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 $5.3B against $4.5B — 1.2× the size. Planet Labs PBC has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; VSE Corporation trades at 51.8×. 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 51.83 31.81
P/S 12.82 3.72 3.55
P/B 8.60 1.72 2.59
Price to free cash flow 244.11 n/m 31.99
EV/EBITDA n/m 32.36 18.08
EV/Sales 11.74 4.36 3.37
Earnings yield (8.15%) 1.93% 1.38%
Free cash flow yield 0.41% (0.02%) 0.21%

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%) 1.43%
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% 24.27%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 22.15% 10.95% 9.73%
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 — 0.24% 0.90%
Payout ratio — 0.13 0.32

Size

Metric PL VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Market cap 5.29b 4.53b 2.19b

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