Voyager Technologies, Inc. Class A

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the operator. Today's conference is scheduled to begin momentarily. Until that time, your lines again will be placed on a music hold. Thank you for your patience. Welcome to the Voyager Technologies First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 1. Though others can hear your questions clearly, we ask that you pick up your handset for best sound quality. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to turn the call over to your first speaker today, Adi Padva, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Mr. Padva, the floor is yours.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. I am joined today by Dylan Taylor, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Phil D'Souza, our Chief Financial Officer. Today's call includes four looking statements which involve risk and uncertainties detailed in our earnings materials and SEC filings, including in the risk factor section of our annual report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to update these statements. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, A reconciliation of these measures is available on our earnings materials on our website. I will now turn the call over to Dylan to begin with slide three.

Thank you, Adi, and good morning, everyone. Voyager had an outstanding first quarter with record backlog, a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3, and significant traction on new contracts, including Golden Dome. First quarter bookings of $45 million drove our backlog to a new record of 275 million, up 54% year over year. The backlog growth reflects broad-based demand and multiple awards across the Golden Dome architecture, additional work on Next Generation Interceptor, and as importantly, we were awarded a contract with Raytheon to develop advanced technologies for their standard missile interceptor program, a major win for us. Further, Booking's momentum continues into the early part of the second quarter, reinforcing our confidence in near-term revenue conversion, and consequently, we are increasing our 2026 revenue guidance to 230 to 255 million, a significant acceleration relative to last year. Voyager's high-growth platform is built to scale alongside customer demand in the most critical defense, national security, and space programs. Our ability to deploy differentiated capabilities across complex architectures, whether as a prime or a key technology partner, strongly positions us to participate across multiple programs as they move from development into production. That positioning is reflected in our first quarter performance, including strong bookings, record backlog, and improving visibility into the revenue conversion, which underpins our confidence in raising our full-year guidance. With that context, let me turn to slide four and walk through how we are scaling capacity and infrastructure to support execution as demand accelerates. As our demand scales, execution depends on capacity. And in line with our guidance last quarter, we have continued to invest in the infrastructure and production capability required to deliver at speed and at scale. In January, we broke ground on a major expansion of the Voyager American Defense Complex in Southern Colorado. The facility is designed for high-volume manufacturing, operations, and testing, supporting the production of advanced military-grade components, propulsion systems, including our proprietary controllable technology, and energetics. In March, we extended our capacity build-out of advanced electronics, mission hardware, and software with the launch of our Space Beach facility in Long Beach, California. This facility is strategically located next to our customers and expands our ability to deliver integrated, mission-critical solutions across national security, civil, and commercial space programs, while at the same time improving throughput and delivering timing as programs transition into higher-rate production enabling the conversion of backlog into revenue. Turning to slide five, innovation remains central to our strategy, and our investments are focused on differentiated technologies that address real operational needs and can scale across multiple markets. In the first quarter, internally funded R&D, or IRAD, was 17% of revenue, with total innovation spend of 48%, excluding Starlab. This record level of innovation spend this year reflects the strategic shaping of next-generation space and defense capabilities. Our R&D priorities are focused on, first, advanced mission-critical electronics and communications that form the backbone of constellations and space-borne cloud applications. Second, new capabilities for Golden Dome. Third, enabling next generation space domain maneuverability for commercial and defense markets. And lastly, our investment in AI is going to significantly accelerate manufacturing across the Voyager technology portfolio, materially shortening go to market and delivery timelines for our customers. At the same time, we're continuing to build an ecosystem that accelerates the path for microgravity research to commercialization. Through our Voyager Institute for Space Technology and Advancement, or VISTA Science Park, as well as the collaboration with NASA's Glenn Research Center, we announced strategic partnerships with Yonsei University in South Korea and Obuda University in Hungary. VISTA is the first of its kind U.S. science park dedicated to in-space research, manufacturing, and services located on the campus of the Ohio State University. This unites aerospace companies, fast-moving startups, leading academic institutions, and government agencies in a dynamic platform-agnostic ecosystem built to accelerate discovery, collaboration, and commercialization of space. Our strong commitment to innovation positions Voyager to not only develop differentiated technologies, but to scale and deploy them into a mission-ready application. This approach is central to our strategy and underpins long-term growth opportunities. Among these long-term opportunities is our alignment with NASA's priorities in LEO and lunar as presented recently during NASA's ignition event, which I'll review on slide six. Our confidence in Starlab as a transformational growth opportunity continues to be reinforced by our progress. including the successful completion of the commercial critical design review with NASA at the end of last year, a key milestone as the program advances into full system procurement and integration. This milestone further de-risks the program and reinforces our confidence in Star Labs' readiness to support commercially-led operations in low-Earth orbit. During the first quarter, Starlab achieved four additional milestones and received $24 million in cash payments from NASA. We recently provided feedback to NASA's request for information after the ignition event, and we remain confident we can deliver a strong and economic solution to NASA and other customers. In parallel, we're advancing our lunar strategy in alignment with NASA and broader national priorities. Through our investment in MaxSpace, we are positioning Voyager to play a meaningful role in enabling sustained lunar operations and habitation. Our focus is on delivering foundational infrastructure and scalable space systems where we see strong alignment with long-term funding priorities and mission demand. Since quarter end, we announced an important milestone that further underscores our momentum as a commercial space mission provider. Voyager was selected by NASA for the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted for no earlier than 2028. This award builds on decades of operational heritage with NASA and reflects confidence in Voyager's ability to execute complex, crewed missions safely and reliably. We named the mission Voyage 1 for its historic significance. Importantly, the mission serves as a bridge between current ISS operations, and the next generation of commercial space stations, including Starlab. It will be used to advance and validate microgravity-based innovation, crew operations, and integrated architectures that are directly relevant to the future commercial and lunar missions, reinforcing Voyager's role at the center of the transition to a commercially-led low-Earth orbit ecosystem. Looking ahead, our strategic priorities remain consistent, accelerate growth, build capacity and infrastructure to deliberate scale, invest deliberately in innovation aligned with our customer needs, and advance Starlab and our lunar initiatives as the next generation of space infrastructure. In summary, we are off to a fantastic start, executing well and progressing on all of our strategic initiatives. We are raising our full-year revenue guidance to 230 to 255 million, representing 38% to 53% year-over-year growth, a significant acceleration relative to the growth last year. With that, I will turn the call over to Phil to walk through the financials in more detail.

Thanks, Dylan. Turning to slide seven, I'll begin with our first quarter results.

Net sales were $35 million. up modestly year-over-year and in line with our plan. Bookings totaled 45 million, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3 and driving backlog to a new record level of 275 million. Importantly, backlog growth was driven by demand across the Golden Dome architecture, including multiple awards for new weapon systems, additional work on Next Generation Interceptor, and as Dylan mentioned, We were awarded a contract with Raytheon to develop advanced technologies for their standard missile interceptor program, a major win for us. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $33 million, reflecting our deliberate investment in engineering talent, internally funded R&D, and infrastructure to support programs that are scaling. These investments are aligned with customer demand and are building the foundation to support higher program volumes. Adjusted EPS for the quarter was a loss of 61 cents per share. With that, let's turn to slide eight. Starting this quarter, we've simplified reporting from three segments to two. First, defense and space technologies, and second, Starlab space stations. This reflects how we operate our business and how we are engaging with our customers. Our defense and space activities now operate as a vertically integrated platform spanning propulsion, advanced electronics, data, mission services, and of course, space infrastructure. As shown on this slide, this integrated platform is aligned to fast-growing defense and space markets and is positioned to drive durable growth. Going forward, defense and space technologies captures this integrated platform, while Starlab remains separate given its distinct role as a next-generation commercial space station, and long-term growth driver. This change improves clarity, better aligns reporting with how we operate, and simplifies how we communicate performance. Turning to slide nine, I'll provide segment highlights for the quarter. In the defense and space technology segment, we delivered a strong start to the year with $45 million of bookings, up 232% year-over-year, reinforcing continued demand across our core defense and space portfolio, specifically with the new awards for Golden Dome and standard missile programs we discussed earlier. Revenue was up modestly year over year and in line with plan, driven by strategic growth, including acquisitions completed last year, and partially offset by the planned wind down of a NASA services contract. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was negative $11.5 million, reflecting, as I previously mentioned, deliberate investment in manufacturing capacity, operating infrastructure, and internally funded R&D to support long-term growth. In Starlab, we received 24 million of NASA milestone cash receipts in the quarter, bringing program and section-to-date milestone cash receipts to a total of $207 million. Starlab's adjusted EBITDA reflects the cadence of investment as the program matures and enters its full system procurement phase. Overall, the quarter reflects strong demand, momentum in defense and space technologies, continued milestone execution in Starlab, and disciplined investment to position both segments for long-term growth. With that, let's turn to slide 10, and I'll cover off our financial position. As we execute our growth strategy, we continue to operate from a position of financial strength and flexibility. We ended the first quarter with $429 million in cash and access to 212 million credit facilities, thus resulting in total liquidity of $641 million. During the second quarter, we will be upsizing our credit facility, reflecting support from our creditors as our growth trajectory accelerates. Our liquidity supports a disciplined, growth-oriented capital allocation strategy. We continue to fund organic investments to develop new technologies to further scale our existing platform, while also pursuing accretive M&A to enhance scale, margins, and our overall market position. Turning to slide 11. We are raising our 2026 sales guidance to a range of $230 million to $255 million representing a 38 to 53% year-over-year growth. This outlook is supported by record backlog, strong recent bookings activity, specifically demand in Golden Dome online programs, as well as growth contributions from other areas. We expect to see significant revenue growth acceleration in each of the next three quarters. Gross margins for the year is expected to be in the mid-teens, reflecting continued investment in manufacturing capacity and program readiness ahead of growth acceleration. Internally funded research and development will increase to approximately 20% of sales as we are advancing mission-critical capabilities aligned with customer priorities, including defense initiatives such as Golden Dome, while continuing to innovate across our existing platforms, as Dylan discussed earlier. We expect modest SG&A leverage as revenue growth begins and we also absorb public company costs as we lap pre-IPO periods. With more significant leverage as revenue increases and growth accelerates, we've continued to see that leverage increase over time. In addition to innovation investments, capital expenditures, excluding Star Labs, are expected to be approximately $60 million to $70 million. This directed towards scaling domestic production, advanced electronics, propulsion capacity, and infrastructure investments tied to multi-year programs where we have clear line of sight to revenue. Starlab investments will ramp as the program enters full system procurement. These investments are expected to be supported through a combination of NASA CLD funding, other government sources, and the capital markets consistent with our previously outlined funding strategy. As we look ahead, 2026 represents an important step in executing toward our long-term financial framework. We continue to target approximately 25% organic revenue growth, gross margins in the range of 30 to 35%, and mid-teens adjusted EBITDA margins, excluding Starlab, with low-teens free cash flow margins, excluding Starlab, as the platform continues to scale. Starlab is a meaningful driver of long-term value creation. Once operational, We continue to expect Starlab to generate approximately $4 billion of annual revenue and $1.5 billion of annual free cash flow, reflecting its role as the next generation commercial space station infrastructure platform. In summary, the first quarter reflected disciplined execution, strong bookings, expansion of backlog to a new record level. We are investing ahead of growth, and we're supported by improving demand and ample liquidity. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Dylan.

Thanks, Phil. To wrap up on slide 12, I am very happy with our first quarter performance, reflecting solid execution and continued momentum, supported by growing demand and a platform built to deliver mission-critical capabilities at scale. We are seeing expanding opportunities across missile defense, national security, and commercial space, reinforced by strong bookings and a record backlog. Our priorities remain consistent as we move through 2026, discipline execution, investment to support scale, and advancing Starlab as the next generation of space infrastructure. With strong demand, improving visibility, and a strengthened operating foundation, we believe Voyager is well positioned to convert this momentum into sustained growth and long-term shareholder value. Operator, with that, we're now ready to take questions.

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. At this time, if you have a question or comment, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question is answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 1. In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Thank you. Our first question is going to come from Sheila Kaheglu with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. Good morning, Dylan, Bill, and Adi. Maybe, Dylan, just to start, the backlog increased despite the seasonal downward trend typically. You know, what were key wins in the quarter, especially related to Golden Dome, and what do they mean to your capability stack, if you could elaborate?

Yeah. Well, thank you, Sheila. Great question. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the question. Yeah, Q1 really was a seminal A milestone quarter for us on Golden Dome. You know, as we said in the IPO Roadshow, our technology is very relevant to multiple missile programs. And so what we said in the Roadshow was that we could expect, in addition to Next Generation Interceptor, that we would be added to these additional missile programs. And frankly, that timing has actually been accelerated beyond what I would have expected. So we've had a lot of success here in Q1 and the early part of 2026. So as I mentioned in my remarks, we've been added to Standard Missile by Raytheon. That's a huge win for the company. There's also an announcement that's just out in the last 15 minutes about our relationship with Andral on space-based interceptors as well. So that wasn't in my previous remarks because it literally just was issued about 15 minutes ago. So think of this as two different categories. being added to programs where our technology is relevant to upgrade to next-generation technology. And then the second part is actually being an on-ramp for additional volumes because, of course, there's a big ramp-up that the government is looking to achieve on these programs with existing technology. So we're being added as a second source, and we're being added as an upgrade to next-generation technology. So both of those are playing out. And, again, if I look at our backlog that's showing up in Q1 backlog, to your point, it reversed the trend of actually burning backlog off in Q1. We were able to actually increase backlog in Q1. And then, of course, our pipeline continues to grow, Sheila, really, really, really significantly. So we're extremely optimistic that this is a validation of our technology, and additional programs awards are forthcoming as well. Hopefully that answers your question. Happy to take any follow-up.

Yeah, super helpful. Maybe as a follow-up, thinking about how you raised the low end of the guidance for 26, what came in, which one of the following is increasing it? Was it NGI? Was it the NGO relationship? And maybe if you could talk about milestones over the next three quarters we should be looking for.

Sounds good. I'm going to give that to Phil for the detail.

Good morning, Sheila. How are you? Great question. Just as a reminder, we raised the guidance here this quarter, but this is following us raising the law and other guidance last quarter. And that was obviously following us initiating guidance for 2026 back in November. We've seen the last six months. has been a continued strengthening of that customer signal demand. Our pipeline remains extremely strong, over $5 billion. And the confidence raised in the bottom end is the conversion of that pipeline into backlog that we know we will deliver beginning here in Q2 and all the way through the back end of the year this year. Obviously, we still have quite a ways to go, so we'll reserve touching the midpoint or effectively the top end of the range for future quarters, but increasing confidence in us delivering as we planned here in 2026. Awesome.

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Ron Epstein with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. This is Alex Preston on for Ron. First, I just wanted to follow up on the Anzoril Award. I actually noticed that a bit before you mentioned it, Dylan, so you stole my thunder there. But just curious if you can maybe talk broadly about the contributions you'll make on that team or what the partnership means for the business in general. Just some more color would be great if you could.

Yeah. Yeah, thanks for the question, Alex. So it's obviously a very significant award. It pertains to the space-based interceptors. We have to be vague as to exactly what role we're playing in the team. That's really driven by the customer. But I think you're aware of our suite of technologies, advanced technologies, and the ones that are relevant to space-based interceptors and call it Golden Dome in particular. And what I can say is we have multiple technologies on the SBI program. Furthermore, Alex, what I can also say is there are additional Additional news forthcoming on SBI, so stay tuned on that. But we're extremely pleased with how central our technology is to the architectures being put forward on Golden Dome and space-based interceptors in particular. And as I said in my response to Sheila, we had anticipated that our technology would be relevant for Golden Dome. Frankly, I'm quite surprised at how quickly that technology is gaining traction within this architecture. And we're extremely bullish on what we see there. So hopefully that answers your question, Alex. I'm happy to take any follow-up.

Yeah, I appreciate the color. And then if I could shift to Starlab and CLD, right? A lot of moving parts, obviously. Sounds like NASA's got maybe funding challenges, but they put out this RFI for a core module path forward. I guess, broadly, maybe how are you thinking about the updates here on Starlab's timeline, perhaps, your view on the competitive landscape, if there maybe aren't two free flyers, as was once thought? Sort of broad thoughts there would be also really helpful.

Yeah. Well, first of all, we're still very, very optimistic about Starlab and the program because, again, Either direction NASA takes, whether it's core module with commercial modules attached or it's commercial free flyers, we think we have the technology and, in particular, the market traction to service both those models. So we responded to the RFI. As you mentioned, NASA put out the RFI. We responded to that. We're awaiting NASA's response on that, which is likely to be an RFP. But keep in mind, we're already at 130% of commercial demand capacity spoken for on Starlab. And that commercial demand could translate to a different solution if NASA goes a different path. So we're actually quite bullish. And as you probably are aware, we won the PAM-7 private astronaut mission from NASA. That's really a validation of our mission management business. So we're actually quite optimistic that no matter what path NASA takes, our capabilities will be relevant. We did pass another four milestones in the quarter. on Starlab itself and got some additional cash payments in. And I don't know if we mentioned on the last quarter or not, but we had this high-fidelity mock-up in Building 9 at Johnson Space Center. We're getting a lot of people through there. It's quite impressive just seeing the volume of that Starlab design. So I would encourage you, Alex, or anybody on the call, if they happen to be in Houston, we can arrange a tour. But I think just, yeah, to put a finer point on it, we're very optimistic that we're well positioned on CLD no matter what path NASA chooses to take.

Great. Thank you very much for taking the questions. Appreciate it. Thank you, Alex.

Your next question comes from the line of Miles Walton with Wolf Research. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Good morning. I was hoping to maybe clarify first on the standard missile contract during the IPA Roadshow. That was, I think, the largest single opportunity in the pipeline, around 300 million plus. Is the part of the win that you've gotten this quarter in there? Is that the entirety? Is it something new? Maybe you just put it in context what you were looking for versus what you get.

Yeah, Miles, it's all good news here. I'll give you the particulars, but this is all incremental to what we reported.

I think really important to highlight two, Miles, is one, this is just the initial contract we've received here from Raytheon for SM3. This is a pre-production award, and so significant upside to the backlog. that we've added here strategically. More importantly, as we look beyond 2026 and expect that program to then continue, it absolutely aligns well with what we had talked about around the IPO, where there wasn't just a next-generation interceptor program that had a billion dollars' worth of leg to it from a production standpoint. We still expect that, if you would, to come to fruition later this year as we enter into 2027 from a low-rate to high-rate production perspective. Raytheon SM3, early stages, we'll continue to report out as we make progress on that specific program. I think more exciting news as we've validated our disruptive technologies in the space.

Okay. And Phil, I'll have you, the sales cadence for the rest of the year obviously has to accelerate quite substantially. Could you talk about the first quarter headwinds you had that those alleviate in the second quarter? Maybe just the magnitude of acceleration you're expecting here in the near term versus the tail end of the year.

I appreciate the question, Miles. A bit to unpack there. So let's remind everybody, $35 million of revenue this first quarter, slightly up year over year. As a reminder, we did have some pretty substantial programs rolling off. For example, the Space Dock 2 contract. that we've been flagging and highlighting as a year-over-year headwind, latter part of last year, contributed about $5 million of revenue last year, first quarter. And so that's just about wrapped up completely. So about a $5 million, I think, 13 percentage point headwind into the quarter for us this year. We also had a fantastic software design radio contract with Airbus. That was a big growth driver for us last year and in 2024, frankly speaking. That program is also wrapping up here early 2026, so another headwind. As I think about looking ahead, The new record backlog that we've established, the momentum we're building from a bookings perspective, we anticipate revenues to ramp sequentially and accelerate growth sequentially. Going from $35 million of revenue should increase sequentially by 37%. So think high 40s, if you would. There'll be about, you know, mid-single-digit growth year over year. And then just based on the backlog, the customer timeline that we've received, the delivery of longer-lead material items, We know we have in our backlog a substantial amount of second-half revenue to deliver. And so that's how we're planning it, about 33% of our full-year revenue at the midpoint in the first half and about 67% of the revenue in the second half of the year, with great visibility given our backlog.

Okay. And, Myles, just to emphasize the points that Phil made there, it's not only line of sight for what we have in the backlog and what we're reporting on in Q1, But all of these incremental awards that we're talking about are all going to be additive to that confidence that we have, including, for example, that PAM-7 mission that I mentioned earlier. None of that is in backlog. First of all, that was a Q2 award. Secondly, being the conservative company we are, we're not going to count that as backlog until we actually get a signed contract and a down payment. towards a mission slot. So that's all upside to backlog as well. So I just want to emphasize that point.

And maybe just to put a finer point on the momentum story, and I'm just reflecting back to my answer to Sheila at the opening of the call. One thing to highlight here, and I know it's early in the second quarter, but we continue to see the bookings momentum continue for us here early Q2. We've already booked quite a substantial amount of the second quarter. And I know, Miles, you and I have had that discussion around the – we typically burn backlog in the first half of the year and build it in the second half of the year. I wouldn't say it's unusual. It's a realization, if you will, of the strong demand signal that we're getting here, that we had a 1.3 book-to-bill ratio in Q1. Expect our book-to-bill ratio will exceed one again in the second quarter, and we should well exceed even the $45 million of bookings that we had in Q1. So momentum continues to build. line of sight, even the bookings we have here in early April. These are also revenue-generating programs here for the calendar year 2026. A substantial portion of these will be delivered until the second half of the year, again, supporting that second half ramp. So, again, appreciate the question. I just want to make sure we highlighted the continued momentum that we've seen early Q2 as well.

Thanks so much.

Thanks, Miles. The next question comes from the line of Seth Seifman with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. This is Rocco on for Seth. Hey, Rob. I was wondering what were the main factors that kind of weighed on Q1 gross margins and how should we expect the margin to progress through the year? Will it just be kind of a quick step up in Q2 or more of a ramp throughout the year?

Yeah, maybe I'll take that question, Rob. From a gross profit margin perspective, if you recall, we anticipated this year will be a gross profit margin in the mid-teens, so I think 14, 15% on a full year basis. That reflects year over year an incremental investment ahead of growth, scale growth, as we move into higher rate production contracts later this year and into next year. So we're already anticipating a challenging first half of the year. You see negative gross profit reflects exactly that, some program mix as well. As we look out second quarter, anticipate gross profit to be positive. Think low, mid-single digits in Q2. And then a significant acceleration thanks to leverage. I just reflected on the revenue profile. I think 33% first half, 67% of our full-year revenue guidance split that way. From a gross profit sequential perspective, you should see us step up into the mid to high teens in Q3 and then back into the mid-20s in Q4 as we significantly leverage our cost structure.

Great, thank you. And then what drove the decision to combine the defense and space businesses into one segment, and is there an opportunity for the combination to drive any synergies in the business?

Yeah, I'll start with that, Rob, and I'll ask Phil to chime in. I think a couple things. One is there's increasing convergence between our national security and defense business and our space business. Of course, it's been said before that space is the ultimate high ground, so there's a lot of national security implications for that. And there was also a lot of overlap in the technologies that were being deployed. We had a single executive, Matt Magana, running those businesses as well. So that also allowed us to merge the growth teams and a lot of other things that were relevant to actually running the business. So those were the main drivers. I'll ask Phil to chime in as well.

Yeah, as a reminder for everyone, we IPO'd last June with three external segments, Defense, National Security, Space Solutions, and Starlab. And going forward, we've got the two segments now. To Dylan's point, internally, we had already integrated the Defense and National Security and Space Solutions segment under the leadership of Matt Magana. Equally as importantly, as we progressed post-IPO last year, made three strategic acquisitions, EMSI, ExoTerra, and then ESPYs. late in the fourth quarter. And so, as we've already well on our way to integrating these businesses fully, the way we go to market, the way we go and highlight and bring our technologies, our disruptive space tech and defense tech technologies to the customer, it's bringing a portfolio solution cell to the customer. Next Generation Interceptor is a great example. Classic, if you would, propulsion technology that we've been long developing alongside with Lockheed Martin for years. Combine that with traditional space or effectively dual-use space technology and navigation controls. And so that's a great example of how we're bringing a more portfolio set, getting a greater wall chair with our customer. And the segmentation helps us clarify and clearly convey those results the way that we manage the business internally to the external community. So it should help from that perspective as well.

Great. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Rob.

Your next question comes from the line of John Goodwin with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Dylan, you had a great dialogue in the beginning about AI investments, reducing go-to-market time, you know, preparing for rising production rates with the strong booking commentary and outlook you guys have here. I just wanted to revisit that topic, understand it a little bit better and understand how you guys are kind of preparing a scale.

Yeah, thank you for the question. Very thoughtful question. So we're thinking about AI in a couple of different ways. And this has got very senior level executive sponsorship. Matt Kuda, our overall company president, is driving a lot of this. We also made a key hire And I credit Paul Tilghman, our CTO, for this, a key hire out of DARPA Labs, who was involved very much in agentic AI. So we're thinking of AI beyond just personal productivity, which is the way I think a lot of people are thinking about it. And we're really thinking of it as more of a technical tool that allows us to not only enhance our ability to create technical solutions for our customers, but to, as I said in my remarks, reduce cycle time. Because when you're a technology and innovation company, which Voyager is, it's all about being first to market with advanced technology. And so that's really the way we're thinking about it, and that's really where we're seeing the primary benefits. So think of, you know, everything from a custom ASIC design to other things that might go in a program. Instead of that being a multi-year approach, it could be a multi-month approach. And it's not only getting a better outcome, but it's reducing that cycle time and bringing the innovation to bear sooner. So that's really the key way we're thinking about it. Early indications are this is going to have a significant impact on our business. It's still too early to say exactly what meaningfully will change from a margin profile and things like that. But I would tell you, as you would expect, being a technology and innovation company, we are on the leading edge of innovation in this area as well. And I really like what I see initially here. And I think we'll have a lot more to say about this probably on our next earnings call.

Great. That's great color. And if I could just sort of ask a nit, this is probably more for Phil. You guys raised the low end of the revenue guidance, but not the high end. I know it's very early in the year, very small percentage of revenue, you know, in one queue versus the full year. That may be it. But I'm just kind of curious. Scope? to kind of revisit the high end or execute to the high end throughout the year. I mean, the bookings commentary was great. I think there might be a little bit of a potential for that, but Phil, any thoughts?

Yeah, John, appreciate the question. Love it when the conservative CFO gets put in the corner. So I'm smiling here on this end though. Again, just reminding everybody. So we've now consistently raised, yes, the bottom end, It's because it is early in the year. We're wrapping up the first quarter. As I mentioned earlier, great momentum heading into Q2. We'll provide an update on what we think about what the top end could be once we get through the second quarter of this year. We've got that crystallized visibility into the second half of the year. You know, I do highlight, and I mentioned it earlier, there's a second half revenue, about 67% of the full year guide with a substantial amount of that in the fourth quarter. You know, our customer schedules tend to move around. You know, no fault of theirs, but things get delayed and get pushed, et cetera. And so, you know, again, perhaps more on the conservative side here before we start to think about moving the top end up. We'll keep it where we lay it out today and provide an update in August. Look forward to that update, obviously. Things continue to progress well, as they have here through the, you know, strong start to the year. I'm optimistic that there could be some upside, but we'll stay a bit short from guiding that way until we have that crystallized visibility. But thanks for the question, John.

Your next question comes from the line of Gwantum Khanna with TD Cowan. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Anton Ron for Gotham. So assuming Starlab does win CLB Phase 2, when do you expect Starlab to start generating revenue? Can we start to see revenue from things like on-ground astronaut training as soon as 2027, or is this really only meaningful in 2028? And, you know, maybe how much revenue can you generate from on-ground work?

Appreciate the question. This is Phil. Yes, our expectation is that we could start seeing some revenue recognition as early as 2027 and certainly in 2028 from a training perspective. I think most importantly for everybody to kind of keep an eye on, and I highlighted this the last quarter, I keep an eye out from a balance sheet perspective, the deferred revenue that we start to recognize, or not recognize exclusively, but realize. We expect advanced bookings could start as early as, like they did here in 2026. Certainly expect that to accelerate as we move into 2027 and beyond. I think that would be the strongest indicator. As Dylan mentioned, we already have over 130% of our commercial capacity spoken for. But as we move through the year, out the back end of the year into next year, we start to see that convert into cash. reservations. Nothing better than that from a CFO's perspective. And then we'll start to turn that and flip that into revenue, like I said, the year after in 27 and 28.

Thanks.

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Michael Leshock with KeyBank Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. I wanted to ask on Golden Dome, is the early Golden Dome revenue more R&D prototype-like or is it more production-like with more established gross margins? Just appreciate any additional color you can provide on the margin profile for Golden Dome-related work.

Hey, Mike, it's Phil.

I'll take that from a gross profit margin perspective, but certainly have Dylan weigh in as well. So we highlight it as a pre-production contract. So it's certainly not research and development. This is a revenue generating contract that we're going to, that we've received here and expect to deliver on. It is a firm fixed price contract. So I know that wasn't your question, but from a margin perspective, we're looking at 20 plus percent margins. So these are healthy margins, early stage, clearly. And as we move into the higher production, no different than the NGI, we expect that margin profile to only improve or increase as we move into that phase.

Thanks for the question. Great.

Your next question comes from the line of Christine Lued with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Dylan, you mentioned earlier for NASA CLD that depending on the approach NASA wants to take, that, you know, Voyager is prepared with Starlab. I was wondering, is a third option possible? I mean, if NASA still seems to be uncertain about the path they want to take, considering the maturity of your investments in Starlab and your ability to raise private capital to support the investments, could you still go forward with Starlab as a private enterprise, even if the NASA CLD doesn't materialize in what you had initially thought? It would be helpful to get your thoughts on that.

Yeah, I think the short answer is yes, Christine, we could. But I don't anticipate that being the case. I mean, NASA, of course, is the largest user in commercial LEO, I'm sorry, in LEO today. And, you know, as we all know, the International Space Station is aging. And, you know, even if it's extended to 2032, it's hard to imagine it being extended much past that. So even if we were to go it alone, so to speak, and actually build Starlab, I would still anticipate that major space agencies around the world would be an important part of that. But if your question is could we capitalize this independent of NASA, I don't think that's going to end up having to be the case. Like I say, I think we're very well positioned for CLD phase two. But it's not out of the realm of possibility that we could independently finance this. The other thing I would say, I just want to reinforce for everyone on the call, you know, space is an incredibly important part of our key strategy. We have this 3L strategy that we've been referring to. That refers to LEO, which is, of course, low Earth orbit. That's where Starlab plays and a lot of our other technologies play. But we also have a key lunar initiative. So that's the second L, the third L being Lagrangian. which just is a proxy for deep space technology. But as it relates to lunar, we have a key initiative there. We call it Project Prevail. There was a lot to work with in the Ignite presentation that Jared made that we're very excited about vis-a-vis lunar, including lunar habitation. And that really brings into focus our key strategic investment in max space, which is on expandable, inflatable technology. So we really like what we see in that 3L strategy from a growth prospect standpoint, far above and beyond just Starlab and just LEO. So I really want to reinforce that for everyone. We're very, very bullish on what we see on the space economy.

Great. Super helpful. And Dylan, just, you know, doubling down on the CLD and just understanding it a little bit better. So what are the milestones we should be watching for the Phase 2 announcement? I mean... Is the program still on hold or is that still expected to be early summer for the down select? And then also, you know, just understanding, you know, the size of this potential contract. Can you just level set us again regarding the investments in Star Labs so far and what you need to do and fund if, you know, you have to go in this alone or as a standalone entity?

Yeah, well, the second part of your question really depends on what the final design and parameters are, so it's hard to answer that second question without answering the first question, which is what the award is. What we know is that the RFI was submitted, and I think industry has all participated in that RFI, and it's our understanding, based upon what NASA has said, that they will then take that RFI and they will create an RFP around that. In terms of the timing, it's uncertain. We would anticipate sometime early summer, so, you know, June, July. But there's nothing official, so far as we know, from NASA, you know, with a firm deadline on that. So, yeah, TBD on timing, Christine. But I think what I would say is I'm confident that we have the right commercial model, the right team, and the right technology to address NASA's needs. And so no matter what comes out in the form of the RFP, I think we're going to be extremely well positioned. That's really what I want to leave you with.

Super helpful, Dylan. And, you know, congrats again on your announcement with Andrew this morning. As a follow-up to that announcement, I want to understand, is this an exclusive partnership or are you able to partner with other players for other space-based interceptor approaches?

We are on... Multiple award-winning teams is what I can say, Christine. More to come, but we are on multiple SBI-winning teams.

Great. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Warhoftig with Wedbush. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys. Thank you for taking the question and congrats on a good quarter. I kind of want to take a big picture look at the entire defense space, considering the fiscal year 27 defense budget is expected to expand to about $1.5 trillion. And this includes about $75 billion of munitions procurements and $17 billion specifically for Golden Dome. So I wanted to kind of touch on how Voyager's positioning to gain some of this incremental deal flow if this budget were to pass. And then also about $350 billion of that $1.5 trillion is sitting in reconciliation rather than the discretionary base. And I just wanted to figure out exactly where your programs fall in the defense budget for reconciliation for discretionary.

Yeah, really smart question. I'll ask Phil to chime in on it, but let me just give you the headline. Obviously, $1.5 trillion defense budget would be an absolute windfall, not only for our industry, but for Voyager in particular. Everything that we've talked about today sort of assumes a steady state budget. So if we were to have dramatically increased spending in the DOW, that would all be potential upside to our growth profile and our organic CAGR. So that's one point I'd like to make. Second point I'd like to make is if you look at the incremental spending contemplated, whether it's in reconciliation or not, Just take the Space Force, for example. The vast majority of that incremental spending is really in advanced technology and products that directly play into where we're positioned in the market. So yes, they're ramping up production level on existing programs, but the vast majority of the incremental spend is really directed towards advanced technology. And so that's why we're extremely bullish at having the right technology at the right time, solving the right customer challenges. So again, we like what we see with whatever budget number you want to put in there, whether it's 1.2 or 1.5. And I would say our programs are protected and we've got line of sight because everything in our backlog is funded backlog, just to remind you. So yeah, I'll ask Phil to put a finer point on it, but that would be the headline I would give you.

I think, Dylan, you answered the near-term question. I would say a lot less exposure to any reconciliation impacts than not, as expected. And we've seen an actual incremental step up in the funded status of our backlog, which will obviously provide details in our filings, et cetera. But we are well over 50 percent funded here at the end of Q1, which is Seasonally, if you would, higher than typical for any quarter, let alone Q1. So we feel great about not just the impact, but the actual reflection in our guidance that we gave out earlier. I'm going to take another step back and just highlight, because you asked an interesting point around the priorities, effectively, for our national security issues. And you mentioned, effectively, energetics. And so I think it was asked earlier around a question around our pipeline. When we first IPO-ed last June, we entered the capital public markets with an opportunity pipeline that was about $3.6 billion in size, and that has increased meaningfully since last summer. Today, we sit with an opportunity pipeline. This is factored and qualified at over $5 billion, with a significant amount of that tied to programs of record like Next Generation Interceptor, is over a billion dollars of that opportunity. And we mentioned Golden Dome. You mentioned Golden Dome. That is still a billion-dollar-plus opportunity within our pipeline. But the biggest increase to our pipeline is on the energetic side. And this is, if you would, significantly tied to our strategic entry points via the Estes acquisition, ExoTerra as well, in the late fourth quarter, fourth quarter last year. And so that brings meaningful opportunity for us from a growth perspective as we look out.

So great question. Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of David Strauss with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. This is Ben Tomek going for David Strauss. I was just wondering if you guys could provide any color on the M&A pipeline right now, and then any areas like you're specifically trying to target, and then how that activity kind of compares to 2025.

Yeah, thanks for the question, Ben. Yeah, we are very, very pleased with our M&A pipeline. We're seeing some really great opportunities in the market. And In terms of areas that we're interested in, of course, expect more related to advanced technology as it relates to smart missile defense and products and services around that. We also, back to our 3L strategy, LEO, Lunar, and Lagrange, we really like opportunities that we're seeing in that area as well. So we're never, you know, we're obviously very well capitalized. We have lots of dry powder. So we're in a really good position to take advantage of these opportunities. We're certainly not going to, you know, set a milestone if we're going to do two or three deals a year because we're going to always be very disciplined in terms of the acquisitions we make. But we're very pleased with the robust M&A pipeline we have, and we're very confident that we're going to have an opportunity to augment our very high organic growth rate with some additional M&A in the near term. So stay tuned on that, but we like what we see.

Great, thanks. And then any update to EBITDA and free cash flow guidance? Are you guys still expecting to be EBITDA positive end of next year and then free cash flow positive end of 2028, or do you expect to revisit this any time this year?

Yeah, no, we'll keep it nice and short because we're almost up here on time, but Certainly no change in our outlook. Expect to exit 2027 positive EBITDA, EBITDA overall for the year, and free cash flow positive in 2028. Of course, that's all excluding Starlab, just as a reminder. If anything, the confidence that we're building here, the growth, if you would, signals that we're getting from the market has me, if you would, giddy with confidence in delivering on those key metrics. So appreciate the question there.

Great, thanks.

Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Adi Padva.

Thank you. We'll now take a question from our retail investors via the SAIT Technologies platform. Following the NASA recent commentary during the Ignition event, how has your outlook for Starlab demand evolved?

Yeah, thank you for that question. I think I touched on that a bit earlier when I was answering Christine's question, but so ignition of that I think was a very positive overall message from the administrator. We were very bullish on what we heard on lunar initiatives in particular. CLD, they're thinking through different options on CLD. But, again, I think we're very well positioned no matter what NASA ultimately decides to do in terms of architecture. I think we have the right team, the right commercial model, and the right technology to address that. So I'm very confident that we're well positioned there. We'll know more when the RFP actually comes out, which, again, we don't know for sure, but should be in the next couple months.

Thank you. And with that, Dylan, passing to you for closing remarks.

Thank you, Adi, and thank you, Phil, and thank you, everyone, for being on the call. I am extremely pleased with how 2026 is shaping up. We won significant awards on multiple key programs, including Golden Dome, Standard Missile, and Space. And these awards really validate our unique and proprietary technologies and position us for multiple years of strong growth. So thank you for joining the call, and thank you for your interest in Voyager. Have a great day. Thank you.

Thank you. This concludes today's Voyager Technologies first quarter 2026 financial results conference call. Please disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.