Spire Global Misses Q3 Estimates And Delays Profitability Target As NOAA Contract Wins Support A 2027 Growth Outlook

Spire Global's third quarter missed expectations, yet the company also secured the contract wins it needed. The satellite data provider reported a loss of $0.52 per share on revenue of $18.0 million. The consensus estimate was a loss of $0.23 per share and the Earnings Whisper number was a loss of $0.25, so earnings missed by 108.0%. Revenue fell 13.3% short of the $20.76 million consensus. The size of the earnings miss needs context: the reported figure is GAAP, while consensus was built on a non-GAAP basis. Even so, the revenue shortfall is plain, and earnings were flat year over year. That is the central tension. Spire added more than $70 million in new weather awards and issued a 2027 outlook implying roughly 30% growth, but it also cut the top of its 2026 targets and pushed its timeline for reaching break-even adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

The 42.1% year-over-year revenue increase overstates current momentum. Excluding the divested maritime business, revenue rose 77% from the prior year, driven by Space Services data delivery and hyperspectral microwave sounding data. However, revenue was essentially flat with the second quarter at about $18 million, and management said core revenue rose only about 10% sequentially. Profitability improved more clearly. GAAP gross margin rose to 46% from 37% a year ago, and non-GAAP gross margin reached 49%, up from 38% in the second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA losses narrowed 27% to $8.6 million. Operating cash use fell to $5.0 million from $23.4 million in the second quarter, which management attributed to disciplined management of cash and working capital. The GAAP picture is less flattering. The net loss widened slightly to $20.3 million. The per-share loss looks better than a year ago mainly because the share count rose to 39.2 million from 32.5 million. Legal, accounting and other professional fees, including costs tied to an SEC subpoena, reached $4.6 million in the quarter. After $8.9 million of capital spending, free cash flow was still negative $13.9 million.

The call marked a shift from building a pipeline to executing on it. Every marker management laid out on the second-quarter call was hit:

• NOAA awarded a $33.2 million two-year radio occultation task order, worth $16.6 million a year compared with $11.2 million under the prior award. Surge options could lift its value to about $66 million, and those options are not in 2027 numbers.
• NOAA awarded a $28 million contract to mature the hyperspectral microwave sounder toward operational use.
• NOAA extended the hyperspectral data contract and issued a bridge award.
• Spire was named eligible for task orders under NOAA's $8 billion environmental monitoring contract vehicle.
• The first satellites built at Spire's Boulder facility launched in October.

Remaining performance obligations, meaning contracted revenue not yet recognized, rose to $175.4 million from about $135 million. Management said about 78% of the midpoint of its preliminary 2027 revenue range of $96 million to $106 million is already contracted.

Guidance is where bears have legitimate ammunition. Full-year 2026 revenue guidance narrowed to $75 million to $80 million from the $75 million to $85 million range reaffirmed for three straight quarters. Management said part of the new $28 million NOAA contract will be recognized as work progresses, pushing that revenue into 2027. The adjusted EBITDA loss range widened to $27.4 million to $32.4 million from $20.7 million to $26 million. The earlier goal of quarterly EBITDA breakeven in the fourth quarter of 2026 or first quarter of 2027 became a target of positive EBITDA for full-year 2027, with the first half as the aim. Fourth-quarter revenue must jump from $18 million to between $23 million and $28 million, and management said the high end depends on one deal with uncertain timing. Spire also stopped providing non-GAAP operating loss and per-share guidance. Cash fell to $78 million from $92 million in the second quarter, although the balance sheet remains debt-free. Additional risks include launch capacity after 2028 and the timing of NOAA surge orders.

Investors were already bracing for problems. Earnings Whispers sentiment fell from a modestly positive 0.25 at the prior report to roughly neutral at -0.02. Shares stood at $9.46 heading into the release, down 28.1% from the opening after the August report. The stock was 31% below its 200-day moving average and 36.6% below its inter-earnings high of $14.92, which was set the day after the prior report. Shares had bounced 28.7% from a $7.35 low set on November 5. Trend readings are split: price and anchored volume-weighted average price (AVWAP) trends remain negative, while sequential growth and momentum readings are positive. That split mirrors the gap between a weak stock and improving operating metrics.

The bottom line is that Spire delivered the contracts, margin recovery and cash discipline that underpin a credible 2027 story, but it missed the quarter, trimmed 2026 and delayed profitability again. With much of the bad news apparently priced in, attention now shifts to whether fourth-quarter revenue reaches the guided range and the backlog converts on schedule.

Read our earnings preview for Spire Global, Inc.: https://www.earningswhispers.com/article/SPIR/22766

This earnings review was originally published on Earnings Whispers.

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