AST SpaceMobile earnings: third quarter 2026

AST SpaceMobile, which is building a network of satellites to connect ordinary mobile phones directly from space, brought in $42.3 million of sales in the third quarter of 2026. That is almost three times a year ago, helped by deliveries of ground stations and payments for reaching milestones on U.S. Government work. It is still in the expensive building phase. Spending rose faster than sales, the loss per share was $0.44, and over nine months it put about $1.15 billion into equipment, mostly satellites. That build-out is paid for largely with borrowed money. The company kept its sales forecast for the year and lined up about $1 billion of funding from Japan. It now expects its target of about 45 satellites in orbit to be reached by the middle of 2027, later than the early 2027 it gave before. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts' average forecast, as compiled by Nasdaq's earnings calendar, was a loss of $0.41 a share; AST SpaceMobile reported a loss of $0.44, about 7% larger than expected. The company gives no adjusted earnings per share, so its reported loss is the figure set against that forecast. ¹²

The strong points

• Sales were almost three times those of a year ago, at $42.3 million, though part of that came from ground-station deliveries and government milestone payments. ¹
• The company now expects about $1.0 billion of funding from Japan for a satellite project, money that does not mean selling new shares; before, this was only a preliminary selection. ¹
• It expects to be making six of its new-generation satellites a month by December 2026, with its new chips starting earlier than planned. ¹

The weak points

• On the company's own measure, which leaves out non-cash items and the one-off loss, running costs rose again to $133.6 million, almost double a year ago. ¹
• The direct cost of what it sold took about 60% of sales, against about 37% a year ago, so it kept less of each dollar. ¹
• Long-term debt has nearly doubled since the end of 2025, to about $4.08 billion. ¹

What the company expects

• The company kept its forecast for 2026 sales at $150 million to $200 million, adding that recent contract signings could push it higher. ¹
• It now aims to have about 45 satellites in orbit by the middle of 2027, later than the early 2027 it targeted in its previous results. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A mixed report. Sales nearly tripled and the company kept its forecast for the year, but the loss per share was larger than analysts expected and its satellite target slipped by several months.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. AST SpaceMobile's results release, 9 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 9 November 2026. ↩