ASTS

Interested in Planet Labs PBC? Here are five stocks we like better. Record Q2 performance: Planet Labs reported $116 million in revenue, up approximately 58% year over year, with a 59% non-GAAP gross margin and profitable adjusted EBITDA. Defense and intelligence revenue rose more than 90%, led by satellite-services execution. Growing government opportunity: Remaining performance obligations reached approximately $753 million, while management identified more than $4 billion in satellite-services opportunities, with over 25% considered near-term. New awards included an $8 million NGA contract and a potential €25 million German defense deal. Higher outlook, heavier investment: Planet raised fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $430 million–$441 million and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $3 million–$10 million, while planning $100 million–$115 million in capital expenditures for manufacturing expansion and next-generation Pelican and Owl satellite fleets. AST SpaceMobile Stock Soared 12%—This Was the Catalyst Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) reported record second-quarter revenue of $116 million, up approximately 58% from a year earlier, as satellite services execution and demand from defense and intelligence customers drove growth. The company also raised the low end of its full-year fiscal 2027 outlook for revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Chief Executive Officer, Chairperson and Co-Founder Will Marshall said the company’s non-GAAP gross margin reached 59% during the quarter, exceeding expectations, while adjusted EBITDA was profitable. Planet also exceeded the “Rule of 40” metric for a fourth consecutive quarter, combining its revenue growth rate with adjusted EBITDA margin. → Boarding Call: EHang Secures First-Mover Altitude Could Falling Yields Make REIT Stocks Worth a Second Look? President and Chief Financial Officer Ashley Johnson said the company’s quarterly outperformance was primarily related to execution on satellite services contracts, including the handover of its first Pelican satellite for the Swedish Armed Forces. Planet launched the satellite in May, four months after signing the contract, and completed commissioning quickly enough for the handover to contribute point-in-time revenue in the second quarter. Defense and intelligence revenue increased more than 90% year over year, including satellite services revenue. Commercial-sector revenue rose more than 15%, while civil government revenue grew more than 5%. → Medtronic’s Stars Are Aligning for a Price Recovery Satellogic Is Tiny But Its Revenue Growth Is Hard to Ignore Regionally, Planet reported year-over-year revenue growth of approximately 3% in Latin America, more than 15% in Asia-Pacific, about 25% in North America and more than 130% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Johnson said the growth in international and defense revenue reflected the company’s delivery against satellite services backlog. Point-in-time revenue represented 12% of second-quarter revenue, compared with 1% in the prior-year period. Johnson said this measure may vary from quarter to quarter as the company expands satellite services, because certain contracts are recognized when delivery milestones are completed. → Dutch Bros Sell-Off Creates a Growth Opportunity Planet ended the quarter with approximately $753 million in remaining performance obligations, up about 9% year over year, and estimated backlog of roughly $815 million, up approximately 11%. About half of backlog applies to the next 12 months, according to the company. Planet announced an $8 million contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to deploy its Global Monitoring Service in support of national-defense priorities. Marshall said the award followed a Defense Innovation Unit pilot supporting INDOPACOM and includes options to expand and extend the work. The company also received a seven-figure, one-year agreement with a European defense and intelligence customer for high-resolution global mosaics and operational-planning support. In August, the German government announced a tender award for dedicated-capacity satellite services with a maximum possible value of €25 million over five years, including options. Marshall said Planet has identified more than $4 billion of satellite-services opportunities, with more than 25% classified as near-term pipeline. In response to analyst questions, he defined near term as “quarters, not years,” and said the opportunity set spans EMEA, Asia-Pacific and North America. He also said the pipeline includes both smaller civil-government opportunities and larger transactions. Outside defense, Planet signed a contract with the Rwanda Space Agency to provide national high-resolution data and analytics for government entities and public universities. The data will support applications including agriculture, urban management, spatial planning and disaster response. Marshall called it Planet’s first national program of its kind in Africa. In the commercial market, Planet cited an expanded six-figure renewal with a hyperscale AI developer that uses Planet’s Pelican imagery to monitor construction of data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facilities. The company also detailed partnerships with FarmQA on AI-powered agricultural intelligence tools and Bragger Technologies on change detection and natural-resource management analytics. Marshall said Planet’s AI application has progressed to open beta. The tool is designed to make the company’s archive of daily Earth imagery searchable using natural-language queries. He said the company is focused on learning from users before determining the product’s broader commercialization and go-to-market strategy. Management emphasized the strategic value of Planet’s archive and daily imaging coverage. Marshall said the company’s Global Monitoring Service and maritime-domain-awareness capabilities rely on historical data to identify meaningful changes and patterns over time. Planet launched a next-generation Pelican technology demonstration satellite in July. Marshall said the satellite met its major goals and supports the company’s path toward 30-centimeter-class imagery, though it is not intended to serve customers. The company also shipped its second Tanager hyperspectral satellite and 18 SuperDove satellites for a planned fall launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission. The company is accelerating development of its planned Owl next-generation monitoring system, which is intended to improve imagery resolution from 3-meter to 1-meter class and reduce latency to as little as one hour in key areas. Marshall said the system is expected to deliver roughly 10 times more data about 10 times faster, potentially enabling higher-priced applications. Planet is expanding manufacturing capacity in San Francisco and Berlin. Its German facility is expected to roughly double manufacturing capacity, with clean-room fit-out planned for September and initial production expected this year. The company also announced a launch partnership with Isar Aerospace for a Pelican mission planned next year. For the third quarter, Planet forecast revenue of $101 million to $105 million, representing approximately 27% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. The company expects non-GAAP gross margin of 56% to 58% and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $6 million to $1 million. For fiscal 2027, Planet raised its revenue outlook to $430 million to $441 million, implying growth of 40% to 43%. It projected non-GAAP gross margin of 55% to 57% and adjusted EBITDA of $3 million to $10 million. Capital expenditures are expected to total approximately $100 million to $115 million for the year, reflecting investments in manufacturing facilities, supply-chain resiliency and next-generation Pelican and Owl fleets. Johnson said the company is making advanced purchases of longer-lead-time items in response to demand and to maintain its ability to deliver satellites quickly. Planet generated approximately $68 million in net cash from operating activities year to date and ended the quarter with about $865 million of cash equivalents and short-term investments. During the quarter, the company raised approximately $120 million through stock sales under its at-the-market program. Johnson said the capital was intended primarily to provide strategic balance-sheet flexibility while management seeks to minimize dilution. Planet Labs PBC is a public benefit corporation that operates one of the largest fleets of Earth-imaging satellites, providing high-frequency, high-resolution imagery and data analytics to a broad range of industries. The company's multi-spectral satellite constellation captures daily snapshots of the planet, enabling clients to monitor changes in agriculture, forestry, urban development, energy infrastructure and environmental conditions. Planet's imagery platform is designed to support timely decision-making by transforming raw satellite data into actionable insights for business and government users. Founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler and Chris Boshuizen, Planet Labs grew from a small startup into a key provider in the satellite imaging sector. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Planet Labs PBC Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for September 2026.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Monday, Aug. 10, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET Investor Relations Manager - Maxwell Colbert Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Abel Avellan President - Scott Wisniewski Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer - Andy Johnson Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to AST SpaceMobile Second Quarter 2026 Business Update. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Max Colbert, Investor Relations Manager of AST SpaceMobile. Thank you. You may begin. Maxwell Colbert: Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'm also joined by Chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan; President, Scott Wisniewski; and CFO and Chief Legal Officer, Andy Johnson. Let me refer you to Slide 2 of the presentation, which contains our safe harbor disclaimer. During today's call, we may make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, and as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements on this call. For more information about these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Risk Factors section of AST SpaceMobile's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2025, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other documents filed by AST SpaceMobile with the SEC from time to time. Also, after our initial remarks, we'll be starting our Q&A section with questions submitted in advance by our shareholders. For those of you who may be new to our company and mission, there are nearly 6 billion mobile phones today around the world, but many of us still experience gaps in coverage as we live, work and travel. Additionally, there are billions of people without cellular broadband and who remain unconnected to the global economy. The markets we are pursuing in AST SpaceMobile are massive, and the problem we are solving is important and touches nearly all of us. In this backdrop, AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with everyday unmodified mobile phones, supported by our extensive IP and patent portfolio. It is now my pleasure to pass this over to Chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan, who will go through our activities since our last public update. Abel Avellan: Thank you, Max. Our execution in 2026 continues to reinforce what we have believed since we created AST SpaceMobile and invented the space-based cellular broadband market. That combining differentiated technology, deep partnership with leading mobile network operators and a scale vertical integration position us to define the future of direct-to-device cellular broadband. Our space-based direct-to-device network will be the first of its kind to leverage low-band and mid-band spectrum with broadband speeds and native cellular application, combining a feature set and technology stack that puts us in a category of one. From the beginning, we designed our network architecture alongside existing mobile network operators, not as a replacement of them. Rather than requiring operators to rebuild their infrastructure, our architecture and technology extend and complement their existing terrestrial network into space, allowing us to integrate efficiently while evolving alongside future 3GPP standards. To put this concept simply, we are building the direct-to-device network of the future today in partnership with not in competition with mobile network operators. This new layer of connectivity that we are creating is not just for addressing gaps in terrestrial network but is to create a seamless connectivity experience wherever you live, work and travel anywhere on the planet. Spectrum is another area where we believe we have significant competitive advantage. Through a combination of low-band spectrum contributed by our MNO partners and the spectrum we directly control, we are building access to the broadest spectrum portfolio in the industry with satellite technology capable of tuning approximately 1,150 megahertz for low-band and mid-band and in the future, C-band tunable spectrum globally. In the United States alone, we are on the path to approximately 100 megahertz of spectrum from a combination of MNO partner provided spectrum and our own access spectrum, which will be a lead that is difficult for others to match. In particular, we're combining our over 3,900 patents and patent pending claims intellectual property and very large phased arrays with our spectrum access. This provides greater network capacity, better coverage and significant flexibility as demands grow. We are confident that our comprehensive spectrum strategy is the winning one, giving us the tech needed to increase subscriber capacity and bring services to target market with our partner MNOs. Direct-to-device cellular broadband is establishing itself as a new additional connectivity layer. Our differentiated in-orbit technology and scaled direct-to-device cellular broadband network serves as a resilient and reliable source of an additional and new connectivity layer serving commercial MNO partners and government agencies alike. Incremental to delivering direct-to-device cellular broadband connectivity, our total addressable market is rapidly expanding. We see several growth opportunities across government communications and noncommunications opportunities, including radar, emergency response, Internet of Things, AI edge compute and other advanced connectivity solutions. We see these markets as beneficiaries of our space-based direct-to-device network. We recently received an award pending government approvals and final agreements with long-time partner, Rakuten, regarding the selection for participation in the low Earth Orbit Satellite Infrastructure Development Project or J-LEO in Japan, designing to address the Japanese and Asian markets with a total expected value of up to approximately USD 1 billion in non-dilutive, non-debt government capital. This follows continued work with FirstNet emergency, the First Responder Network in the United States with partner AT&T and recent announcement with multiple governments through partners like Vodafone and Rakuten. Our partner-first strategy positions us as the partner of choice for direct-to-device cellular broadband among mobile network operators. Our commercial ecosystem is growing with over 60 MNO partners who cover over 3 billion subscribers globally, including key partners like AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, STC Group, Bell Canada and Telus. We are on the cusp of commercial deployment, and we prepare to scale our SpaceMobile service to everyday modified smartphones. With 13 spacecrafts in orbit and approximately 20,000 square feet of combined aperture hardware and approximately 50 gateways globally that are in various stages of completion, installation and planning, we prepare for beta service with key MNO partners in selected markets globally. In the United States, we have deployed over 3,000 low-band cellular cells. We expect to deploy the remaining cells this year to light up the roughly 5,600 cellular cells that cover the United States. On network deployment, BlueBird 14 to 16 are undergoing final testing as their manufacturing assembly is nearly completed. The recent launch of BlueBird 11 to 13 demonstrates our ability to rapidly and repeatedly build, launch and deploy the largest phased array in low Earth orbit using advanced composite material for lighter and even bigger satellites. Our largest, newest, fully composite BlueBird satellites are operating as expected, and we prepare them for their communication and noncommunication missions for government and MNO applications. Our ASIC chip is now in full production, and we are expecting to nearly double the peak data speed of 98.9 megabits per second achieved using our on-orbit Block 1 BlueBird satellites. As a reminder, our ASIC is designed to support up to 10 gigahertz of processing bandwidth per satellite, which is nearly 10x improvement from our in-orbit Block 1 BlueBird satellite. Over time, we expect further gains of up to additional 10x improvement in user experience through AI-enabled spectrum management. Turning to manufacturing. We're in various stages of production and assembly through BlueBird 46, which is in line with the number of spacecrafts required for continuous coverage in key markets. A detailed cadence of our deployment plan is shown in the accompanying quarterly presentation found on our IR website. We continue to leverage our 95% vertically integrated manufacturing strategy to move at the pace and precision needed to scale a constellation of the largest satellites in LEO at a scale unprecedented in low Earth orbits. We currently have over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations space globally, including our dedicated macro production facility to help accelerate satellite production as we ramp up into our target cadence of 6 fully assembled satellites per month. We recently unveiled plans for an additional 400,000 square feet of manufacturing and production space in Midland, Texas, and we prepare to further scale production for United States government and our extended TAM of commercial applications. We expect our global manufacturing and operations footprint will exceed 1 million square feet of manufacturing capability with over 900,000 square feet residing in the United States once completed. We are proud to be manufacturing the largest satellites in LEO here in the United States and in Texas, where bigger is better. In summary, AST SpaceMobile is executing across every critical dimension of our business. We have expanded our commercial partner ecosystem now with over 60 MNOs partners globally who collectively cover over 3 billion subscribers. Our comprehensive spectrum strategy continues to strengthen across our satellite technology capable of tuning to approximately 1,150 megahertz of tunable spectrum with shared MNO spectrum and control MNO spectrum, totaling approximately 100-megahertz access in the U.S. and over 60-megahertz access globally. As an early indicator of success from our expanding total addressable market of opportunities, we increased our revenue backlog to approximately $1.3 billion in aggregated contracted revenue, agreement with partners and contracts award with the U.S. government. These opportunities are supported by our robust balance sheet of more than $3.7 billion, making us well positioned to lead the commercialization of space-based cellular broadband and create a significant long-term value for our shareholders. And with that, I will hand it over to Scott. Scott Wisniewski: Thank you, Abel. Since our last investor update call, AST SpaceMobile has continued to make great progress in our commercialization efforts. I would like to take you through some of that progress across our MNO and government customers and put in context the business opportunity ahead of us, which only continues to increase at breathtaking speed. In the commercial ecosystem, we are viewed as the partner of choice for direct-to-device with mobile network operators, as evidenced by the ecosystem we have built with now over 60 MNO partners globally who collectively cover over 3 billion subscribers. Network deployment in key markets with strategic partners is well underway, and our challenge is how to balance deployment of our cellular broadband service into the next set of markets beyond the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. government. We are balancing this today with active engagement with more than 20 mobile network operators across over 50 country markets. We are developing these markets together with our partners with an increasingly scaled and programmatic effort with services that are designed to be turned on as BlueBirds come online. These efforts are going to manifest themselves not only in more market announcements with our partners, but also, importantly, progress in the delivery and setup of about 50 gateways across 20 markets. In fact, in Europe, you're already starting to see this infrastructure in action as we recently announced network integration and testing activities across several European countries with Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone Ukraine and Deutsche Telekom. Meanwhile, the regulatory backdrop also continues to support our commercialization efforts and provides a window into how we expect the business to develop. While the U.S. was an early leader on the regulatory front with full commercial service approvals delivered earlier this year, we are seeing good progress internationally in the U.K., Japan, Brazil and other countries. Meanwhile, we have seen multiple countries provide commercial authorization to use our MSS spectrum assets, specifically in the S-band outside the United States. Altogether, these are strong signs of scaling our global cellular broadband network. More spectrum lanes of traffic for our network means more subscribers and better services when paired with our unique technology. Meanwhile, the U.S. government customer has been a major focus for us, and we see great progress this quarter, both in terms of revenue capture and building the backlog. We drove revenue against several existing contracts and received 3 new contract awards. Our U.S. government partners view our in-orbit technology as unique, strategic, innovative and flexible with communications and noncommunications capabilities. We have foreshadowed the trend of small development contracts becoming larger contracts ahead of still larger operationalization of the capabilities through programs of record. Today, you can see that trend as we are announcing 3 new contract awards with funded near-term value of over $100 million in total expected during 2026 and 2027. We plan to talk more about these awards publicly soon, but they represent near-term capabilities that have been in development with the U.S. Department of War for years and leverage our unique in-orbit technology to solve large strategic needs. In general, the backdrop in size of the Golden Dome opportunity, coupled with the Arsenal of Freedom initiative remains very strong for companies that have unique capabilities that can be deployed in the near term and can move fast. Now taking a step back, I want to take a moment to discuss the large addressable markets for the company beyond direct-to-device. We see the opportunity to leverage our unique platform that we have created to dramatically expand the company's total addressable market, leveraging our differentiated technology, deep intellectual property portfolio, vertically integrated manufacturing and, of course, the comprehensive spectrum strategy. In part, this is now possible because of the maturity of the business and our fortified balance sheet, utilizing the same spacecraft design and ground-based gateways that we're already scaling today. We believe each of these new additional end markets could ultimately become multibillion-dollar annual plus revenue opportunities for AST SpaceMobile. In the government and defense market, firstly, we've seen early traction around noncommunications, including radar. Our spacecraft are uniquely positioned to provide some of these services given the size of the array aperture, the frequencies we serve and our ability to deploy quickly a global capability for an order of magnitude lower cost than historically possible. This application is a majority of our U.S. government revenue to date. Secondly, and this will sound familiar, we have the ability to provide secure communications directly to low-profile, low-power devices. This means regular 3GPP devices, but also custom-designed handsets, existing radios, headsets, wearables and drones. This will be with a technology that is already showing broadband speeds of over 100 megabits per second to extremely low profile and sized devices. These applications will be new to the war fighter and greatly simplify and improve communications for them in the years to come. Each of these capabilities can be served with the same in-orbit network of AST SpaceMobile spacecraft, a combined capability that addresses the strategic needs of the U.S. government customer for decades to come. And apart from defense, we also see a few more funded comms opportunities. First, we are seeing a trend with large countries or regional bodies looking to replicate owned in-orbit resilient communications. This is born from a desire to have increased operational control of communications over their territory. Given the AST SpaceMobile architecture of landing traffic in country, we are uniquely positioned to serve this need and to add additional layers for this demand with the Japan J-LEO preliminary award falling into this category. Second, federal emergency and backup is another market taking shape, which you can see from our announcement with Vodafone Ireland, but it has been long planned both in the U.S. with FirstNet and in Japan. The 700-megahertz band, in particular, is viewed as a federal resiliency frequency and thus is an attractive match for our network. This capability could be used broadly for first responders and also as a large-scale backup during periods of network outage with Spain and Australia offering some notable recent outages that are driving political need for action. Thirdly, IoT or Internet of Things is an attractive market for cellular and satellite operators, which positions us well to provide a unified service across both broadband and narrowband applications. With our controlled MSS frequencies, combined with extremely low-cost devices, this is another attractive use of our existing in-orbit network. One final network I wanted to highlight today is space-based AI edge compute. As companies are starting to think about how to service this market in a big way, one of the key elements is the ability to deploy and control large structures in space, which is what we do. This is significant power to orbit at meaningful scale and with competitive cost. This provides clear cost and scale advantages for supplying power and compute in space. What you will see from us in the near term is stretching from a bent pipe network and building additional edge computing capabilities valuable to those networks. In total, all of these markets represent an expansion of our incredibly strong core direct-to-device total addressable market into new large markets, primarily on a funded basis, leveraging the incredible platform we have built. Closing out with a quick discussion on Q2 revenue. We achieved over $30 million in revenue during the quarter, more than doubling our Q1 revenue. This was driven by a combination of milestone achievements under our U.S. government contracts and commercial infrastructure for our mobile network operator partners. Our commercial and government efforts to date serve as important milestones in our road map to much larger opportunities, each with potentially billions of dollars in revenue per year as we scale our business. In Q2 specifically, we delivered against 13 gateways to 7 customers across 5 continents. And we remain confident in our ability to achieve our full year 2026 revenue goals and are reiterating our guidance of $150 million to $200 million, supported by contracted programs already underway together with our existing commercial and government pipeline. Altogether, we're very pleased with the progress we've made across the business. Commercial readiness continues to advance. Government demand continues to expand. Our deployment road map remains on track, and our operational capabilities continue to scale. These milestones reinforce our confidence as we prepare for commercial service and position AST SpaceMobile for meaningful long-term growth. I'm now happy to pass the call over to Andy to walk through our financial update. Andrew Johnson: Thanks, Scott, and good afternoon, everyone. During the second quarter of 2026, we maintained focus by further fortifying our capital position, executing on our commercial objectives, accelerating our manufacturing cadence, leveraging our growing footprint in Texas and beyond, and expanding our total addressable market or TAM for additional applications, including U.S. government secure communications and noncommunications, radar, emergency response, Internet of Things, AI edge compute and other advanced connectivity applications. Revenue in Q2 came in consistent with our internal plans. As I've previously noted, we expect revenue to build sequentially each quarter during 2026 with contributions from both commercial revenues, primarily gateway sales revenue and U.S. government contracts. I am pleased to confirm that we remain on track to meet our full year 2026 revenue guidance of $150 million to $200 million. With respect to manufacturing, BlueBirds 14 to 16 are ready to ship shortly, while BlueBird 17 through BlueBird 46 are in various stages of production and assembly as we continue scaling our production capabilities, building the largest phased arrays in low earth orbit. Our manufacturing progress positions us well to support our current network deployment plan, targeting approximately 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by early 2027. The strength of our balance sheet, further bolstered with last month's convertible debt offering, positions us not only to complete the full build-out and launch of a constellation of over 100 BlueBird satellites to provide worldwide SpaceMobile service and deploy our controlled spectrum bands on a global basis, but also to pursue an expanding universe of growth initiatives and secure additional access to orbit for our space-based cellular broadband network, including partnerships and/or acquisitions to further vertically integrate our business and mitigate risks associated with third-party launch providers. Our intentional focus on investing in the growth of our operations led to higher adjusted operating expenses in Q2 2026 as compared to Q1, consistent with our expectations as previously communicated during our first quarter of 2026 earnings call in May. Now moving to the operating and capital metrics slide. Let's review the key metrics for the second quarter in a bit more detail. On the first chart, for the second quarter of 2026, we incurred non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses of $119.1 million versus $91.2 million in the first quarter. Non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses exclude noncash operating costs and insurance proceeds in connection with our BlueBird 7 loss. The quarter-over-quarter increase of $27.9 million resulted primarily from an $11.9 million increase in adjusted cost of revenues due to higher revenue in the quarter, together with a $12.3 million increase in adjusted engineering service costs, a $3.1 million increase in adjusted general and administrative costs and a $600,000 increase in R&D costs. Our Q2 2026 adjusted operating expenses, excluding adjusted cost of revenues, were $95.9 million compared to $79.8 million in Q1 of 2026. This amount was near the high end of the $85 million to $95 million guidance for Q2 adjusted operating expenses that I previously provided. The primary drivers of the increase versus the prior quarter were growth in our workforce, including contractors and consultants, our expanded production facilities, other professional fees and critical investments relating to artificial intelligence. Turning towards the second chart on this slide. Our capital expenditure for the second quarter of 2026 was approximately $610 million versus approximately $257 million for the first quarter. This figure was made up primarily of payments made in connection with multiple launch contracts, capitalized direct materials and labor for our BlueBird satellites with the balance relating to facility and production equipment expenditures. This amount for the quarter was just below the midpoint of the guidance of $575 million to $650 million that I provided during our last earnings call, which assumed a significant launch payment in Q2 that was originally scheduled to be paid in the first quarter. For the third quarter of 2026, we estimate that our adjusted operating expenses, excluding adjusted cost of revenues will increase to the range of approximately $105 million to $115 million as we continue to absorb the full quarter of cost of our expanded workforce and continue growing talent across our organization to scale our efforts to address our expanding TAM as well as pursue the monetization of our L- and S-band spectrum usage rights. For the full year of 2026, we expect adjusted OpEx, excluding adjusted cost of revenues to average approximately $100 million per quarter or $400 million total for the year. Consistent with average quarterly CapEx spend during the first half of 2026, we expect our capital expenditures in Q3 of 2026 to be in the range of approximately $350 million to $425 million primarily driven by the timing of launch payments, which, as I previously explained and evidenced by the first half of this year do vary from quarter-to-quarter. Importantly, our continued spend on growth-related CapEx reflects our increasing satellite production and our active orbital launch plans. We continue to estimate that the average capital costs, including direct materials and launch costs for our constellation of over 90 BlueBird satellites will fall in the range of approximately $21 million to $23 million per satellite, excluding certain initial satellites that are used to validate performance and operations. Our cost-per-satellite estimates are subject to fluctuations based on dynamic geopolitical factors that could impact our costs. And as a reminder, changes in our adjusted operating expenses and capital expenditure, as I've just described, could be delayed or may not be realized due to a variety of factors. Turning to revenue. In the second quarter, we recognized revenue of $31.5 million, primarily driven by commercial gateway deliveries and various U.S. government service milestone achievements. Our revenue increased sequentially and year-over-year in the second quarter as we expected due to the timing of gateway deployment to our commercial customers and the timing of completion of certain government contract milestones. With respect to commercial revenue generation, we believe we can enable continuous SpaceMobile service across key markets such as the United States, Europe, Japan and other strategic markets with the launch and operation of approximately 45 to 60 BlueBird satellites and additional strategic worldwide markets with the launch and operation of approximately 9 BlueBird satellites. Further, as we continue to launch and deploy our constellation, we will continue to support U.S. government applications currently ongoing and accelerating as our constellation grows. As we reiterated in our Q1 2026 earnings call, we expect to generate full year 2026 revenue in the range of $150 million to $200 million. We manage the top line with a focus on full-year performance given the quarterly variability inherent to our business, including the timing of contract signings, equipment sales and milestone achievements. As a way to be helpful and for the avoidance of doubt, we expect revenue in each quarter to continue to grow sequentially but will likely be weighted towards the fourth quarter. As a result, we believe our revenue performance is best evaluated on a full year basis. We expect revenue to continue to be driven by gateway deliveries, achievement of contracted milestones for the U.S. government, MNO consulting services and with potential upside related to the recognition of initial commercial service revenue. The achievement of our revenue plan remains subject to several contingencies, including the successful launch and deployment of our BlueBird satellites related to U.S. government applications and those contractual milestone achievements. Critical gateway equipment sales to our MNO partners in support of their anticipated commercialization efforts of SpaceMobile service and service revenues in connection with the activation of our commercial service provided by our existing and planned deployed and operational satellites. Now turning to the balance sheet. With this backdrop, in July, we executed a convertible debt transaction for $1.15 billion aggregate principal amount of 1.625% convertible senior notes due in 2034. As part of the transaction, we purchased a capped call hedge to increase the effective conversion price to $149.20 per share, a price well above our all-time high trading price. This financing allows us to pursue an expanding universe of growth opportunities, further continue vertical integration efforts and secure additional access to orbit for our space-based cellular network. The notes have our lowest coupon ever at 1.625%, providing cost-efficient capital with effective dilution of less than 2%. Finally, on the final chart on this slide, on a pro forma basis, inclusive of that $1.15 billion in gross proceeds from the convertible notes offering, our cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash as of June 30, 2026, was over $3.7 billion. In closing, we are making progress on all fronts in accomplishing our near-term objectives. The hard work across the organization continues with revenue building on plan for 2026 satellite manufacturing increasing to support our orbital launch campaign and increasing applications within our rapidly expanding TAM. We look forward to sharing additional achievements with you during Q3 and throughout the second half of 2026. Thank you for your continued support as we continue the hard work of connecting the unconnected at AST SpaceMobile. And with that, this completes the presentation component of our business update call, and I'll pass it back to Scott. Scott Wisniewski: Thank you, Andy. Before we go to the queue of analyst questions, I would like to address a few of the questions submitted by our investors. Operator, could you please start us off with the first question? Operator: David from New Jersey asks, how should investors think about the expected timing of meaningful government revenue? And could you expand some more on the radar capabilities of the constellation? Scott Wisniewski: Thank you, David. As we said in our remarks, we're making good progress on these contracts, including over $100 million of contract awards in the last couple of months. So consistent with how we've always talked about it, these are kind of initial phases as we scale up the opportunity, and the government wants to see you perform against that. And of course, we're really uniquely able to perform given the size of our satellite, our technology, the fact that we're in orbit, the fact that we're vertically integrated. And what we're seeing is that this opportunity is going to start scaling up into a recurring multibillion dollar a year opportunity starting in 2027. Operator: Lydon from New Zealand asked, how does ASTS' ownership of spectrum assets affect the company? Abel Avellan: Thank you, Lydon, for the question. Well, spectrum is like fuel for our business. But of course, also how efficient is the machine to utilize that fuel is super important. So it's the combination of the very large phased array supported by over 3,600 patent and patent pending claims, a very large phased array, the power of that phased array and access to MNO partner spectrum and our own spectrum, is what makes that fuel really be very efficient, the power in terms of creating additional lines of revenue to our government. As Scott presented in our brief today, I mean, this is allowing us to actually scale up into a multitude of new applications that create a multiplication of our TAM, our current TAM from D2D to 7 more new applications that really multiply the addressable TAM that we have today. So ownership of spectrum is super strategic for us. We were the first company in direct-to-device that started this trend of direct-to-device operators to own spectrum. But we had the largest combined spectrum access when you combine our MNO partners spectrum plus our own spectrum in addition to a very large phased array with a lot of power that creates that fuel that creates multiple lines of capabilities for our company. Operator: Kevin from Vancouver asked, what kind of demand drivers are you seeing to trigger the massive 400,000 square feet of manufacturing expansion in Texas? How many BlueBirds per month are you aiming to produce? Abel Avellan: Well, we're currently getting to 6 per month. We want to expand that in order to be able to supply enough capacity for our government and nongovernment applications. So with the additional 400,000 square feet of manufacturing, we would be close to 1 million square feet of manufacturing facility. We want to continue expanding our capability of producing them to even larger satellites that allow us to support communications, radar, GPS, AI, cloud computing, IoT and other very strategic applications that we have. And that's why we are investing very efficiently in extending our capability of manufacturing in Texas to close to 1 million square feet of manufacturing. Operator: Lydon from New Zealand asks, does ASTS believe other countries will come forward with their own FirstNet or J-LEO programs that ASTS can support? Scott Wisniewski: Thank you, Lydon. Yes, we see the J-LEO project as a real proof point for how countries, large countries are thinking about their own infrastructure. This is infrastructure they can control and get access to. And we think that -- and we see others thinking about it. So this is a trend that's going to play out, we think, multiple times in the coming years. And this is really a new layer of communication that gives governments and nations access to capabilities that they access and can control. And in particular, the 700-megahertz band is one that we've put on the satellite in order to be able to address opportunities like this, both in the U.S. and Europe and in other places like Latin America as well. And with that, I'd like to thank our shareholders for submitting those questions. Operator let's open up the call to analyst questions now. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Greg Pendy with Clear Street. Gregory Pendy: Can you kind of share with us on the Rakuten JV? I know it's in advanced discussions. But what stood out to get you guys to this stage, given it was pretty competitive with some other bidders out there. What do you think you offer to the table that really kind of moved you guys along in that process? Abel Avellan: Thank you, Greg, for the question. Well, we are the only platform that has demonstrated and is delivering today broadband capability. That is one key factor. The other one is the architecture that we offer allow nations and regulatory bodies to basically keep all the data and all the management of the infrastructure on the ground. And third, the partnership with Rakuten over many years that we have with them as a leading Japanese company that have been partnered with us for many years. So -- but fundamentally, we have the only platform that can deliver broadband that is in operation and that has demonstrated the ability to basically deliver seamless connectivity between terrestrial and space on a scalable basis. Gregory Pendy: Great. That's very helpful. And is there any way you can kind of give us an idea -- I know you don't break it out, so if you don't want to do that. But the backlog growing nicely to $1.3 billion, how much of that might be government? Scott Wisniewski: I would say it's -- a minority of it is government. The adds were primarily government, but the overall backlog, a minority of it is government. But I would say that we expect that one to scale in the near term most significantly. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Mike Crawford with B. Riley Securities. Michael Crawford: Of these first 46 BlueBirds that you have under partial stage of construction now, how many of these are already have or are targeted to have L-band or S-band connectivity installed on the Microns? And then how should we think of the spectrum mix of a full 90 satellite constellation? Abel Avellan: Mike, I mean, we are producing roughly at a rate of 6 per month in terms of Microns. We are on Micron 46. We're starting the production of the mid-band capability later this year for start launching very early in '27, the urban capability. So the current Microns are low-band systems. Michael Crawford: And then my second question is, how does this potential U.S. MNO joint venture affect your discrete agreements with AT&T and Verizon and as well as with T-Mobile that you don't have an agreement with? Scott Wisniewski: Thanks, Mike. Well, our existing agreements are not affected. And frankly, as we said when this was announced, the joint venture, frankly, frees up a third and fourth customer for us in the United States. So we were happy and supportive of it. Ultimately, we are carrier agnostic, right? Our network is good for all operators. We have strong partners, and those partners are important to us. But as markets grow and mature, we expect to be available to all operators. So this is really consistent with the strategy we put forward 2 years ago when Verizon joined with AT&T to support us. And going forward with the joint venture, we look forward to partnering with them as well. But existing agreements and the lead we have in the market for delivering cellular broadband, that's unaffected. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Colin Canfield with Cantor Fitzgerald. Colin Canfield: As we put into the building blocks on revenue for '27, just rough numbers here. It seems like there's probably $100 million to $200 million of gateway support, $100 million to $200 million of government -- U.S. government support and maybe $100 million of international government support. As we think about the upside to that framework, can you just maybe refresh investors on how to think about rev rec for commercial service? And essentially, what are you hearing from commercial operators about pushing revenue or allowing AST to recognize revenue with a partial deployment of Constellation? Scott Wisniewski: Colin, so I mean, first of all, what we're hearing from operators that they want the service now. And so we are pushing extremely hard. You've seen our comments on beta, getting that out the door to demonstrate scaled capabilities and then start rolling out commercial service with as little as 45 satellites in orbit. So we're racing towards that with our strategic partners, really as many partners as we can simultaneously race towards that with. And yes, rev rec will begin. I don't want to commit to anything, but generally speaking, revenue recognition should begin for commercial service when commercial service begins, right? So when that happens next year, that will start being recognized. And the other components of revenue, I would say you're generally accurate. That gateway is in excess of $100 million as we continue to grow that. Government revenue, we hope, will greatly exceed your number, but that's still being played out now, and we'll have more announcements in the near term on that. And commercial services revenue, of course, is what we're all playing for, and we're very excited and expect that to ramp quickly once we get going. Colin Canfield: Got it. Got it. And then for the international government opportunities, if you can just maybe talk about the market structure that you expect in Germany as well as the rest of Europe. Maybe how do you think about kind of customer appetite to multisource supply chains? And if they're not multi-sourcing, what sort of milestones do you think it takes for them to kind of secure their supply chain? And specifically, we're talking about IRIS. Scott Wisniewski: Well, I think Colin, there is a lot there, of course, because there's a lot of different markets. But what we can do in the defense market, which is comms and noncommunication services with a very unique technology in orbit is attractive to a lot of parties. And we see the trend playing out in other sectors that are perhaps less strategic capabilities where international governments are placing bets around services. And we think over time, those governments will turn their attention to larger scaled services like what we can do because having that capability is a very powerful thing. And you see that, obviously, with the J-LEO preliminary award. So I would say this is a trend to watch for us over time. I won't speak to individual markets, but certainly, Europe and NATO and you can see how it's playing out through the MSS process in Europe with them prioritizing certain types of providers who have European operations, et cetera. So those are all trends we're positioning ourselves around. And it starts with our tech, but also, it's very important, as Abel said, that we have good partners like with Rakuten in Japan and Vodafone in Europe, and that really facilitates our access to the opportunities in a way you don't see elsewhere. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Michael Funk with Bank of America. Michael Funk: So first, ex Blue Origin, how many launches do you have contracted for the remainder of 2026 and 2027? And what is the stack ability on those vehicles? Scott Wisniewski: We have 10 launches booked with 2 different providers, and we're targeting a cadence of every month or 2 on average. Beyond that, we've been providing disclosure about 2 months in advance as we get launch down-selected. I think with Blue Origin, I think we're all watching that. We were sad to see what happened in May, but they've made tremendous progress to date in both turning around the pad and getting resolution recently on the root cause for the anomaly. And so they're targeting this year. We're not betting on that necessarily. We'll be happy if they do it, but we're not betting on that in our numbers. And with a mix of launches, we think we can get to early 2027 for our initial 45 satellites. Michael Funk: That was great. And then on build cost per satellite, can you tell me where you are today and where you see that trending over the next 12 months? Andrew Johnson: Yes. Cost per satellite, Michael, is the question. Michael Funk: That's correct, yes. Andrew Johnson: We've been consistent now for several quarters that we are falling between $21 million and $23 million per satellite. And that includes launch, that includes our direct labor and so forth. And we track that each quarter and roll it up. So that's consistent. I think that, that is over the life of the constellation. So some of the initial satellites may exceed, but over time in our planning and so forth, that range holds up for the first constellation. And then we continue to look at ways to take cost out as we continue to engage with launch providers and acquire more launches, the economics scale better in that way. So over time, we'd hope to bring that cost down, but that's been consistent in that $21 million to $23 million range currently. And over the life of the 90 satellites, we feel good with that number. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Chris Schoell with UBS. Christopher Schoell: Great. You mentioned the expanding TAM, and you cited AI edge computing, federal emergency and IoT. Can you just help us better understand what needs to be done operationally to tap into some of these markets? And any rough sense on the time line there? And as you think about targeting these areas, how should we think about funding needs? Will you continue to be opportunistic? Or do you have much of what you need for the foreseeable future? Abel Avellan: Yes. Chris, I mean, all these opportunities are basically on the back of the architecture we have, which is basically fundamentally the largest capacity to generate power in space and the largest game, antenna gain per spacecraft. So basically, we are piggybacking in the space architecture we have and also on the gateway architecture we have. In AI compute, we are starting to add that capability into our satellites. We mentioned that we're on satellite 46 in production now. We're starting to add the compute capability on satellite 47, 48, so later in the year, we integrate it to our system. IoT, radar, emergency and dedicated constellations or specialized constellations like the one in Japan, they are already part of the architecture and we have it. So these are incremental opportunities, basically taking advantage of what we have built on our intellectual property. Christopher Schoell: Great. If I can just fit in one more. You mentioned the path to 100 megahertz of spectrum in the U.S. and 60 megahertz globally. Can you just clarify how much you have access to today? And what are the alternatives you have for securing those additional airwaves to reach these levels? Abel Avellan: Yes. I mean we can tune our -- between low-band and mid-band, we had around close to 1,200 megahertz of capacity that we can tune our satellites. We can do this per country. And in addition to that, also, we can tune our own and control MSS spectrum. So the 100 megahertz of spectrum is roughly what you see from our acquisition of spectrum through Ligado plus access to spectrum of our MNO partners here in the United States. Overseas is on a country-by-country basis. You know we had a joint venture in Europe with Vodafone. 21 of the top 25 operators in Europe have indicated they want to partner with us in accessing that capacity. So when we talk about spectrum, we're talking about the collection of our own spectrum and the spectrum that the MNOs make available to our satellites. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Louie DiPalma with William Blair. Louie Dipalma: On prior calls, you discussed the target for 2027 revenue to approach $1 billion. And given the different puts and takes and the backlog of $1.3 billion now, how should we think of modeling next year's revenue and beyond? Scott Wisniewski: Louie, so the principles there were based on a full year -- the first full year of commercial service. So we still -- nothing's changed on our expectation and our goal of reaching -- approaching $1 billion of revenue in our first year of commercial service. So next year, the way to think about it is still really strong opportunity in government that could contribute to probably as much as half of that. Still good infrastructure revenue like we have this year. And then as commercial service comes online, ramping into the balance of that. So we still feel really good about that number. It's just a question of when we kick it off and when we hit the run rate. Louie Dipalma: Great. And you discussed the beta trials. What is the timing in terms of when consumers will be able to trial your network? I know that you don't want to speak on behalf of your carrier partners, but have they given any sense on when the generic AT&T and Verizon customers will be able to test out the service? And related to that, if there are like 25 satellite in orbit from a general location in the United States, what percentage of the day will a satellite be overhead such that consumers will be able to connect to your network? Scott Wisniewski: Thanks, Louie. So getting the capability ready for consumers is something that we're targeting for later in 2026. How we go to market with that, how we use that, of course, like you said, we're going to defer to our partners and there'll be announcements on that in the right way. But we're very focused on enabling that. And there's a lot that you can do separate, apart from the space. So those 2 are kind of separate. And so while we've historically said 25 satellites is the right way to think about it, we have great flexibility there on how we do beta. So for us, it's all about racing forward towards putting satellites in the air and then racing towards getting a scaled beta available because, of course, the steps from a scaled beta to commercial service is pretty quick. It's just a function of satellites in orbit. And in terms of our -- about 25 satellites, like you said, that's -- there's a lot of variance there, but think about it as about half the day coverage. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank. Bryan Kraft: I guess I wanted to ask you just on the JV. How do you expect to work with the JV in the U.S.? Do you expect the 50-50 revenue share model to still be the revenue model for you with the JV? And separately, are you in talks with T-Mobile or Deutsche Telekom over partnerships given that you're conducting integration and testing with Deutsche Telekom? And obviously, they're the parent company of T-Mobile. Anything you could share on that would be great. Abel Avellan: Bryan, listen, we expect to be working with all operators in the United States and all major operators in Europe. We did announce 60 mobile operators around the globe with access to around 3 billion devices on a global basis. So as it relates specifically to the United States, we -- as Scott explained, we plan to keep the contracts that we have with our current partners the way they are and expanding the relationship into all of them, both through the JV and directly with each one of them. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Chris Quilty with Quilty Analytics. Christopher Quilty: We just finally got visibility on the upper C-band. And I was wondering, is that upper C-band kind of a reference design in your current ASIC? Or is that going to have to be Rev 2 when that spectrum becomes available at the end of the decade? Abel Avellan: Chris, no, we are working -- that C-band is already built into our ASIC architecture. And we're working on a third generation that will include both the L-band, MSS, mid-band and C-band. Christopher Quilty: So a question on the chip will be a single chip, but does it still -- do you still need to have different satellite designs because of the antenna requirements in order to support the multiple bands? Or is there a way to collapse that in the future? Abel Avellan: No, no, we're keeping different phased arrays per block of spectrum. So you have the low band, the mid-band and in the future, the C-band is also being incorporated to the satellites. Christopher Quilty: Got it. And a follow-up. You didn't answer David's question from earlier about the government radar applications. And maybe I'll just ask, is that -- are we talking active or passive applications? And is this using your spectrum or government spectrum? Abel Avellan: The radar application in United States is using government spectrum. And that takes advantage of our very large phased array and the sensitivity of the satellites, which is a capability that is already built and in orbit for the government. Christopher Quilty: And with that L-band spectrum already designed in? Abel Avellan: Our major application is for radar is in the lower bands. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Scott Searle with ROTH Capital. Scott Searle: I wanted to follow up on the dedicated constellation front. The J-LEO opportunity seems very exciting. I'm wondering if you could address a little bit the architectural approach in terms of how much commonality and you can leverage existing infrastructure from gateways and otherwise as you build out that constellation. And as part of that, I think Japan has committed $1 billion in capital. What is the capital requirement from the AST standpoint? And then you've hinted at other opportunities globally. I'm wondering if you could provide some color in terms of other opportunities that are percolating either from a regional perspective or maybe the number of opportunities. Abel Avellan: Scott, the satellites flagged Japanese are basically identical than the rest of the constellation. And the way that this is planned is as they are flagged as Japanese satellites, they can be used anywhere in the world using the same architecture of gateways and the rest of the American constellation, the vast majority of the satellites. So these represent roughly half on the investment on those satellites in capital that is non-dilutive and non-debt for global usage of these satellites, but with a flag, a Japanese satellite for that subset of satellites. Scott Searle: Great. And any other opportunities that are percolating that you can address in terms of number of opportunities or potential time line for other similar types of dedicated sovereign constellations? Scott Wisniewski: Scott, yes, we don't want to comment on that, but there are other discussions with other parties. And frankly, if you think about it, having communications capabilities that are resilient and in your control, I don't know why a G20 country wouldn't want this kind of capability given the price. So I think that we see this as an attractive place for us to continue to build out our network and partner in the way that we've been very good at it. And you see this playing out a little bit, I think, in the earth observation arena. But as it relates to comms and our other capabilities, which is a much bigger opportunity and much more strategic, I think you're going to see a lot of this over time because I just don't understand why a major country wouldn't want this capability. Operator: And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Max Colbert for closing remarks. Maxwell Colbert: Thank you, operator. We want to thank all of our shareholders and research analysts for joining the call. We really appreciate it, and have a great rest of your week. Operator: Thank you. And this concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation. 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This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AST SpaceMobile. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Interested in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp.? Here are five stocks we like better. Second-quarter results exceeded expectations: Net sales rose 1% to $1.19 billion, while comparable-store sales declined 0.3%, outperforming the company’s forecast. Traffic grew 1.8%, and adjusted EBITDA reached $65.7 million. Management is emphasizing opportunistic merchandise to improve the “Treasure Hunt” shopping experience; opportunistic sales and product mix both increased significantly, while promotional spending is expected to taper in the second half. Outlook remains tempered by a produce-related headwind: A Cyclospora outbreak is expected to reduce third-quarter comparable sales by roughly 100 basis points. Full-year guidance calls for comparable-store sales between down 0.5% and flat, adjusted EBITDA of $225 million to $235 million, and adjusted EPS of $0.50 to $0.55. AST SpaceMobile Earnings Just Reminded Investors How Risky Space Can Be Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) reported second-quarter results that exceeded its outlook as the retailer said efforts to strengthen its opportunistic assortment, sharpen value messaging and improve store execution gained traction. Net sales rose 1% year over year to $1.19 billion for the quarter ended July 4, 2026. Comparable-store sales declined 0.3%, an improvement of 70 basis points from the first quarter and better than the company’s projected 1.5% to 2% decline. The result included an estimated 50-basis-point headwind from the timing of Easter, according to Chief Financial Officer Ian Ferry. → SoundHound AI Sends a Loud Signal After Its Q2 Earnings Beat AI Cold War Catches Light: Federal Friction in the Server Rack Traffic increased 1.8% during the quarter, while average basket size declined 2.1%. However, basket performance improved by roughly 100 basis points sequentially as shoppers responded to an expanded selection of opportunistic merchandise, President and Chief Executive Officer Jason Potter said. Gross profit was flat at $360.7 million, while gross margin declined 30 basis points from a year earlier to 30.2%. The margin nevertheless exceeded Grocery Outlet’s guidance range of 29.8% to 30%. → AST SpaceMobile Earnings Just Reminded Investors How Risky Space Can Be 3 Stocks That Prove the AI Trade Isn't Over, It Moved The year-over-year margin decline reflected promotions introduced earlier this year to reinforce the company’s value positioning, as well as markdowns and write-offs related to store closures. Better inventory management partially offset those pressures. On a sequential basis, gross margin increased 60 basis points from the first quarter due to reduced liquidation activity, lower promotional spending and seasonal factors. SG&A expenses increased less than 1% to $339.5 million and held steady at 28.5% of sales. Grocery Outlet also recorded $5.4 million in net restructuring charges associated with its store optimization plan. → First Solar’s Profit Engine Faces a New Policy Test in Washington Net income was $5.6 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, compared with $5 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, a year earlier. Adjusted net income fell to $20.3 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, from $22.8 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $65.7 million, or 5.5% of sales, compared with $67.7 million, or 5.7% of sales, in the prior-year quarter. Ferry said adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share both exceeded the company’s outlook. Grocery Outlet ended the quarter with $74 million in cash, approximately $154 million of revolver availability and $505.6 million of total debt, net of issuance costs. Net leverage was 1.8 times adjusted EBITDA. Management said its central objective remains returning the business to sustainable comparable-sales growth through a stronger opportunistic product offering, which supports the company’s “Treasure Hunt” shopping experience. Potter said opportunistic comparable sales improved by more than 500 basis points from the start of the first quarter through the second quarter, while opportunistic mix expanded by more than 300 basis points. Grocery, the company’s largest category, posted a 3.5% comparable-sales gain in the second quarter, he said. The retailer is applying the same approach to its deli and frozen categories, where it has expanded the range of branded opportunistic products. Grocery Outlet also discontinued 400 to 500 made-to-order and private-label items during the first half to create additional space for opportunistic variety, Potter said. Paul Miller returned to the company in June as executive vice president and chief purchasing and merchandising officer. Potter said Miller, a 25-year Grocery Outlet veteran, is helping strengthen sourcing and supplier relationships. New supplier acquisition is up about 11% this year, according to Potter. The company plans to reduce promotional spending during the second half as opportunistic product availability improves. Grocery Outlet continues to expect about $20 million in incremental promotional investment for the full year, but said that spending should taper further in the back half and be largely complete by the end of the third quarter. “The customer doesn’t really understand the distinction between a promoted branded item or op,” Ferry said. “They just see deals.” Grocery Outlet closed 36 underperforming stores in April as part of its store optimization plan. The company said it remains on track to eliminate a $12 million annualized adjusted EBITDA drag, with most of the benefit expected in 2027. During the second quarter, the company opened 10 stores and closed 12. For the full year, it expects 30 to 33 net new store openings. Management said its 2027 openings will be weighted toward infill markets as it prioritizes returns, site selection and first-year store productivity. The retailer remains on track to complete approximately 100 store refreshes by year-end, though Potter said the company has adjusted the program to shorten disruption periods after seeing more variability than desired in recent refresh cohorts. Grocery Outlet also highlighted investments in operator support, including store-level customer feedback reporting, expanded field coaching and a dynamic-routing program designed to improve delivery quantities and opportunistic-product flow. The routing program is currently in about 200 stores and is expected to be deployed across the broader fleet over the next year. Despite raising the low end of several full-year outlook ranges after its second-quarter outperformance, Grocery Outlet said a multi-state Cyclospora outbreak is weighing on produce sales. The company said none of its products were involved in recalls, but it expects the outbreak to reduce third-quarter total comparable sales by roughly 100 basis points and to create elevated produce shrink. For the third quarter, Grocery Outlet expects comparable-store sales of negative 1% to flat, gross margin of 29.8% to 30%, adjusted EBITDA of $58 million to $61 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.14 to $0.16. For the full year, the company forecast net sales of $4.7 billion to $4.72 billion, comparable-store sales ranging from negative 0.5% to flat, adjusted EBITDA of $225 million to $235 million, and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.50 to $0.55. Capital expenditures, net of tenant improvement allowances, are expected to total $170 million. Potter said the company expects the Cyclospora-related impact to moderate in the fourth quarter and remains focused on restoring what management considers a healthier level of comparable sales over time. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: GO) is a specialty discount retailer that offers consumers deeply discounted groceries by purchasing excess inventory, closeouts, and overstocks from manufacturers and distributors. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, the company operates two primary banners—Grocery Outlet and Fresh2Go—with a combined footprint of more than 400 stores. Its product assortment spans fresh produce, meat, dairy, bakery items, household staples, natural and organic offerings, and select specialty products, all sold at significant markdowns compared to conventional supermarkets. The company's unique buying model enables it to source inventory through opportunistic purchases of surplus freight, discontinued items, and closeout deals, which it then passes on as savings to its customers. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Grocery Outlet Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ASTS used its second-quarter 2026 call to sharpen the timeline for network deployment and beta service while expanding its government ambitions. CFO Andrew Johnson said the company targets about 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by early 2027. ASTS reported second-quarter 2026 loss of 44 cents per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 28 cents. The company’s second-quarter revenues were $31.5 million, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $34.1 million by 7.60%. Executive VP, CFO and chief legal officer Andrew Johnson nevertheless maintained full-year revenue guidance of $150 million to $200 million. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | AST SpaceMobile, Inc. Quote Founder, chairman and CEO Abel Avellan said ASTS has 13 spacecraft in orbit, with BlueBirds 14 through 16 nearing shipment and BlueBirds 17 through 46 in production or assembly. CEO Abel Avellan said production is ramping toward six fully assembled satellites per month. CFO Andrew Johnson tied that cadence to the target of approximately 45 BlueBirds in orbit by early 2027. President and chief strategy officer Scott Wisniewski said scaled beta capability is targeted for later in 2026. In Q&A, he said roughly 25 satellites would provide about half-day U.S. coverage. CEO Abel Avellan said AST SpaceMobile is building toward roughly 100 MHz of spectrum access in the United States and more than 60 MHz globally, combining MNO partner and controlled MSS spectrum. CEO Abel Avellan said the platform can tune about 1,150 MHz across low- and mid-band spectrum. Its ASIC is in full production and designed for up to 10 GHz of processing bandwidth per satellite. CEO Abel Avellan said the ASIC should nearly double the 98.9 Mbps peak data speed demonstrated on Block 1 BlueBirds, with further user-experience gains targeted through AI-enabled spectrum management. CFO Andrew Johnson said revenue should rise sequentially in each quarter of 2026, with the full year weighted toward the fourth quarter. Gateway deliveries and U.S. government milestones remain core drivers. CFO Andrew Johnson kept the $150 million to $200 million full-year range and cited potential upside from initial commercial service revenues. For the third quarter, CFO Andrew Johnson guided adjusted operating expenses excluding adjusted cost of revenues to $105 million to $115 million and capital expenditures to $350 million to $425 million. President Scott Wisniewski said three recent U.S. government awards carry more than $100 million of funded near-term value expected during 2026 and 2027, extending work from development toward larger operational programs. CEO Abel Avellan highlighted the preliminary J-LEO selection with Rakuten, valued at up to approximately $1 billion in non-dilutive, non-debt government capital, pending approvals and final agreements. In investor Q&A, President Scott Wisniewski said the government opportunity could begin scaling in 2027 toward a recurring multibillion-dollar annual opportunity across communications, radar and other applications. A William Blair analyst asked about 2027 revenues. President Scott Wisniewski reiterated the goal of approaching $1 billion in the first full year of commercial service and said government could contribute as much as half of next year’s revenues. A Cantor Fitzgerald analyst pressed on the components. President Scott Wisniewski said gateway revenues should exceed $100 million, while commercial service revenues should begin when service starts and then ramp. A BofA Securities analyst focused on launch capacity. President Scott Wisniewski said ASTS has 10 launches booked with two providers and is targeting an average cadence of every month or two. CEO Abel Avellan centered his message on converting manufacturing scale, spectrum access and MNO relationships into network availability. AST SpaceMobile now has more than 60 MNO partners covering over three billion subscribers. CFO Andrew Johnson paired that rollout with elevated investment while holding the 2026 revenue target. The deployment schedule and fourth-quarter-weighted revenue ramp remain key second-half milestones. President Scott Wisniewski emphasized government demand and commercial activation. Near-term execution centers on satellites, gateways, beta readiness and contracted program milestones. ASTS carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), with a Value Score of F, Growth Score of F, Momentum Score of D and VGM Score of F. Under the Zacks Style Score framework, A and B are stronger grades, and top-ranked stocks paired with A or B Style Scores are the preferred combinations. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. For potential near-term performance, this profile is less favorable than those preferred Rank-and-Style pairings. The Zacks Rank can change as earnings estimates are revised after the just-reported results, so the signal should be viewed as current rather than fixed. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Signed partnerships with over 60 MNO partners globally who collectively cover over 3 billion subscribers Comprehensive spectrum strategy with shared MNO spectrum and controlled MSS spectrum targeting ~100 MHz access in the U.S. and 60+ MHz access globally on a market-by-market basis Revenue backlog increased to approximately $1.30 billion in aggregate contracted revenue with commercial partners and contract awards with the United States Government BlueBird 17 through BlueBird 46 in various stages of production and assembly MIDLAND, Texas, August 10, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ("AST SpaceMobile") (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, and designed for both commercial and government applications, is providing its business update and results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. "AST SpaceMobile's differentiated technology platform and deep intellectual property portfolio, partner-first mobile network operator strategy, vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities, and comprehensive spectrum strategy are foundational to the space-based cellular broadband market we invented," commented Abel Avellan, AST SpaceMobile’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "With the largest phased arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit and a native cellular architecture designed to work directly with standard, unmodified smartphones, we believe we are uniquely positioned to deliver scalable direct-to-device connectivity for both commercial and government customers around the world." "Following the recent orbital launch of BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13, our space-based cellular broadband network has now grown to 13 spacecraft in orbit, each the largest ever in low Earth orbit, with approximately 20,000 square feet of combined aperture hardware deployed," continued Avellan. "As we get ready to ship BlueBirds 14, 15, and 16 and continue expanding our constellation with production ongoing through BlueBird 46, we are preparing to initiate beta services with select strategic partners." "AST SpaceMobile is positioned at the forefront of large, diverse, and rapidly expanding market opportunity as the direct-to-device cellular broadband pioneer," added Avellan. "Beyond addressing the connectivity needs of billions of mobile subscribers, we are pursuing a broad range of mission-critical applications, including government communications and non-communications, radar, emergency response, Internet of Things, AI edge compute and other advanced connectivity solutions. Our growing commercial and government programs, expansive spectrum portfolio, and fortified balance sheet provide us with the flexibility to capture opportunities across an expanding total addressable market. We are continuing to scale our network, advance vertical integration, and secure additional access to orbit to take advantage of the growing number of opportunities in front of us." Business Update Differentiated technology platform and comprehensive spectrum strategy enables space-based cellular broadband connectivity as well as many other mission-critical applications Partner-first strategy positions AST SpaceMobile as the direct-to-device partner of choice for mobile network operators globally Total Addressable Market (TAM) continues to grow with direct-to-device market maturity and additional applications Preparation for space-based cellular broadband beta service in 2026 as AST SpaceMobile network infrastructure continues to scale On track to achieve full year 2026 revenue guidance of $150.0 million to $200.0 million, supported by additional contract awards from the U.S. Government Fortified balance sheet to pursue an expanding universe of growth opportunities, continue vertical integration, and secure additional access to orbit Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights Second quarter revenue of $31.5 million driven by gateway deliveries and U.S. Government milestones met Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2026 were $329.1 million, including $84.1 million of depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation expense. This represents an increase of $165.0 million as compared to $164.1 million in the first quarter of 2026 due to a $125.9 million loss on involuntary conversion, a $20.3 million increase in general and administrative costs, a $11.9 million increase in cost of revenues, a $3.2 million increase in engineering services costs, a $3.1 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense, and a $0.6 million increase in research and development costs Adjusted operating expenses(1) for the second quarter of 2026 were $119.1 million, an increase of $27.9 million as compared to $91.2 million in the first quarter of 2026 due to a $12.3 million increase in Adjusted engineering services costs(1), a $11.9 million increase in Adjusted cost of revenues(1), a $3.1 million increase in Adjusted general and administrative costs(1), and a $0.6 million increase in research and development costs. Our Adjusted operating expenses, excluding Adjusted cost of revenues(1) for the second quarter of 2026 was $95.9 million, compared to $79.8 million in the first quarter of 2026 As of June 30, 2026, we had cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash of approximately $2.7 billion As of June 30, 2026, we had incurred approximately $2.3 billion of gross capitalized property and equipment costs and accumulated depreciation and amortization of $211.9 million. The capitalized costs include costs of satellite materials for BlueBird satellites, advance launch payments, capital advances, Block 1 and BlueWalker 3 satellites, assembly and integration facilities including assembly and test equipment, and ground antennas Non-GAAP Financial Measures We refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release, including Adjusted operating expenses; Adjusted cost of revenues; Adjusted engineering services costs; Adjusted general and administrative costs; and Adjusted operating expenses, excluding Adjusted cost of revenues. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful measures across time in evaluating our operating performance as we use these measures to manage the business, including in preparing our annual operating budget and financial projections. These non-GAAP financial measures have no standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP, and therefore have limits in their usefulness to investors. Because of the non-standardized definitions, these measures may not be comparable to the calculation of similar measures of other companies and are presented solely to provide investors with useful information to more fully understand how management assesses performance. These measures are not, and should not be viewed as, a substitute for their most directly comparable GAAP measures. Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures and the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the tables accompanying this press release. Conference Call Information AST SpaceMobile will hold a quarterly business update conference call at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Monday, August 10, 2026. The call will be accessible via a live webcast on the Events page of AST SpaceMobile’s Investor Relations website at https://ast-science.com/investors/. An archive of the webcast will be available shortly after the call. About AST SpaceMobile AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio, and designed for both commercial and government applications. Our engineers and space scientists are on a mission to eliminate the connectivity gaps faced by today’s five billion mobile subscribers and finally bring broadband to the billions who remain unconnected. For more information, follow AST SpaceMobile on YouTube, X (Formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook. Watch this video for an overview of the SpaceMobile mission. Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains "forward-looking statements" that are not historical facts, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results of AST SpaceMobile to differ materially from those expected and projected. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "may," "will," "would," "potential," "projects," "predicts," "continue," or "should," or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside AST SpaceMobile’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) expectations regarding AST SpaceMobile’s strategies and future financial performance, including AST’s future business plans or objectives, expected functionality of the SpaceMobile Service, anticipated timing of the launch of the Block 2 BlueBird satellites, anticipated demand and acceptance of mobile satellite services, prospective performance and commercial opportunities and competitors, the timing of obtaining regulatory approvals, ability to finance its research and development activities, commercial partnership acquisition and retention, products and services, pricing, marketing plans, operating expenses, market trends, revenues, liquidity, cash flows and uses of cash, capital expenditures, and AST SpaceMobile’s ability to invest in growth initiatives; (ii) the negotiation of definitive agreements with mobile network operators relating to the SpaceMobile Service that would supersede preliminary agreements and memoranda of understanding and the ability to enter into commercial agreements with other parties or government entities; (iii) the ability of AST SpaceMobile to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees and AST SpaceMobile’s responses to actions of its competitors and its ability to effectively compete; (iv) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (v) the possibility that AST SpaceMobile may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (vi) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against AST SpaceMobile; and (vii) other risks and uncertainties indicated in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including those in the Risk Factors section of AST SpaceMobile’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 2, 2026, its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2026 filed with the SEC on May 11, 2026 and the future reports that it may file from time to time with the SEC. AST SpaceMobile cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. AST SpaceMobile cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. For information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors in AST SpaceMobile’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 2, 2026, its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2026 filed with the SEC on May 11, 2026 and the future reports that it may file from time to time with the SEC. AST SpaceMobile’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, AST SpaceMobile disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Adjusted operating expenses; Adjusted cost of revenues; Adjusted engineering services costs; Adjusted general and administrative costs; and Adjusted operating expenses, excluding Adjusted cost of revenues are alternative financial measures used by management to evaluate our operating performance as a supplement to our most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure. We define Adjusted operating expenses as Total operating expenses adjusted to exclude amounts of stock-based compensation expense, loss on involuntary conversion, and depreciation and amortization expense. We define Adjusted cost of revenues, Adjusted engineering services costs, and Adjusted general and administrative costs, as cost of revenues, engineering services costs, and general and administrative costs, respectively, adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation expenses. We define Adjusted operating expenses, excluding Adjusted cost of revenues as Total operating expenses adjusted to exclude amounts of stock-based compensation expense, loss on involuntary conversion, depreciation and amortization expense, and Adjusted cost of revenues. We believe Adjusted operating expenses; Adjusted cost of revenues; Adjusted engineering services costs; Adjusted general and administrative costs; and Adjusted operating expenses, excluding Adjusted cost of revenues are useful measures across time in evaluating our operating performance as we use these measures to manage the business, including in preparing our annual operating budget and financial projections. Adjusted operating expenses; Adjusted cost of revenues; Adjusted engineering services costs; Adjusted general and administrative costs; and Adjusted operating expenses, excluding Adjusted cost of revenues are non-GAAP financial measures that have no standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP, and therefore have limits in their usefulness to investors. Because of the non-standardized definitions, these measures may not be comparable to the calculation of similar measures of other companies and are presented solely to provide investors with useful information to more fully understand how management assesses performance. These measures are not, and should not be viewed as, a substitute for their most directly comparable GAAP measure of Total operating expenses, Cost of revenues, Engineering services costs, and General and administrative costs. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260810780163/en/ Contacts Investor Contact: [email protected] Media Contact: Allison [email protected]

Investors are bailing on AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) shares ahead of the satellite connectivity firm’s Q2 earnings scheduled to be released later today after market close. Consensus is for the firm to post a loss of $0.28 per share for its second fiscal quarter, significantly narrower than the $0.41 per-share loss last year. The quarterly print is significant for AST SpaceMobile stock, as it’s currently down more than 45% versus its year-to-date high in late May. Don’t Assume Micron Will Share SanDisk’s Fate. Here's Why. Shaq Says His Dad Treated Him to White Castle, But When He Saw Homeless Man With a Sign, He Gave 3 of His Burgers to the Guy — ‘Always Look Out for the Little Man’ The Nvidia-SpaceX Deal Is Sending a Clear Signal on AI Dominance Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! Heading into the earnings release, Barchart holds an “88% SELL” opinion on ASTS shares, cautioning against betting on a swift recovery on the back of the Q2 print. Note that this opinion is based on 13 separate technical indicators, covering all three (short-, medium-, and long-term) timeframes. Importantly, much of AST SpaceMobile’s decline in recent months was due to its stretched valuation. Yet, even after the decline, it trades for nearly 369x sales, which isn’t attractive by any reasonable measure. And it’s not like ASTS pays a healthy dividend to offset the aforementioned technical and valuation concerns either. On the flip side, options traders haven’t thrown in the towel on AST SpaceMobile shares. According to Barchart, the put-to-call ratio on derivatives contracts expiring Aug. 14 sits at 0.62x at writing, indicating a bullish skew heading into the quarterly release. The upper price on those contracts is set at nearly $77 currently, signaling potential for a more than 10% rally within days after the company’s Q2 print. Moreover, AST SpaceMobile continues to face heavy capital burn and the threat of shareholder dilution to fund its satellite deployment schedule. Persistent launch delays and fierce competition could also weigh on its margins before commercialization yields meaningful revenue. For long-term investors, however, Wall Street firms continue to recommend at least some exposure to Nasdaq-listed AST SpaceMobile. The consensus rating on the satellite connectivity specialist remains at “Moderate Buy,” with the mean price target of about $86 indicating potential upside of more than 25% from here. On the date of publication, Wajeeh Khan did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com

Interested in AST SpaceMobile, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Q2 revenue more than doubled sequentially to $31.5 million, driven by gateway deliveries and U.S. government contract milestones. AST reiterated its 2026 revenue guidance of $150 million to $200 million, though revenue is expected to be weighted toward the fourth quarter. AST is targeting approximately 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by early 2027 and plans to reach a production rate of six fully assembled satellites per month. The company has 10 launches booked and expects to begin consumer-focused beta capabilities later in 2026. The company reported an approximately $1.3 billion backlog and highlighted expanding government opportunities, including more than $100 million in funded near-term awards and a potential Japanese project providing up to $1 billion in non-dilutive government capital. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash exceeded $3.7 billion pro forma after a $1.15 billion convertible-notes offering. AST SpaceMobile’s Latest BlueBird Launch Raises the Stakes Ahead of Q2 Earnings AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $31.5 million and reiterated its full-year revenue guidance of $150 million to $200 million, as the company continued to build satellites, deploy mobile-network infrastructure and pursue government applications for its space-based cellular broadband network. The company said quarterly revenue more than doubled from the first quarter, driven primarily by commercial gateway deliveries and milestone achievements under U.S. government contracts. President Scott Wisniewski said AST delivered against 13 gateways for seven customers across five continents during the quarter. → MarketBeat Week in Review – 08/03 - 08/07 AST SpaceMobile Sets Launch Date Ahead of Key Q2 Earnings Test Management said it expects revenue to increase sequentially through 2026, though CFO and Chief Legal Officer Andy Johnson said results will likely be weighted toward the fourth quarter because of the timing of equipment sales, contract awards and government milestones. Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan said BlueBird 14 through 16 were in final testing and nearing completion, while BlueBird 17 through 46 were in various stages of production and assembly. Johnson said BlueBird 14 through 16 were expected to be ready to ship shortly. → Quantum Earnings Week: Winners and Losers Are Finally Emerging Amazon’s Satellite Push Raises the Stakes for SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile AST SpaceMobile is targeting approximately 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by early 2027, which management said could enable continuous service across key markets including the U.S., Europe and Japan. The company also said it expects to begin consumer-focused beta capabilities later in 2026, though the timing and structure of any customer rollout will be determined with carrier partners. The company is aiming for a manufacturing cadence of six fully assembled satellites per month. Avellan said AST currently has more than 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations space globally and recently announced plans for an additional 400,000-square-foot facility in Midland, Texas. Once completed, the company expects its global manufacturing and operations footprint to exceed 1 million square feet, including more than 900,000 square feet in the U.S. → Take-Two’s Q1 Results Leave GTA 6 Bulls Stuck in the Fog of War Wisniewski said the company has 10 launches booked with two launch providers, excluding Blue Origin, and is targeting an average launch cadence of roughly every month or two. He said AST was not relying on Blue Origin in its current planning assumptions, despite the provider’s progress in addressing a prior launch anomaly. Johnson reiterated AST’s estimated average capital cost of $21 million to $23 million per satellite for a constellation of more than 90 BlueBird satellites. That estimate includes direct materials, labor and launch costs, excluding certain initial satellites used for validation. AST said its mobile network operator ecosystem has grown to more than 60 partners serving more than 3 billion subscribers collectively. Its named partners include AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, stc Group, Bell Canada and Telus. Avellan said the company’s network is designed to extend existing terrestrial cellular networks rather than compete with mobile operators. AST is preparing for beta service in selected markets and said it has roughly 50 gateways globally in various stages of completion, installation and planning. In the U.S., AST said it has deployed more than 3,000 low-band cellular cells and expects to deploy the remaining infrastructure needed to cover roughly 5,600 cellular cells nationwide during 2026. Management also emphasized its spectrum position. Avellan said AST’s satellite technology can tune approximately 1,150 megahertz of low-band and mid-band spectrum globally, with C-band capability planned for the future. The company said it is working toward about 100 megahertz of spectrum access in the U.S. through a combination of partner-provided spectrum and spectrum it controls. During the analyst question session, Avellan said the company’s current “Micron” satellite systems are focused on low-band capabilities, while production of mid-band capability is expected to begin later in 2026 for launches beginning early in 2027. He said the company is developing a third-generation ASIC architecture incorporating L-band, mobile satellite service spectrum, mid-band and C-band capabilities, while continuing to use different phased arrays for separate spectrum blocks. AST reported an approximately $1.3 billion revenue backlog consisting of aggregated contracted revenue, partner agreements and U.S. government contract awards. Wisniewski said government represented a minority of the total backlog, although recent additions were primarily government-related. The company said it received three U.S. government contract awards with funded near-term value of more than $100 million expected during 2026 and 2027. Wisniewski said AST expects the government opportunity to scale into what he described as a recurring multibillion-dollar annual opportunity beginning in 2027, though the company did not provide further details on the awards. Management highlighted applications beyond direct-to-device communications, including radar, secure communications, emergency response, Internet of Things services and AI edge computing. Avellan said radar applications in the U.S. use government spectrum and rely on the company’s large phased-array antennas and satellite sensitivity. AST also discussed a preliminary selection tied to Japan’s low-Earth-orbit satellite infrastructure development project, or J-LEO. The company said the project, subject to government approvals and final agreements with Rakuten, could provide up to approximately $1 billion in non-dilutive, non-debt government capital. Avellan said Japanese-flagged satellites would use the same architecture as the broader constellation and could be deployed globally. Non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses totaled $119.1 million in the second quarter, up from $91.2 million in the first quarter. Excluding adjusted cost of revenues, expenses were $95.9 million, near the high end of the company’s prior $85 million to $95 million guidance range. Capital expenditures were approximately $610 million, compared with $257 million in the first quarter, largely reflecting launch-contract payments and satellite materials and labor. For the third quarter, AST forecast adjusted operating expenses excluding cost of revenue of $105 million to $115 million and capital expenditures of $350 million to $425 million. In July, AST completed a $1.15 billion convertible senior notes offering due in 2034, carrying a 1.625% coupon. Johnson said that, including the offering’s gross proceeds, cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled more than $3.7 billion on a pro forma basis as of June 30. AST SpaceMobile is a U.S.-based aerospace company developing a space-based cellular broadband network designed to connect standard mobile phones and other devices directly to satellites. The company's core proposition is “space-to-cell” service: operating a constellation of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites equipped with large, high-power phased-array antennas to provide wide-area mobile broadband without requiring users to buy specialized terminals or handset modifications. AST SpaceMobile designs, builds and operates satellite payloads and supporting ground infrastructure. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "AST SpaceMobile Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.