HawkEye 360 (NYSE:HAWK) stock, which held a successful IPO back in May, soared 16% through 12:40 p.m. ET despite reporting only mixed earnings last night.
This signals intelligence and analysis company lost money in Q3 — about $200,000, a reversal of last year’s Q3 profit. However, TheFly.com reports that HawkEye was only expected to net $56.4 million in sales in Q3 2026, but the company actually reported $59.3 million.
Missed AI’s “Act 1”? Act 2 Could Be 16x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn’t buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of “Act 1″—the R&D phase. “Act 2” is the global rollout. Continue »
Image source: Getty Images.
HawkEye 360 Q3 earnings (er, losses)
HawkEye’s Q3 sales surged 84% year over year, and its backlog of $300.3 million suggests the company can keep going at its current rate for six more quarters even if it never wins another contract. International sales growth was a bit slower than domestic growth, but still more than respectable at 76% — and CEO John Serafini says, “We expect international expansion will continue.”
Losses, as calculated under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), may have been $200,000. Still, the company reported positive free cash flow for the quarter: $137,000, a positive development after burning cash last year.
What’s next for HawkEye 360 stock
Turning to guidance, HawkEye expects to end this year with sales between $225 million and $227 million — the entire range of which is above Wall Street estimates, with positive “non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA.” That’s obviously not a GAAP number, but so long as free cash flow remains positive, I’m fine with it.
In that regard, analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence predict HawkEye will end 2026 with positive FCF of $8.2 million, grow that nearly 50% in 2027 — then more than triple it in 2028. At a valuation more than 175x current-year FCF, I can’t call HawkEye stock “cheap” — but at least it’s headed in the right general direction.
Should you buy stock in HawkEye 360 right now?
Before you buy stock in HawkEye 360, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and HawkEye 360 wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $338,083!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,021,163!*