Stock Market Today, March 20: Planet Labs Surges After Record Revenue and Upbeat Guidance

Planet Labs (PL +25.18%), a provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions, closed Friday at $33.85, up 25.56%. The stock jumped after reporting record fiscal Q4 revenue, issuing upbeat multi-year guidance, and receiving analyst upgrades. Investors are watching AI-driven demand and backlog conversion. Trading volume reached 52.6 million shares, coming in about 318% above its three-month average of 12.6 million shares. Planet Labs IPO’d in 2021 and has grown 242% since going public.

How the markets moved today

The S&P 500 fell 1.50% to 6,507, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.98% to 21,654 as growth stocks came under pressure. Among aerospace & defense names, peer Spire Global closed at $12.23, up 0.25%, as investors reassessed satellite-data demand and recent contract wins across the sector.

What this means for investors

Planet Labs reported Q4 earnings, with revenue rising 41% and the company achieving breakeven adjusted EPS, easily surpassing Wall Street’s expectations. Management guided for sales to grow by 39% in 2027, powered by a backlog that grew by 79% in fiscal 2026.

Best yet for investors, the company’s partnerships with Nvidia and Alphabet’s Google seem to be paying dividends as management expects its AI-powered solutions to be a major driver of growth in the upcoming year. Management highlighted a “100x speedup” on certain data processing tasks using its in-orbit GPUs, making it an even more indispensable offering for its customers. Boasting a net dollar retention rate of 118%, it’s hard to argue against Planet Labs’ newer offerings.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Nvidia, and Planet Labs PBC. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.