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In the market, investors typically have a choice between two countervailing elements: predictability and potentiality. Highly predictable enterprises – your blue-chip enterprises, for example – get you on base but with very few (if any) home run blasts. On the flipside, high potentiality trades are all about going yard but at the sacrifice of a respectable batting average.
Just like in baseball, you can’t always depend on stringing together a bunch of singles. Sometimes, you find yourself behind late in the game and you need a major momentum shift. In such cases, you need to score but you also need to know at what point to take those shots. With Barchart Premier, you can take a lot of the guesswork out of your speculative trades.
One excellent tool that investors should consider is the platform’s Stocks Screener. This custom filter extracts ideas based on countless core financial datapoints, from price and volume metrics to key financial ratios. A high-risk, high-reward opportunity that stood out when deploying this screener is Planet Labs (PL).
PL Stock Presents an Intriguing Picture of Contrasts
On the surface, Planet Labs immediately appeals to investors for its total addressable market. As a provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions, the company represents a component of the burgeoning space economy. In 2019, The Space Foundation estimates that the sector reached a valuation of $428 billion. By 2035, the World Economic Forum notes that the industry could be worth $1.8 trillion.
Nevertheless, as Barchart’s Stocks Screener shows, PL stock is a study in contrasts. While the underlying company theoretically enjoys a massive market, it has also struggled for traction. Over the past 52 weeks, PL stock lost more than 40% of equity value, one of the metrics that I filtered for. To emphasize the point, Barchart’s Technical Opinion indicator rates PL an 88% strong sell.
At the same time, PL stock features a consensus view among Wall Street analysts of Strong Buy. Overall, the assessment breaks down as eight Strong Buys, one Moderate Buy and two Holds. Further, experts are looking for a mean price target of $4.85, implying significant upside potential.
Of course, there are always risks associated with zigging when others are zagging. However, these contrasting plays – when the stock is down heavily but analysts are enthusiastically bullish – typically offer much more upside potential than hot-performing equities that everyone universally loves.
Establishing the Credibility of the Narrative
Having identified the opportunity, investors should consider the credibility of the upside thesis. To do this, you can pull up publicly available information about the underlying sector’s growth projections.
For PL stock, the core industry is the satellite-imaging market. According to Fortune Business Insights, the sector reached a valuation of $3.27 billion in 2022. By 2030, the industry could be worth $14.18 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.12%.
Last fiscal year, Planet Labs posted revenue of $220.7 million. For the current fiscal year (2025), covering analysts are looking for revenue of $256.46 million and in fiscal 2026, $308.21 million. Over the past three years, the top-line trend tracks for a CAGR of 18.17%. That’s a very similar trajectory to the underlying ecosystem.
Further, because Planet Labs has a market capitalization of around $602 million, the growth rate could be even higher. That’s because smaller companies tend to move tremendously on positive news. So, if the stars align, PL stock could be a big winner.
It’s also worth mentioning that PL stock currently trades at around 2.69X last year’s revenue. However, assuming the same shares outstanding of 290.62 million and adjusted for fiscal 2026’s projected sales of $308.21 million, the revenue multiple would drop to 1.92X.
That’s a tad bit higher than the aerospace and defense sector’s sales multiple of 1.88X. Nevertheless, PL stock is actually priced much more attractively, so long as you believe in the analysts’ forward projections.
Check on the Technicals
Finally, before diving into PL stock, it’s worth assessing the technical picture. To get a quick snapshot of key resistance levels, my go-to resource is the Trader’s Cheat Sheet. Specifically, I filter for “Pivots” and “Standard Deviation.”
From this setup, we see that there is strong support between $1.97 to $2.03. Further, from Barchart’s Interactive Chart, we can see that strong support has held at around the $2 level. Frankly, it’s going to be essential for PL stock to hold this line. A dip below $2 could lead to significant technical damage that could arouse the bears.
However, at this price point and based off analysts’ consensus forward revenue targets, PL stock appears rationally priced; hence, technical support has held at $2. Further, if we assume the most optimistic fiscal 2026 revenue target of $336.56 million, PL stock would command a revenue multiple of 1.76X.
That would be objectively undervalued relative to the aerospace and defense industry, again emphasizing that PL stock may be a potential hidden-gem opportunity.
On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
