Intuitive Machines (LUNR +2.66%) stock, the space company that returned America to the moon in 2024 after a 52-year absence, opened sharply lower after missing Q1 estimates this morning. As of 11:25 a.m. ET, the stock has pared its losses and is down only about 0.5%.
Heading into Intuitive's report, analysts expected the space stock to lose about $0.06 per share on $200.1 million in revenue. Instead, Intuitive reported a $0.25-per-share loss on sales of $186.7 million.
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Intuitive Machines Q1 earnings
That sounds bad, but there was good news as well. With help from its recent acquisition of satellite manufacturer Lanteris, Intuitive Machines nearly tripled its revenue year over year. And despite reporting $0.25 per share in GAAP losses, Intuitive noted that its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were positive for the quarter, setting a new record at $2.7 million.
But does $2.7 million in extremely non-GAAP EBITDA justify investors hanging a $5.7 billion valuation on Intuitive stock? Does it justify Intuitive shares selling for more than 16 times trailing sales?
NASDAQ: LUNR
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What's next for Intuitive Machines stock
That really depends on how quickly Intuitive can grow its numbers. And the good news here is that Intuitive seems set to grow at a pretty nice clip.
Sales for the quarter were under $187 million. Still, Intuitive landed $428.9 million worth of new contracts in the quarter, yielding a book-to-bill ratio of 2.3 -- indicative of strong revenue growth ahead. Management guided investors to expect full-year sales of $900 million to $1 billion, ahead of analyst estimates for this year.
As for next year, S&P Global Market Intelligence forecasts continued sales growth, resulting in Intuitive's first-ever positive free cash flow year.
