Firefly Aerospace, Inc.(FLY)
$25.21-0.10 (-0.40%)
FLY
Firefly Aerospace, Inc. earnings date
$25.21
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Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (FLY) Q3 2026 Earnings Report
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FLY Q3 2026 EPS Results
- Actual EPS
- -$0.45
- Consensus EPS
- -$0.50
- Beat/Miss
- Beat by +$0.05
- One Year Ago EPS
- -$1.50
FLY Q3 2026 Revenue Results
- Actual Revenue
- $110.68M
- Expected Revenue
- $102.30M
- Beat/Miss
- Beat by +$8.38M
- YoY Revenue Growth
- +259.61%
Earnings Announcement Details
- Quarter
- Q3 2026
- Date
- 11/10/2026
- Time
- After Close
- Conference Call
- Tuesday, November 10, 2026
FLY Upcoming Earnings
Firefly Aerospace, Inc.'s next earnings date is estimated for March 25, 2027, based on past reporting schedules.
Q3 2026 Earnings Call Audio
FLY Q3 2026 Earnings Call
0:00 / 0:00
Q3 2026 Earnings Slide Deck
Q3 2026 Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Sentiment|Positive
The call was strongly positive, marked by a more than $1.3 billion AST partnership, record backlog, 259% year-over-year quarterly revenue growth, raised 2026 guidance, expanding lunar and defense programs, and strong liquidity. The main negatives were the Alpha Flight 8 delay, continued substantial operating and free-cash-flow losses, expected higher cash burn from AST-related investments and an increasing share count. Positive developments significantly outweighed the disclosed challenges.
Company Guidance
Firefly updated its 2026 revenue range to $440 million to $450 million from its prior range of $420 million to $450 million, increasing the midpoint of its guidance to $445 million from $435 million; Alpha Flight 8 is progressing toward launch in the first quarter of 2027, with the 2027 launch target to be provided during the fourth quarter earnings call. For the AST agreement, revenue will start in earnest next year, ramping gradually, engine deliveries will begin ramping in year 2 of the agreement, revenue is expected to increase in the second year and continue ramping through the third year, and cash burn could tick up through next year; the agreement covers 27 Miranda first-stage engines and 9 Vira upper stage engines, making up 3 complete flight sets. At least 3 CLPS 1.0 opportunities remain, with one potentially awarded in the fourth quarter, a second outstanding mission, and a third landing mission expected most likely early first quarter of next year to be awarded in 2027.
- Transformative AST SpaceMobile PartnershipFirefly signed a three-year intellectual property, supply and services agreement with AST SpaceMobile valued at more than $1.3 billion. The deal includes approximately $800 million for Miranda and Vira engine IP licenses, consisting of $400 million in cash and 10 million to 14 million AST Class A shares, plus $250 million in support services and $250 million for engine deliveries.
- Nondilutive Funding and Production ExpansionManagement characterized the AST agreement as nondilutive funding that will support new test bays, additional workforce, bulk purchases of long-lead materials, supply-chain expansion and increased engineering capacity. Firefly will build, test and deliver 27 Miranda first-stage engines and 9 Vira upper-stage engines for AST's first three flight sets.
- Record Backlog and New Contract WinsBacklog reached a record approximately $1.7 billion at the end of the third quarter, up from $1.5 billion in the prior quarter and $1.3 billion a year ago. More than $300 million of new customer contracts during the quarter more than replenished recognized revenue, with growth driven primarily by the $94 million ground-based radar digitization award, additional hardware server orders and an additional Alpha hypersonics task order.
- Strong Third-Quarter and Year-to-Date Revenue GrowthThird-quarter revenue was $110.7 million, up 259% year over year from $30.8 million. Firefly delivered its second consecutive quarter with more than $100 million of revenue, while year-to-date revenue reached $309.2 million, representing 203% growth versus the first nine months of the prior year.
- Raised 2026 Revenue GuidanceFirefly raised its 2026 revenue range to $440 million to $450 million from $420 million to $450 million, increasing the midpoint to $445 million from $435 million. Management cited strength in the spacecraft business, five moon programs being executed in parallel and strong demand for AI software solutions as offsets to launch-related revenue impacts.
- Improved Gross MarginThird-quarter GAAP gross margin increased to 22.9% from 20.3% in the prior quarter, driven by favorable product mix as lower-margin hardware server purchases had weighed on the second quarter. Management expects the AST IP and support-services revenue to provide incremental gross margin expansion as the contract is executed.
- Strong Liquidity PositionFirefly ended the quarter with $839.7 million of total liquidity, consisting of $534.7 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and $305 million of undrawn revolving credit capacity.
- Alpha Block II Production RampFirefly is progressing toward the Alpha Flight 8 launch and has structures and engine chambers for Flights 9, 10, 11 and 12. Flight 9 structures and tanks are complete, Flight 10 structures completed proof testing, Flight 11 tanks and structures are complete, and Flight 12 composites are in production. The company has 24 Reaver engine chambers in production and said Block II improvements are increasing manufacturability and reliability.
- Strong Alpha Demand and International ExpansionManagement said Alpha demand is the most supply-constrained in company history, with more customers than rockets available in the near-term manifest. Firefly signed its first European launch contracts with SSC Space for two Alpha launches from Sweden, added a third Alpha hypersonic task order, extended its Lockheed Martin multi-launch agreement and signed Synspective for up to 10 launches through 2030.
- Progress on New Launch InfrastructureFirefly is advancing launch infrastructure at NASA's Wallops Spaceport in Virginia, where the site is intended to support both Alpha and Eclipse launches from the same location. The company is also progressing at its Sweden launch site and has upgraded Vandenberg facilities for Alpha Block II.
- Eclipse and Miranda Engine Qualification ProgressThe Miranda engine qualification campaign is underway, with more than 175 hot-fire tests totaling 4,230 seconds of cumulative runtime across 20 engines. Firefly has tested multiple relights and power throttling for reusability, is proceeding with manufacturing and assembly of Miranda engines for the first Eclipse launch and is adding technical experts and infrastructure for Eclipse production.
- Expanded Lunar Manufacturing CapacityFirefly completed a new clean-room expansion at its spacecraft campus, quadrupling assembly, integration and testing square footage for Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbiters. The Austin facility is designed to support simultaneous integration of up to a dozen lunar landers and orbital vehicles and was immediately used for NASA and Department of War spacecraft.
- Five Lunar Missions in ParallelFirefly is executing five lunar missions in parallel. The Riders 2 The Dark lander completed proof testing, was stacked with its Elytra transfer vehicle and had its electronics installed and powered on. The mission is expected to launch next year, subject to spacecraft delivery to Florida and confirmation of the launch window.
- Expanded Lunar Customer and Payload PipelineThe Gruithuisen Domes mission has transitioned from design to hardware production with launch targeted in 2028. Starcloud signed to fly an AI compute payload on Elytra, while Zeno Power Systems signed as a commercial payload customer for the accelerated Blue Ghost mission. Firefly also completed the critical design review for its Lunar South Pole mission.
- CLPS 2 Opportunity and Larger Lunar LandersFirefly onboarded to NASA's $10 billion CLPS 2 program and is designing larger cargo landers capable of carrying payloads such as light terrain vehicles. Management also identified at least three outstanding CLPS 1.0 opportunities, including a potential far-side south-pole mission, a lunar surface imaging service and a third landing mission.
- Elytra Program ExpansionElytra's MoonFall mission passed Preliminary Design Review under a $75 million subcontract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Firefly also added a Department of War Defense Innovation Unit contract, won a spacecraft subcontract for NASA's Skyfall Mars mission, advanced Project Sinequone toward launch next year and progressed its DARPA LASSO support work after competitive down-select.
- FORGE Operational Performance and New Defense AwardsFORGE remains operational and is processing missile-warning and tracking data for the Space Force, with strong customer demand and an additional GEO Wide Field of View data integration milestone. Firefly won a $94 million Space Force Ground-Based Radar Digitization contract, onboarded to the $981 million NITE-STAR IDIQ through 2032, extended its Air Battle Management System data-fusion contract and onboarded to a $66 million instrumentation and testing IDIQ.
- Defense Software Certification and Algorithm ReuseFirefly received Air Force System interoperability test certification for its CBC2 system ahead of operational acceptance. Management said SciTec's algorithms and AI capabilities can be transferred across missile warning, missile tracking, position, navigation and timing, air moving target indicator, ground moving target indicator and space-domain-awareness applications.
- Launch Pricing EnvironmentManagement said the launch market is the most supply-constrained it has ever been and that pricing power is present. Firefly cited its $22 million VICTUS SOL contract and said it has recently seen Alpha opportunities above that price level, while also stating that constrained demand supports higher pricing for medium-lift Eclipse missions.
- Revenue Recognition Provides Contract VisibilityFor the AST program, IP and support-services revenue will be recognized over the three-year performance period on a percentage-of-completion basis, while engine-delivery revenue will be recognized upon delivery. Management stated that delays on AST's side would not affect Firefly's revenue recognition for the program under this structure.
FLY Earnings History
| Report Date | Fiscal Quarter | Forecast / EPS | Last Year's EPS | EPS YoY Change | Press Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 25, 2027 | 2026 (Q4) | -0.48- | -0.38 | ― | ― |
| Nov 10, 2026 | 2026 (Q3) | -0.50-0.45 | -1.5 | 70.00% (+1.05) | |
| Aug 11, 2026 | 2026 (Q2) | -0.51-0.42 | -5.78 | 92.73% (+5.36) | |
| May 04, 2026 | 2026 (Q1) | -0.52-0.46 | -0.47 | 2.13% (+0.01) | |
| Mar 19, 2026 | 2025 (Q4) | -0.44-0.38 | -0.72 | 46.93% (+0.34) | |
| Nov 12, 2025 | 2025 (Q3) | -0.41-1.50 | -0.32 | -367.29% (-1.18) | |
| Sep 23, 2025 | 2025 (Q2) | -0.43-5.78 | -0.41 | -1313.20% (-5.37) |
The table shows recent earnings report dates and whether the forecast was beat or missed. See the change in forecast and EPS from the previous year.
Beat Missed
