Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Adam Spice: Yes. Interesting. So, we have made very good progress towards our gross margin goals for that business. And we have said that, 2 years post acquisition, we wanted to be at 30 points of non-GAAP gross margin. I think we are going to trail that by, I think by maybe a couple of quarters, but the progression has been pretty clear and pretty steady. And what we can definitely – we have made improvements to get better margin on the existing backlog that’s in place we acquired the company. But I would say in the course of the last year in particular, we have got a pretty stringent process for approving new customer deals. And I don’t believe that we have really seen, I can’t recall the last time that we approved a deal that was below that 30% gross margin target.

The fact we are kind of toying with how to start pushing that target a little bit further north from that. Long-term, that’s not our goal to get 30 points. We view that as having a great opportunity for really healthy long-term margins. But great progress towards the 30 points, I think we are going to hit that at some point in 2024 and again, all of our kind of building backlog is 100% supportive of that.

Kristine Liwag: Great. Thank you very much guys.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Ronald Epstein with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Ronald Epstein: Hi guys. Good afternoon. Good evening. A lot has been asked, I am the last guy, so I will be quick because I guess we are running over on time. But here is the question for you, I mean a lot of the space startup companies have been having difficulty and you guys were able to pick up some interesting assets from Virgin Orbit. And when you look at the space systems business, is there talent you can pick up in the satellite world in terms of engineers and other things? I mean some of the small satellite companies, their stocks are trading below, the equities trading below a $1 per share. And it’s, I would imagine it must be a pretty good environment to recruit talent in. I don’t know if you can speak to that, but as you try to grow that business, are you able to pick up some talent?

Peter Beck: Yes. Hey Ron. Absolutely that is true and great talent attracts great talent as well. And the team that we have built there is, well, it’s simply awesome. So, that’s been true. What I will say though is, I think we have mentioned before the bar to get into Rocket Lab is extraordinarily high. I mean it’s twice as hard, because the metrics and it’s twice as hard to get into Rocket Lab than it is to get into Orbit [ph]. So, we are very, very fussy about, that the folks that we bring onboard, but certainly there is opportunities there for new folks as some of those other businesses fail.

Ronald Epstein: And then maybe just following up on Neutron, because this came up a couple times in some of the other questions, what are some of the milestones we should be looking for? As we look at in the next year is kind of outsiders, not inside the company, what boxes can we check and say, hey, yes, it’s trucking right along to feel good about where the program is going.

Peter Beck: I presume you are talking about Neutron here, Ron?

Ronald Epstein: Yes. Excuse me. Yes. Neutron.

Peter Beck: Yes. So, we have kind of laid out a few. I mean obviously, engines, always a long pole in the tent. So, looked for hot fires and kind of completions of qual programs and things like that. We achieved – probably it’s understated, but the second stage tank test was a huge milestone, because although it just kind of looks like a big black thing that we fill and made frosty and then blew it up. The reality is that, that validated like so many material properties, so many manufacturing processes. So, much of the kind of core underlying materials and technology and designs were all validated by that test, and by that milestone. So, it’s kind of – it’s sometimes it’s kind of a little bit difficult and then I tried this earnings to give some color about some of the other tests that are going on.

And there is just heaps and heaps going on and so many tests and milestones made every day that it’s kind of hard to get them all on paper. But I mean the key ones is fire and then fire reliably out of Archimedes and continued Neutron structures. Keep looking for things that get frosty, because that’s important milestones. And then I would say, next year as we start to look for stuff coming out of the ground. Start to watch us pour concrete and things like that, because the vehicle drives the ground infrastructure enormously. So, if the vehicle is mature, then the ground infrastructure can start to be built. So, they sort of go hand-in-hand and one leads the other. So, if we are starting to pour concrete, I would feel good and stuff like that.

Ronald Epstein: Great. Cool. Thank you very much.

Peter Beck: Thanks Ron.

Operator: Thank you. Your next call – your next question comes from the line of Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.

Andres Sheppard: Hey. Good afternoon everyone. Thanks for taking our question. I appreciate you guys getting us in and congratulations on the quarter. Most of our questions have been asked, so maybe just one two-part question. First, with the roughly $400 million in cash and equivalents, would you mind just reminding us what is the expected run rate there? And then secondly is, you provided the revenue guidance for Q1 as well as your updated backlog with 57% of that backlog being recognized in the first 12 months. Can you give us any sort of ideas or directions on how we should be thinking about that backlog being recognized in terms of seasonality or second half, first half, any color there that you might be able to give us. Thank you very much.