPO stocks are notoriously volatile, and many of them need several quarters of performance before they start generating consistent gains.
However, some interesting artificial intelligence (AI) space stocks already have a track record of performance. Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) and BlackSky Technology (NYSE: BKSY) are two that are worth considering right now.
1. Planet Labs
There’s a lot of activity around the Earth — thousands of satellites are already in orbit, with more coming online every year. They include surveillance satellites operated by nation-states such as the U.S., as well as commercial satellites that provide internet access, communications, and Earth imagery.
That’s where Planet Labs comes in. The company specializes in Earth imaging for agriculture, forestry, mapping, and government use. It operates about 200 Earth-imaging satellites and records the planet’s landmass every day.
The company’s Pelican-class satellites use AI to process images and quickly identify subjects, and have incorporated Claude AI from Anthropic into its platform to help non-expert users use information from the company’s satellites.
Revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 (ended April 30) was $94 million, up 42% from a year ago. It reported a quarterly loss of $1 million, adjusted for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), and its backlog grew 72% to more than $906 million.
Planet Labs stock is up more than 45% so far this year.
2. BlackSky Technology
BlackSky is another Earth imaging company. BlackSky uses its constellation of high-resolution satellites and AI-enabled software, delivered through its Spectra platform, to provide real-time Earth observation and analytics.
Spectra uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect and classify vessels, vehicles, and aircraft, and can translate raw pixels into AI-driven analytics in less than 90 minutes. Its capabilities have allowed BlackSky to win government contracts valued up to $2.7 billion.
BlackSky won $160 million in contracts in the first quarter of the year, and built on that this week when it announced it won a series of U.S. government contracts to use its AI-enabled object detection algorithms and automated battle damage analytics to help its customers evaluate damage inflicted on targets after military engagements.
The stock is up 40% so far this year.
Should you buy stock in Planet Labs PBC right now?
Before you buy stock in Planet Labs PBC, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Planet Labs PBC wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $407,004!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,244,599!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 924% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 210% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
Patrick Sanders has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends BlackSky Technology and Planet Labs PBC. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
