Why Planet Labs Stock Bounced Back Monday

Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) stock tumbled 11% through the closing bell Friday after "missing" on its fiscal Q4 2025 earnings report and guiding investors to expect further misses throughout fiscal 2026 (which, by the company's calendar, is this year).

Shares of the tiny space company, which operates the world's biggest constellation of Earth observation satellites, bounced back Monday morning, however. Gaining 10% through 10:25 a.m. ET, Planet stock has recovered almost all of Friday's losses after announcing a big deal with the European Space Agency.

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Planet Labs is big in Greece

Planet describes the ESA contract as signed between the space agency itself "on behalf of the Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance" and aiming "to support the Greek National SmallSat Programme" by complementing Greece's own satellite systems. The nation's Hellenic Space Center will coordinate distribution of satellite data from Planet within Greece, "optimizing tasking capabilities, and ensuring seamless integration across the downstream projects of the national satellite program."

In essence, therefore, it appears that Planet has signed an agreement directly with the Greek government to provide data that the government can use. The program will be funded by the European Union Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) Greece 2.0, which provides funding to Greece in the form of both loans and grants.

Is Planet Labs stock a buy?

Today's contract demonstrates continued demand for Planet's services around the world, albeit it doesn't yet give investors confidence that these services will turn profitable anytime soon. Planet did not disclose the size of its contract with the ESA on Greece's behalf, nor state whether it would be profitable.

Losses at the company continue to shrink, and cash burn rates are slowing as well. Still, absent a dramatic increase in revenue that permits the company to scale up faster and improve its profit margins further, analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast the company will not turn profitable before 2029 at the earliest. This means it's hard recommending Planet Labs stock as a "buy" with profits today looking still so far away.

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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.