Planet Labs PBC (PL) vs VSE Corporation (VSEC)

Planet Labs PBC and VSE Corporation are both Aerospace & Defense companies. Planet Labs PBC is the larger, with a market value of $6.6B against $5.1B — 1.3× the size. Planet Labs PBC has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; VSE Corporation trades at 57.6×. Planet Labs PBC grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 44.1% against 41.6%. VSE Corporation has the higher net margin (5.53% vs −95.1%) and the higher return on invested capital (2.04% vs −44.2%). Across the 18 metrics below, VSE Corporation leads on 13 and Planet Labs PBC on 5.

Valuation

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
P/E n/m 57.59 33.00
P/S 16.59 4.13 3.63
P/B 11.12 1.91 3.24
Price to free cash flow 315.77 n/m 34.01
EV/EBITDA n/m 35.43 18.69
EV/Sales 15.50 4.78 3.94
Earnings yield (6.30%) 1.74% 1.31%
Free cash flow yield 0.32% (0.02%) 0.00%

Profitability

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Gross margin 55.42% 15.62% 25.48%
Operating margin (27.16%) 9.15% 4.54%
Net margin (95.13%) 5.53% 2.22%
Free cash flow margin 5.25% (0.08%) 0.00%
Return on equity (71.97%) 3.84% 6.43%
Return on assets (33.83%) 2.50% 2.70%
Return on invested capital (44.19%) 2.04% 1.56%

Growth

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Revenue growth (TTM) 44.12% 41.55% 18.43%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (90.48%) 24.14% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 22.15% 10.95% 9.62%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Debt to equity 0.79 0.32 0.24
Current ratio 2.84 3.77 2.72
Net debt to EBITDA 3.64 1.71 1.12

Dividend

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Dividend yield — 0.59% 1.04%
Payout ratio 0.00 0.15 0.00

Size

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Market cap 6.61b 5.06b 2.52b

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