What Has Sent Rocket Lab Stock Lower Since May?
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Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock fell 48.6% between May 16 and November 12, 2026, while the S&P 500 returned 3.0% over the same dates. Late in that period, on October 14, the company pushed the first launch of Neutron, its new and larger rocket, into 2027. How much of the fall came from that delay?
Rocket Lab Stock Had Already Fallen Before The Delay
Very little of it. After May 16, the shares climbed to a closing high of $150.23 on May 27 before beginning to slide. The delay did hit the stock: shares fell about 6% in extended trading on October 14, the day Rocket Lab announced it. Yet from that day’s close to November 12, the stock gained 8.3%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.6%. So the shares were lower before the news than they are today. From May 16 to the October 14 close, they had already fallen 52.6%.
The fall was also far deeper than at three companies on Rocket Lab’s peer list. Over the same six months, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies ranged from a 9.6% fall to an 18.6% gain.
What Changed For Rocket Lab Shareholders?
Over those months, Rocket Lab sold a large amount of new stock. In the third quarter it raised about $2.4 billion in gross proceeds by issuing 36.8 million shares, and management says that money, together with Iridium’s amended term loan and the company’s available liquidity, fully funds the cash part of its pending purchase of Iridium. Its diluted share count for the twelve months to September 2026 was 652 million, against 529 million a year earlier, so each share now owns a smaller slice of the company. The third-quarter sale accounts for only part of that rise.
The Neutron delay matters for a different reason. Management said the first launch moved to 2027 after voids were found in the propellant tank’s forward dome. The company also said adjusted EBITDA, its own measure of operating profit, will turn positive within six months of Neutron’s first successful test flight. A later first flight therefore pushes that turn later too.
Sales At Rocket Lab Are Still Growing Fast
Rocket Lab’s sales kept climbing while the stock fell. Its third-quarter revenue was $268 million, up 72.7% from a year earlier. That pace exceeded the 62.0% growth of the second quarter. Rocket Lab also ended September with an order book of roughly $3.6 billion, spread across launches and the Space Systems business that builds satellites and parts.
The company is also still losing money. Over the twelve months to September 2026, Rocket Lab lost $244 million at the operating level on $882 million of revenue. Even after the fall, the shares trade at 47.4 times those sales, compared to 3.2 times for the S&P 500, so the price still appears to assume many years of fast growth.
Rocket Lab is expected to report its fourth quarter in February 2027. When it does, revenue against management’s guide of $270 million to $290 million is the number to watch.
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