June 12, 2026
Shares of earth imaging satellite company Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) fell 9.2% in the afternoon session after the much-anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) of competitor SpaceX prompted investors to sell shares of other space companies.
The decline appeared to be driven by investor rotation, as those wanting to buy into the newly public SpaceX sold their holdings in other space stocks, like Planet Labs, to raise cash. While Planet Labs’ stock had performed well in the months leading up to the event, the actual IPO triggered a sell-off in peer companies as funds were reallocated to the high-profile debut.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Planet Labs? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Planet Labs’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 71 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 6.3% on the news that SpaceX’s planned initial public offering (IPO) created positive sentiment across the commercial space sector.
Reports suggested SpaceX’s public debut would set a new valuation benchmark, or “yardstick,” for the entire industry. Planet Labs, which operates one of the world’s largest Earth-observation satellite fleets, was seen as a key player in this growing market. The company sells imagery and analytics to various sectors including agriculture, government, and defense.
As a data-focused business using space hardware, Planet Labs represents the sector’s information-services layer, highlighting that value comes from both the hardware in orbit and the data it collects.
Planet Labs is up 51.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $30.98 per share, it is still trading 39.7% below its 52-week high of $51.40 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Planet Labs’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,123.
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