Firefly's Sequential Revenue Streak Ends After Second-Quarter Record

The Tip Desk · November 12, 2026 · 2 min read

Third-quarter sales were $110.7 million as backlog reached a record $1.7 billion and the company guided 2026 revenue to $440 million–$450 million.

Firefly Aerospace (FLY), a space and defense technology company, reported third-quarter revenue of $110.7 million, up 259% from the year-earlier period, after a second-quarter sequential record that had lifted sales 45.5% from the first quarter.

The sequential increase reversed. Backlog rose to a record $1.7 billion at September 30, from $1.5 billion at the end of the prior quarter.

Gross profit was $25.3 million, up from $8.5 million a year earlier. Loss from operations widened to $101.6 million from $62.2 million. Net loss was $94.2 million, or $0.56 a share, versus $133.4 million, or $1.50 a share, a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $69.5 million from $46.3 million. Free cash flow was an $85.3 million outflow, versus a $62.0 million outflow a year earlier.

Research and development expense was $76.0 million, up from $48.8 million a year earlier. Selling, general, and administrative expense was $50.9 million, up from $21.9 million. Cash and cash equivalents were $409.3 million at September 30, 2026, down from $793.0 million at December 31, 2025.

Chief executive Jason Kim said the quarter reflected a diversified, vertically integrated business, with five Moon missions running in parallel, Alpha Block II moving toward launch, SciTec executing national security programs, and a strategic deal with AST SpaceMobile.

The company completed expansion of its spacecraft cleanroom, funded through a non-dilutive Texas Space Commission grant, which it said enables simultaneous assembly and integration of up to 12 lunar landers and orbital vehicles. It signed with SSC Space for two commercial Alpha launches from Esrange Space Center in Sweden, its first European launch contracts, and extended Lockheed Martin’s multi-launch agreement for up to 25 Alpha launches through 2031 using the Block II configuration.

Contract awards included a $94 million Space Force contract under the Ground-Based Radar Digitization program, onboarding to the $981 million Space Force IDIQ for NITE-STAR, a Defense Innovation Unit contract for an Elytra deorbit system, and a $13 million subcontract to support NASA JPL’s SkyFall Mars aeroshell ahead of a launch targeted for late 2028. Firefly also onboarded to NASA’s Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract and signed a Starcloud partnership for AI compute in lunar orbit.

Among additional recent items, Firefly said it signed contracts valued at more than $1.3 billion with AST SpaceMobile, including licensed IP, engine delivery, and engineering support, and onboarded as a vendor to NASA’s $10 billion CLPS 2 initiative. It began a Miranda engine qualification campaign, with more than 170 hot fire tests completed to date, a step toward the first Eclipse launch.

Firefly expects 2026 full-year revenue of $440 million to $450 million.