Voyager (VOYG) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — Dylan Taylor
• Chief Financial Officer — Filipe de Sousa

TAKEAWAYS

• Backlog -- $275 million, up 54% year over year, reaching a new record on $45 million in first-quarter bookings.
• Book-to-bill ratio -- 1.3 in the quarter, with management expecting it to remain above 1 in the next quarter, supporting backlog growth.
• Revenue -- $35 million for the quarter, described as up modestly year over year and aligned with prior plans.
• 2026 Revenue Guidance -- Raised to $230 million to $255 million, representing 38%-53% year-over-year growth.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- Loss of $33 million attributed to ongoing investments in engineering, R&D, and infrastructure, with segment-level Defense and Space Technologies adjusted EBITDA at negative $11.5 million.
• Adjusted EPS -- Loss of $0.61 per share for the quarter, reflecting high innovation spending.
• Internal R&D Investment -- 17% of quarterly revenue; total innovation spend excluding Starlab reached 48% of revenue.
• Golden Dome and Raytheon Contracts -- Major new contracts, including advanced technology development for the standard missile interceptor program, with additional wins such as an Anduril partnership for space-based interceptors announced during the call.
• Segment Structure -- Reported business segmentation simplified from three to two, now Defense and Space Technologies and Starlab Space Stations, to better match operations and customer engagement.
• Starlab Milestones -- Four program milestones completed; $24 million in NASA cash payments received during the quarter, bringing the milestone total to $207 million since inception.
• Liquidity -- $429 million in cash and $212 million of credit facility availability, for total liquidity of $641 million.
• Gross Margin Expectations -- Management expects full-year gross margin in the mid-teens, attributed to investment in manufacturing and upfront program readiness.
• Capital Expenditures -- $60 million to $70 million, excluding Starlab, allocated to scaling production, electronics, propulsion, and infrastructure for multiyear programs.
• Starlab’s Long-Term Forecast -- Once operational, Starlab is expected to deliver approximately $4 billion annual revenue and $1.5 billion annual free cash flow.
• Bookings Pipeline -- Over $5 billion, with management stating increasing conversion into backlog expected to drive revenue from Q2 through year-end.
• Production Capacity Expansion -- Facility expansions in Colorado (manufacturing/propulsion) and California (electronics/software) to support higher volume production and throughput.
• AI-Driven Efficiency -- Investments in artificial intelligence are aimed at accelerating go-to-market timelines and manufacturing cycle reduction across core product lines.
• Golden Dome Margins -- Management described early-stage Golden Dome gross margins as “20-plus percent,” with expectations to improve as production ramps up.
• Revenue Seasonality -- Management plans for approximately 33% of full-year revenue in the first half and 67% in the second half, with sequential acceleration expected each quarter.
• NASA Astronaut Mission Award -- Selected by NASA for the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (VOYG-1), with revenue recognition not yet included in backlog.
• Commercial Demand for Starlab -- Over 130% of commercial capacity is already spoken for, supporting future revenue potential independent of NASA program direction.
• Portfolio Integration -- Recent segment integration driven by customer overlap, technology convergence, and operational alignment, including post-acquisition restructuring and leadership consolidation.

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RISKS

• Gross margins were negative in the first quarter, attributed to program mix and upfront investment, with management anticipating margins to remain pressured during the first half before improving as production scales.
• Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS were negative, explicitly tied to large investments in R&D, engineering, and capacity in advance of projected growth, without assurance that near-term profitability will improve.
• Program roll-offs, such as the Space Doc 2 and certain Airbus contracts, created a $5 million revenue headwind in the quarter, and management cautioned about schedule uncertainties affecting customer deliveries later in the year.

SUMMARY

Voyager Technologies (NYSE:VOYG) executed significant strategic achievements in the first quarter, including securing record backlog and expanding its contract base with both Golden Dome and Raytheon missile defense wins. Management increased full-year sales guidance and streamlined operational reporting to better reflect evolving business drivers. Investments in manufacturing infrastructure and artificial intelligence suggest a focus on accelerating product delivery and addressing next-generation space and defense demands. The company further established its role in commercial space with new NASA astronaut mission awards and Starlab milestone payments, while liquidity remained ample to support both organic and acquisition-led growth strategies.

• Starlab’s high level of pre-reserved commercial capacity may insulate future revenue streams regardless of NASA’s final contracting structure or timeline.
• Portfolio realignment aims to deepen customer engagement by integrating defense and space offerings under a unified solution set, which could enhance competitive positioning.
• Management described multiple new pipeline wins, including the Anduril space-based interceptor partnership, as “incremental” to previously reported pipeline estimates, implying potential for further backlog expansion in subsequent periods.
• Ongoing headwinds from the wind-down of legacy contracts and program transitions are partially offset by new wins, but margin recovery depends on successful scaling of new production volumes projected for later in the year.
• Starlab’s anticipated transition to revenue and free cash flow generation in 2027-2028 hinges on upcoming NASA selection milestones and the commercialization cadence described during the call.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Golden Dome: Voyager’s multi-program missile defense architecture delivering interceptor, sensor, and communications technologies for space and ground-based missile defense solutions.
• Starlab: Voyager’s commercial space station program targeting low Earth orbit research and commercial operations, including NASA CLD (Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations) contracting.
• SM-3: Standard Missile-3, a Raytheon-developed interceptor system, referenced as a growth contract for Voyager on the Raytheon award.
• PAM7: NASA’s Private Astronaut Mission 7, for which Voyager was awarded the mission as “VOYG-1.”
• IRAD: Internally Funded Research and Development, a measure of company-funded technology and product development investment.
• Book-to-bill ratio: The ratio of new bookings (orders received) to recognized revenue in the reporting period, with a number greater than 1 indicating backlog expansion.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Dylan Taylor: Thank you, Adi, and good morning, everyone. Voyager had an outstanding first quarter with record backlog, a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3 and significant traction on new contracts, including Golden Dome. First quarter bookings of $45 million drove our backlog to a new record of $275 million, up 54% year-over-year. The backlog growth reflects broad-based demand and multiple awards across the Golden Dome architecture, additional work on next-generation interceptor and as importantly, we were awarded a contract with Raytheon to develop advanced technologies for their standard missile interceptor program, a major win for us. Further, bookings momentum continues into the early part of the second quarter, reinforcing our confidence in near-term revenue conversion.

And consequently, we are increasing our 2026 revenue guidance to $230 million to $255 million, a significant acceleration relative to last year. Voyager's high-growth platform is built to scale alongside customer demand in the most critical defense, national security and space programs. Our ability to deploy differentiated capabilities across complex architectures, whether as a prime or a key technology partner, strongly positions us to participate across multiple programs as they move from development into production. That positioning is reflected in our first quarter performance, including strong bookings, record backlog and improving visibility into the revenue conversion, which underpins our confidence in raising our full year guidance.

With that context, let me turn to Slide 4 and walk through how we are scaling capacity and infrastructure to support execution as demand accelerates. As our demand scales, execution depends on capacity. And in line with our guidance last quarter, we have continued to invest in the infrastructure and production capability required to deliver at speed and at scale. In January, we broke ground on a major expansion of the Voyager American Defense Complex in Southern Colorado. The facility is designed for high-volume manufacturing, operations and testing, supporting the production of advanced military-grade components, propulsion systems, including our proprietary controllable technology and energetics.

In March, we extended our capacity build-out of advanced electronics, mission hardware and software with the launch of our Space Beach facility in Long Beach, California. This facility is strategically located next to our customers and expands our ability to deliver integrated mission-critical solutions across national security, civil and commercial space programs, while at the same time improving throughput and delivering timing as programs transition into higher rate production, enabling the conversion of backlog into revenue. Turning to Slide 5. Innovation remains central to our strategy, and our investments are focused on differentiated technologies that address real operational needs and can scale across multiple markets.

In the first quarter, internally funded R&D or IRAD, was 17% of revenue with total innovation spend of 48%, excluding Starlab. This record level of innovation spend this year reflects the strategic shaping of next-generation space and defense capabilities. Our R&D priorities are focused on, first, advanced mission-critical electronics and communications that form the backbone of constellations and spaceborne cloud applications. Second, new capabilities for Golden Dome; third, enabling next-generation space domain maneuverability for commercial and defense markets. And lastly, our investment in AI is going to significantly accelerate manufacturing across the Voyager technology portfolio, materially shortening go-to-market and delivery time lines for our customers.

At the same time, we're continuing to build an ecosystem that accelerates the path for microgravity research to commercialization. Through our Voyager Institute for Space Technology and Advancement, or VISTA Science Park, as well as the collaboration with NASA's Glenn Research Center, we announced strategic partnerships with Yonsei University in South Korea and Oguda University in Hungary. VISTA is the first of its kind U.S. science park dedicated to in space research, manufacturing and services located on the campus of the Ohio State University. VISTA unites aerospace companies, fast-moving start-ups, leading academic institutions and government agencies in a dynamic platform-agnostic ecosystem built to accelerate discovery, collaboration and commercialization of space.

Our strong commitment to innovation positions Voyager to not only develop differentiated technologies, but to scale and deploy them into a mission-ready application. This approach is central to our strategy and underpins long-term growth opportunities. Among these long-term opportunities is our alignment with NASA's priorities in LEO and lunar as presented recently during NASA's Ignition event, which I'll review on Slide 6. Our confidence in Starlab as a transformational growth opportunity continues to be reinforced by our progress, including the successful completion of the commercial critical design review with NASA at the end of last year, a key milestone as the program advances into full system procurement and integration.

This milestone further derisks the program and reinforces our confidence in Starlab's readiness to support commercially led operations in low earth orbit. During the first quarter, Starlab achieved 4 additional milestones and received $24 million in cash payments from NASA. We recently provided feedback to NASA's request for information after the Ignition event, and we remain confident we can deliver a strong and economic solution to NASA and other customers. In parallel, we're advancing our lunar strategy in alignment with NASA and broader national priorities. Through our investment in Max Space, we are positioning Voyager to play a meaningful role in enabling sustained lunar operations and habitation.

Our focus is on delivering foundational infrastructure and scalable space systems where we see strong alignment with long-term funding priorities and mission demand. Since quarter end, we announced an important milestone that further underscores our momentum as a commercial space mission provider. Voyager was selected by NASA for the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted for no earlier than 2028. This award builds on decades of operational heritage with NASA and reflects confidence in Voyager's ability to execute complex crude missions safely and reliably. We named the mission VOYG-1 for its historic significance. Importantly, the mission serves as a bridge between current ISS operations and the next generation of commercial space stations, including Starlab.

It will be used to advance and validate microgravity-based innovation, crew operations and integrated architectures that are directly relevant to the future commercial and lunar missions, reinforcing Voyager's role at the center of the transition to a commercially led low-earth orbit ecosystem. Looking ahead, our strategic priorities remain consistent: accelerate growth, build capacity and infrastructure to deliver at scale, invest deliberately in innovation aligned with our customer needs and advance Starlab and our lunar initiatives as the next generation of space infrastructure. In summary, we are off to a fantastic start, executing well and progressing on all of our strategic initiatives.

We are raising our full year revenue guidance to $230 million to $255 million, representing 38% to 53% year-over-year growth, a significant acceleration relative to the growth last year. With that, I will turn the call over to Phil to walk through the financials in more detail.

Filipe de Sousa: Thanks, Dylan. Turning to Slide 7, I'll begin with our first quarter results. Net sales were $35 million, up modestly year-over-year and in line with our plan. Bookings totaled $45 million, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3 and driving backlog to a new record level of $275 million. Importantly, backlog growth was driven by demand across the Golden Dome architecture, including multiple awards for new weapon systems, additional work on next-generation interceptor. And as Dylan mentioned, we were awarded a contract with Raytheon to develop advanced technologies for their standard missile interceptor program, a major win for us.

Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $33 million, reflecting our deliberate investment in engineering talent, internally funded R&D and infrastructure to support programs that are scaling. These investments are aligned with customer demand and are building the foundation to support higher program volume. Adjusted EPS for the quarter was a loss of $0.61 per share. With that, let's turn to Slide 8. Starting this quarter, we simplified reporting from 3 segments to 2. First, Defense and Space Technologies; and second, Starlab Space Stations. This reflects how we operate our business and how we are engaging with our customers.

Our Defense and space activities now operate as a vertically integrated platform spanning propulsion, advanced electronics, data, mission services and, of course, space infrastructure. As shown on this slide, this integrated platform is aligned to fast-growing defense and space markets and is positioned to drive durable growth. Going forward, Defense and Space Technologies captures this integrated platform, while Starlab remains separate given its distinct role as a next-generation commercial space stations and long-term growth driver. This change improves clarity, better aligns reporting with how we operate and simplifies how we communicate performance. Turning to Slide 9, I'll provide segment highlights for the quarter.

In the Defense and Space Technologies segment, we delivered a strong start to the year with $45 million of bookings, up 232% year-over-year, reinforcing continued demand across our core defense and space portfolio, specifically with the new awards for Golden Dome and standard missile programs we discussed earlier. Revenue was up modestly year-over-year and in line with plan, driven by strategic growth, including acquisitions completed last year and partially offset by the planned wind down of a NASA services contract. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was negative $11.5 million, reflecting, as I previously mentioned, deliberate investment in manufacturing capacity, operating infrastructure and internally funded R&D to support long-term growth.

In Starlab, we received $24 million of NASA milestone cash receipts in the quarter, bringing program inception-to-date milestone cash receipts to a total of $207 million. Starlab's adjusted EBITDA reflects the cadence of investment as the program matures and enters its full system procurement phase. Overall, the quarter reflects strong demand momentum in Defense and Space Technologies, continued milestone execution in Starlab and disciplined investment to position both segments for long-term growth. With that, let's turn to Slide 10, and I'll cover off our financial position. As we execute our growth strategy, we continue to operate from a position of financial strength and flexibility.

We ended the first quarter with $429 million in cash and access to $212 million in credit facilities, thus resulting in total liquidity of $641 million. During the second quarter, we will be upsizing our credit facility, reflecting support from our creditors as our growth trajectory accelerates. Our liquidity supports a disciplined growth-oriented capital allocation strategy. We continue to fund organic investments to develop new technologies to further scale our existing platform while also pursuing accretive M&A to enhance scale, margins and our overall market position. Turning to Slide 11. We are raising our 2026 sales guidance to a range of $230 million to $255 million, representing a 38% to 53% year-over-year growth.

This outlook is supported by record backlog, strong recent bookings activity, specifically demand in Golden Dome line programs as well as growth contributions from other areas. We expect to see significant revenue growth acceleration in each of the next 3 quarters. Gross margin for the year is expected to be in the mid-teens, reflecting continued investment in manufacturing capacity and program readiness ahead of growth acceleration. Internally funded research and development will increase to approximately 20% of sales as we are advancing mission-critical capabilities aligned with customer priorities, including defense initiatives such as Golden Dome, while continuing to innovate across our existing platforms, as Dylan discussed earlier.

We expect modest SG&A leverage as we -- as revenue growth begins, and we also absorb public company costs as we lap pre-IPO periods. With more significant leverage as revenue increases and growth accelerates, we will continue to see that leverage increase over time. In addition to innovation investments, capital expenditures, excluding Starlab, are expected to be approximately $60 million to $70 million. This directed towards scaling domestic production, advanced electronics, propulsion capacity and infrastructure investments tied to multiyear programs where we have clear line of sight to revenue. Starlab investments will ramp as the program enters full system procurement.

These investments are expected to be supported through a combination of NASA CLD funding, other government sources and the capital markets, consistent with our previously outlined funding strategy. As we look ahead, 2026 represents an important step in executing toward our long-term financial framework. We continue to target approximately 25% organic revenue growth, gross margins in the range of 30% to 35% and mid-teens adjusted EBITDA margins, excluding Starlabs, with low teens free cash flow margins, excluding Starlab, as the platform continues to scale. Starlab is a meaningful driver of long-term value creation.

Once operational, we continue to expect Starlab to generate approximately $4 billion of annual revenue and $1.5 billion of annual free cash flow, reflecting its role as the next-generation commercial space station infrastructure platform. In summary, the first quarter reflected disciplined execution, strong bookings, expansion of backlog to a new record level. We are investing ahead of growth, and we're supported by improving demand and ample liquidity. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Dylan.

Dylan Taylor: Thanks, Phil. To wrap up on Slide 12, I am very happy with our first quarter performance, reflecting solid execution and continued momentum, supported by growing demand and a platform built to deliver mission-critical capabilities at scale. We are seeing expanding opportunities across missile defense, national security and commercial space, reinforced by strong bookings and a record backlog. Our priorities remain consistent as we move through 2026, disciplined execution, investment to support scale and advancing Starlab as the next generation of space infrastructure. With strong demand, improving visibility and a strengthened operating foundation, we believe Voyager is well positioned to convert this momentum into sustained growth and long-term shareholder value. Operator, with that, we're now ready to take questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question is going to come from Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies.

Sheila Kahyaoglu: Maybe, Dylan, just to start, the backlog increased despite the seasonal downward trend typically. What were key wins in the quarter, especially related to Golden Dome? And what do they mean to your capability stack, if you could elaborate?

Dylan Taylor: Yes. Well, thank you, Sheila. Great question. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the question. Yes, Q1 really was a seminal milestone quarter for us on Golden Dome. As we said in the IPO roadshow, our technology is very relevant to multiple missile programs. And so what we said in the roadshow was that we could expect in addition to next-generation interceptor that we would be added to these additional missile programs. And frankly, that timing has actually been accelerated beyond what I would have expected. So we've had a lot of success here in Q1 and the early part of 2026. So as I mentioned in my remarks, we've been added to standard missile by Raytheon.

That's a huge win for the company. There's also an announcement that's just out in the last 15 minutes about our relationship with Anduril on space-based interceptors as well. So that wasn't in my previous remarks because it literally just was issued about 15 minutes ago. So think of this as in 2 different categories, being added to programs where our technology is relevant to upgrade to next-generation technology. And then the second part is actually being an on-ramp for additional volumes because, of course, there's a big ramp-up that the government is looking to achieve on these programs with existing technology. So we're being added as a second source, and we're being added as an upgrade to next-generation technology.

So both of those are playing out. And again, if I look at our backlog, that's showing up in Q1 backlog, to your point, it reversed the trend of actually burning backlog off in Q1. We were able to actually increase backlog in Q1. And then, of course, our pipeline continues to grow, Sheila, really, really, really significantly. So we're extremely optimistic that this is a validation of our technology and additional programs awards are forthcoming as well. So hopefully that answers your question. Happy to take any follow-up.

Sheila Kahyaoglu: Yes. Super helpful. And maybe as a follow-up, thinking about how you raised the low end of the guidance for '26, what came in -- which one of the following is increasing it? Was it NGI? Was it the Anduril relationship? And maybe if you could talk about milestones over the next 3 quarters we should be looking for?

Dylan Taylor: Sounds good. I'm going to give that to Phil for the detail.

Filipe de Sousa: Good morning, Sheila, how are you? Great question. Just as a reminder, right, we raised the guidance here this quarter, but this is following us raising the lower end of the guidance last quarter, and that was obviously following us initiating guidance for 2026 back in November. What we've seen in the last 6 months has been a continued strengthening of that customer signal demand. Our pipeline remains extremely strong, over $5 billion. And the confidence raising the bottom end is the conversion of that pipeline into backlog that we know we will deliver beginning here in Q2 and all the way through the back end of the year this year. Obviously, we still have quite a ways to go.

So we'll reserve touching the midpoint or effectively the top end of the range for future quarters, but increasing confidence in us delivering as we planned here in 2026.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ron Epstein with Bank of America.

Alexander Christian Preston: This is Alex Preston on for Ron. First, I just wanted to follow up on the Anduril award. I actually noticed that a bit before you mentioned it, Dylan, so you stole my thunder there. But just curious if you can maybe talk broadly about the contributions you'll make it on that team or what the partnership means for the business in general? Just some more color would be great, if you could.

Dylan Taylor: Yes. Yes. Thanks for the question, Alex. So it's obviously a very significant award. It pertains to the space-based interceptors. We have to be vague as to exactly what role we're playing in the team. That's really driven by the customer. But I think you're aware of our suite of technologies, advanced technologies and the ones that are relevant to space-based interceptors and call it Golden Dome in particular. And what I can say is we have multiple technologies on the SBI program. Furthermore, Alex, what I can also say is there are additional news forthcoming on SBI. So stay tuned on that.

But we're extremely pleased with how central our technology is to the architectures being put forward on Golden Dome and space-based interceptors in particular. And as I said in my response to Sheila, we had anticipated that our technology would be relevant for Golden Dome. Frankly, I'm quite surprised at how quickly that technology is gaining traction within this architecture, and we're extremely bullish on what we see there. So hopefully, that answers your question. Alex, I'm happy to take any follow-up.

Alexander Christian Preston: Yes. I appreciate the color. And then if I could shift to Starlab and CLD, right? A lot of moving parts, obviously. It sounds like NASA has got maybe funding challenges, but they put out this RFI for a core module path forward. I guess, broadly, maybe how are you thinking about the updates here on Starlab's time line perhaps, your view on the competitive landscape, if there maybe aren't 2 free flyers as was once thought? Sort of broad thoughts there would be also really helpful.

Dylan Taylor: Yes. Well, first of all, we're still very, very optimistic about Starlab and the program because either direction NASA takes, whether it's a core module with commercial modules attached or it's commercial free flyers, we think we have the technology and in particular the market traction to service both those models. So we responded to the RFI. As you mentioned, NASA put out the RFI. We responded to that. We're awaiting NASA's response on that, which is likely to be an RFP. But keep in mind, we're already at 130% of commercial demand capacity spoken for on Starlab. And that commercial demand could translate to a different solution if NASA goes a different path. So we're actually quite bullish.

And as you probably are aware, we won the PAM7 Private Astronaut Mission from NASA. That's really a validation of our mission management business. So we're actually quite optimistic that no matter what path NASA takes, our capabilities will be relevant. We did pass another 4 milestones in the quarter on Starlab itself and got some additional cash payments in. And I don't know if we mentioned on the last quarter or not, but we had this high fidelity mockup in Building 9 at Johnson Space Center. We're getting a lot of people through there. It's quite impressive, just seeing the volume of that Starlab design.

So I would encourage you, Alex, or anybody on the call, if they happen to be in Houston, we can arrange a tour. But I think just, yes, to put a finer point on it, we're very optimistic that we're well positioned on CLD no matter what path NASA chooses to take.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Myles Walton with Wolfe Research.

Myles Walton: I was hoping to maybe clarify first on the standard missile contract during the IPO roadshow, that was, I think, the largest single opportunity in the pipeline, around $300 million plus. Is the part of the win that you've gotten this quarter in there? Is that the entirety? Is it something new? Maybe just put it in context what you were looking for versus what you get.

Dylan Taylor: Yes, Myles, it's all good news here. I'll let Phil give you the particulars, but this is all incremental to what we reported.

Filipe de Sousa: And I think really important to highlight too, Myles, is, one, this is just the initial contract we've received here from Raytheon for SM-3. This is a preproduction award. And so significant upside to the backlog that we've added here strategically. More importantly, as we look beyond 2026 and expect that program to then continue, it absolutely aligns well with what we had talked about around the IPO, where there wasn't just a next-generation interceptor program that had $1 billion worth of leg to it from a production standpoint. We still expect that, if you would, to come to fruition later this year as we enter into 2027 from a low rate to high rate production perspective.

For Raytheon SM-3, early stages, we'll continue to report out as we make progress on that specific program. I think more exciting news as we've validated our disruptive technologies in the space.

Myles Walton: Okay. And then so while I have you, the sales cadence for the rest of the year obviously has to accelerate quite substantially. Is -- could you talk about the first quarter headwinds you had, do those alleviate in the second quarter? Maybe just the magnitude of acceleration you're expecting here in the near term versus the tail end of the year?

Filipe de Sousa: Yes, I appreciate the question, Myles, a bit to unpack there. So let's remind everybody, $35 million of revenue this first quarter, slightly up year-over-year. As a reminder, we did have some pretty substantial programs rolling off. For example, the [ Space Doc 2 ] contract that we've been flagging and highlighting as a year-over-year headwind latter part of last year, contributed about $5 million of revenue last year, first quarter. And so that's just about wrapped up completely. So about a $5 million, I think, 13 percentage point headwind into the quarter for us this year. We also had a fantastic software design radio contract with Airbus.

That was a big growth driver for us last year and in 2024, frankly speaking. That program is also wrapping up here early 2026, so another headwind. As I think about looking ahead, the new record backlog that we've established, the momentum we're building from a bookings perspective, we anticipate revenue to ramp sequentially and accelerate growth sequentially, going from $35 million of revenue should increase sequentially by 37%. So think high 40s, if you would. There will be about mid-single-digit growth year-over-year. And then just based on the backlog, the customer time line that we've received, the delivery of longer lead material items, we know we have in our backlog a substantial amount of second half revenue to deliver.

And so that's how we're planning it, about 33% of our full year revenue at the midpoint in the first half and about 67% of the revenue in the second half of the year with great visibility given our backlog.

Dylan Taylor: And Myles, just to emphasize the point that Phil made there, it's not only line of sight for what we have in the backlog and what we're reporting on in Q1. But all of these incremental awards that we're talking about are all going to be additive to that confidence that we have, including, for example, that PAM7 mission that I mentioned earlier, none of that is in backlog. First of all, that was a Q2 award. Secondly, being the conservative company we are, we're not going to count that as backlog until we actually get a signed contract and a down payment towards a mission slot. So that's all upside to backlog as well.

So I just want to emphasize that point.

Filipe de Sousa: And maybe just to put a finer point on the momentum story, and I'm just reflecting back to my answer to Sheila at the opening of the call. One thing to highlight here, and I know it's early in the second quarter, but we continue to see the bookings momentum continue for us here early Q2. We've already booked quite a substantial amount of the second quarter. And I know, Myles, you and I have had that discussion around the -- we typically burn backlog in the first half of the year and build it in the second half of the year. I wouldn't say it's unusual.

It's a realization, if you would, of the strong demand signal that we're getting here that we had a 1.3 book-to-bill ratio in Q1. Expect our book-to-bill ratio will exceed 1 again in the second quarter, and we should well exceed even the $45 million of bookings that we had in Q1. So momentum continues to build. Line of sight to even the bookings we have here in early April. These are also revenue-generating programs here for the calendar year 2026. A substantial portion of these won't be delivered until the second half of the year, again, supporting that second half ramp. So again, I appreciate the question.

I just want to make sure we highlighted the continued momentum that we've seen in early Q2 as well.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Seth Seifman with JPMorgan.

Christopher Barbero: This is Rocco on for Seth. I was wondering what were the main factors that kind of weighed on Q1 gross margins? And how should we expect the margin to progress through the year? Will it just be kind of a quick step-up in Q2 or more of a ramp throughout the year?

Filipe de Sousa: Yes. Maybe I'll take that question, Rob. So from a gross profit margin perspective, if you recall, we anticipated this year will be a gross profit margin in the mid-teens. So think 14%, 15% on a full year basis. That reflects year-over-year an incremental investment ahead of growth, scale growth as we move into higher rate production contracts later this year and into next year. So we're already anticipating a challenging first half of the year. You see negative gross profit reflects exactly that, some program mix as well. But as we look out second quarter, anticipate gross profit to be positive, think low mid-single digits in Q2 and then a significant acceleration, thanks to leverage.

I just reflected on the revenue profile. I think 33% first half, 67% of our full year revenue guidance split that way. From a gross profit sequential perspective, you should see a step up into the mid- to high teens in Q3 and then back into the mid-20s in Q4 as we significantly leverage our cost structure.

Christopher Barbero: Great. And then what drove the decision to combine the defense and space businesses into one segment? And is there an opportunity for the combination to drive any synergies in the business?

Dylan Taylor: Yes. I'll start with that, Rob, and I will ask Phil to chime in. I think a couple of things. One is there's increasing convergence between our national security and defense business and our space business. Of course, it's been said before that space is the ultimate high ground. So there's a lot of national security implications for that. And there was also a lot of overlap in the technologies that were being deployed. We had a single executive, Matt Magna, running those businesses as well. So that also allowed us to merge the growth teams and a lot of other things that were relevant to actually running the business. So those were the main drivers.

I'll ask Phil to chime in as well.

Filipe de Sousa: Yes. As a reminder for everyone, we IPO-ed last June with 3 external segments, Defense and National Security, Space Solutions and Starlab. And going forward, we've got the 2 segments now. To Dylan's point, internally, we had already integrated the Defense and National Security and Space Solutions segment under the leadership of Matt Magana. Equally as importantly, as we progressed post-IPO last year, made 3 strategic acquisitions, EMSI, ExoTerra and then Estes late in the fourth quarter.

And so as we've already well on our way to integrating these businesses fully, the way we go to market, the way we go and highlight and bring our technologies, our disruptive space tech and defense tech technologies to the customer, it's bringing a portfolio solution sell to the customer. Take next-generation interceptor, it is a great example, classic fuel propulsion technology that we've been long developing alongside with Lockheed Martin for years, combine that with traditional space or effectively dual-use space technology and navigation controls. And so that's a great example of how we're bringing a more portfolio set, getting a greater wallet share with our customer.

And the segmentation helps us clarify and clearly convey those results the way that we manage the business internally to the external community. So it should help from that perspective as well.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Godyn with Citigroup.

John Godyn: Dylan, you had a great dialogue in the beginning about AI investments, reducing go-to-market time, preparing for rising production rates with the strong booking commentary and outlook you guys have here. I just wanted to revisit that topic, understand a little bit better and understand how you guys are kind of preparing to scale.

Dylan Taylor: Yes. Thank you for the question. Very thoughtful question. So we're thinking about AI in a couple of different ways. And this has got very senior level executive sponsorship. Matt Kuta, our overall company president is driving a lot of this. We also made a key hire, and I credit Paul Tilghman, our CTO, for this, a key hire at a DARPA labs, who is involved very much in Agentic AI.

So we're thinking of AI beyond just personal productivity, which is the way I think a lot of people are thinking about it, and we're really thinking of it as more of a technical tool that allows us to not only enhance our ability to create technical solutions for our customers, but to, as I said in my remarks, reduce cycle time because when you're a technology and innovation company, which Voyager is, it's all about being first to market with advanced technology. And so that's really the way we're thinking about it, and that's really where we're seeing the primary benefits.

So think of everything from a custom ASIC design to other things that might go into a program instead of that being a multiyear approach, it could be a multi-month approach. And it's not only getting a better outcome, but it's reducing that cycle time and bringing the innovation to bear sooner. So that's really the key way we're thinking about it. Early indications are this is going to have a significant impact on our business. It's still too early to say exactly what meaningfully will change from a margin profile and things like that.

But I would tell you, as you would expect, being a technology and innovation company, we are on the leading edge of innovation in this area as well. And I really like what I see initially here. And I think we'll have a lot more to say about this probably on our next earnings call.

John Godyn: Great. That's great color. And if I could just sort of ask a knit, this is probably more for Phil. You guys raised the low end of the revenue guidance, but not the high end. I know it's very early in the year, a very small percentage of revenue in 1Q versus the full year. That may be it. But I'm just kind of curious, scope to kind of revisit the high end or execute to the high end throughout the year. I mean the bookings commentary was great. I think there might be a little bit of potential for that. But Phil, any thoughts?

Filipe de Sousa: Yes, John, I appreciate the question. Love it when the conservative CFO gets put in the corner. So I'm smiling here on this end, no. Again, just reminding everybody, so we've now consistently raised, yes, the bottom end. It's because it is early in the year. We're wrapping up the first quarter. As I mentioned earlier, great momentum heading into Q2. We'll provide an update on what we think about what the top end could be once we get through the second quarter of this year, we've got that crystallized visibility into the second half of the year.

I do highlight, and I mentioned it earlier, there's second half revenue, about 67% of the full year guide with a substantial amount of that in the fourth quarter. Our customer schedules tend to move around, no fault of theirs, but things get delayed and get pushed, et cetera. And so again, perhaps more on the conservative side here before we start to think about moving the top end up. We'll keep it where we laid out today and provide an update in August. Look forward to that update, obviously. Things continue to progress well as they have here through the strong start to the year.

I'm optimistic that there could be some upside, but we'll stay a bit short from guiding that way until we have that crystallized visibility. But thanks for the question, John.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Gautam Khanna with TD Cowen.

Unknown Analyst: This is Anton on for Gautam. So assuming Starlab does win CLD Phase 2, when do you expect Starlab to start generating revenue? Can we start to see revenue from things like on-ground astronaut training as soon as 2027? Or is this really only meaningful in 2028? And maybe how much revenue can you generate from on-ground work?

Filipe de Sousa: Appreciate the question. This is Phil. Yes, our expectation is that we could start seeing some revenue recognition as early as 2027 and certainly in 2028 from a training perspective. I think most importantly for everybody to kind of keep an eye on, and I highlighted this the last quarter, I keep an eye out from a balance sheet perspective, the deferred revenue, that we start to recognize -- or not recognize excuse me, but realize. We expect advanced bookings could start as early as like they did here in 2026. Certainly expect that to accelerate as we move into 2027 and beyond. I think that will be the strongest indicator.

As Dylan mentioned, we already have over 130% of our commercial capacity spoken for. But as we move through the year, out the back end of the year into next year, we start to see that convert into cash reservations, nothing better than that from a CFO's perspective. And then we'll start to turn that and flip that into revenue, like I said, the year after in '27 and '28.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Leshock with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Michael Leshock: I wanted to ask on Golden Dome. Is the early Golden Dome revenue more R&D prototype like? Or is it more production like with more established gross margins? Just appreciate any additional color you can provide on the margin profile for Golden Dome-related work.

Filipe de Sousa: Mike, it's Phil. I'll take that from a gross profit margin perspective, but certainly have Dylan weigh in as well. So we highlighted it as a preproduction contract. So it's certainly not research and development. This is a revenue-generating contract that we're going to -- that we've received here and expect to deliver on. It is a firm fixed price contract. So I know that wasn't your question. But from a margin perspective, we're looking at 20-plus percent margin. So these are healthy margins, early stage, clearly. And as we move into the higher production, no different than the NGI, we expect that margin profile to only improve or increase as we move into that phase. Thanks for the question.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley.

Kristine Liwag: Dylan, you mentioned earlier for NASA CLD that depending on the approach NASA wants to take, that Voyager is prepared with Starlab. I was wondering, is the third option possible? I mean if NASA still seems to be uncertain about the path they want to take, considering the maturity of your investments in Starlab and your ability to have raised private capital to support the investments, could you still go forward with Starlab as a private enterprise even if the NASA CLD doesn't materialize in what you had initially thought? It would be helpful to get your thoughts on that.

Dylan Taylor: Yes. I think the short answer is yes, Kristine, we could. But I don't anticipate that being the case. I mean, NASA, of course, is the largest user in commercial LEO -- I'm sorry, in LEO today. And as we all know, the International Space Station is aging, and even if it's extended to 2032, it's hard to imagine it being extended much past that. So even if we were to go it alone, so to speak, and actually build Starlab, I would still anticipate that major space agencies around the world would be an important part of that.

But if your question is, could we capitalize this independent of NASA, I don't think that's going to end up having to be the case. Like I say, I think we're very well positioned for CLD Phase 2, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that we could independently finance this. The other thing I would say, I just want to reinforce for everyone on the call, space is an incredibly important part of our key strategy. We have this 3L strategy that we've been referring to. That refers to LEO, which is, of course, low earth orbit. That's where Starlab plays and a lot of our other technologies play. But we also have a key lunar initiative.

So that's the second L. The third L being Lagrangian, which just is a proxy for deep space technology. But as it relates to lunar, we have a key initiative there. We call it [ Project Prevail ]. There was a lot to work with in the ignite presentation that Jared made that we're very excited about vis-a-vis lunar, including lunar habitation. And that really brings into focus our key strategic investment in Max Space, which is on expandable inflatable technology. So we really like what we see in that 3L strategy from a growth prospect standpoint, far above and beyond just Starlab and just LEO. So I really want to reinforce that for everyone.

We're very, very bullish on what we see on the space economy.

Kristine Liwag: Great. Super helpful. And Dylan, just doubling down on the CLD and just understanding it a little bit better. So what are the milestones we should be watching for the Phase II announcement? I mean, is the program still on hold? Or is that still expected to be early summer for the down select? And then also just understanding the size of this potential contract. Can you just level set us again regarding the investments in Starlab so far and what you need to do and fund if you have to go in this alone or as a stand-alone entity?

Dylan Taylor: Yes. Well, the second part of your question really depends on what the final design and parameters are. So it's hard to answer that second question without answering the first question, which is what the award is. What we know is that the RFI was submitted, and I think industry has all participated in that RFI. And it's our understanding based upon what NASA has said that they will then take that RFI and they will create an RFP around that. In terms of the timing, it's uncertain. We would anticipate sometime early summer, so June, July. But there's nothing official so far as we know from NASA with a firm deadline on that. So yes, TBD on timing, Kristine.

But I think what I would say is I'm confident that we have the right commercial model, the right team and the right technology to address NASA's needs. And so no matter what comes out in the form of the RFP, I think we're going to be extremely well positioned. That's really what I want to leave you with.

Kristine Liwag: Super helpful, Dylan. And congrats again on your announcement with Anduril this morning. As a follow-up to that announcement, I want to understand, is this an exclusive partnership? Or are you able to partner with other players for other space-based interceptor approaches?

Dylan Taylor: We are on multiple award-winning teams is what I can say, Kristine. More to come, but we are on multiple SBI winning teams.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Steven Wahrhaftig with Wedbush.

Steven Wahrhaftig: Congrats on a good quarter. I kind of want to take a big picture look at the entire defense space, considering the fiscal year '27 defense budget is expected to expand to about $1.5 trillion. And this includes about $75 billion of munitions procurements and $17 billion specifically for Golden Dome. So I wanted to kind of touch on how Voyager is positioned to gain some of this incremental deal flow if this budget were to pass. And then also about $350 billion of that $1.5 trillion is sitting in reconciliation rather than the discretionary base. And I just wanted to figure out exactly where your programs fall in the defense budget for reconciliation for discretionary.

Dylan Taylor: Yes, really smart question. I'll ask Phil to chime in on it, but let me just give you the headline. Obviously, $1.5 trillion defense budget would be an absolute windfall not only for our industry, but for Voyager in

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