Satellite imagery company BlackSky ekes out first quarterly profit

Satellite imagery venture BlackSky delivered its first quarterly profit Wednesday, as the company works to keep up momentum into the end of the year.

BlackSky reported net income of $675,000 for the third quarter, improving from a net loss of $13.1 million reported for the same period a year ago. The company brought in $21.3 million in third-quarter revenue, up 26% from a year prior.

Chief Financial Officer Henry Dubois said on the company’s earnings call the “primary driver for the positive net income” was the company’s accounting practices related to “warrant liability exposure.”

Excluding that impact, BlackSky would have reported a third-quarter net loss of about $16.3 million.

BlackSky tightened its 2023 revenue outlook to a range of between $84 million and $90 million, a reduction on the top end from its previously stated guidance of as much as $96 million. It had $51.5 million in cash and equivalents on hand at the end of the third quarter, with a contract order backlog of $252 million.

Shares of BlackSky slipped 4.2% in trading to close at $1.15 a share. Like many space stocks that went public in the past few years, BlackSky’s market cap today is a fraction of its debut valuation.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct that BlackSky CFO Henry Dubois said the “primary driver for the positive net income” was the company’s accounting practices related to “warrant liability exposure” and that excluding that impact, the company would have reported a third-quarter net loss of about $16.3 million.