MDA Space (TSX: MDA.TO) posted record quarterly revenues and adjusted EBITDA as it closed out a year marked by an expansion in the defence business, more activity in satellites and possible opportunities in the robotics segment – not to mention a recent acquisition.
“A key driver of this profitable growth relates to the investments we’ve made to develop industry-leading products and capabilities,” CEO Mike Greenley said during an investor call Wednesday (March 4).
“We have been deliberate in our focus on R&D [research and development] as a differentiator for MDA Space. We were ranked 32nd within Canada’s Top 100 corporate R&D spenders this year; this is the third year in a row where MDA Space has been included in this ranking. In addition, MDA Space ranks within the Top 20 Canadian companies, when it comes to overall size of our portfolio of patent families, and within the top 10 Canadian companies when it comes to the annual patent filings in Canada over the last five years. We leverage our R&D investments to deliver value to our customers globally, and we combine this with disciplined, operational execution to convert top-line growth into profitable cash-generating operations – resulting in a robust balance sheet and a conservative leveraged profile.”
In a release, MDA highlighted its backlog of $4 billion at quarter-end, its record quarterly revenues of $499 million and record adjusted EBITDA of $96 million as indications of a strong year. Overall in fiscal 2025, the company posted record revenues of $1.6 billion (up 51% year-over-year), record adjusted EBITDA of $324 million (up 49% year-over-year) and adjusted net income of $190 million (up 71% year-over-year).
In fiscal 2026, MDA expects revenues between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, adjusted EBITDA of between $320 million and $370 million, and capital expenditures between $225 million and $275 million. The company also has a pipeline of $40 billion, with $10 billion of that representing government customers or follow-on customer contracts.
Other highlights of the year include spending on key products (Aurora, Skymaker and Chorus) expected to drive revenue growth for years to come, the acquisition of SatixFy Communications, and production ramp-up of the Globalstar and Telesat Lightspeed satellite buses. Work on the Montreal facility expansion, which will add 185,000 square feet for satellite production, continues – and the manufacturing and engineering group have already moved into their new office spaces, Greenley said.
MDA also foresees strong demand from the defence sector, in line with global increases in spending, particularly for Canadian Arctic operations and in its Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD program. (This activity is why MDA recently launched a subsidiary, 49North, focused on the defence business.)
In Canada, Greenley noted, “we have a lot of new policy and new processes around an expanding defence budget, which, assures opportunities in the pipeline, which are great, but there’s a little less insight in terms of exactly how fast those things can move.”
He said procurements are moving more quickly, “especially strategic procurements in the sovereign defence capability areas identified in the Canadian defence industrial strategy. And so, that’s really great to see, but in terms of exactly how those will play out, we have to be a little bit cautious until we actually see some more examples of how these things are going to flow through the modified procurement processes. Things can happen both in government and commercially as we go through the year.”
The year wasn’t all roses, with a notable example being the surprise termination of spectrum acquisition from EchoStar after the U.S. company agreed instead to bring that business to SpaceX. That said, MDA said it had a year-over-year increase in revenues “primarily driven by higher volumes of work performed in our satellite systems business, including the impact of the EchoStar termination agreement.”
Quarterly revenues in geointelligence (at $62 million) and satellite systems (at $371.4 million) saw substantial increases from last year due to “volume of work on programs” in geointelligence and the Lightspeed and Globalstar programs in satellite systems. Robotics and space operations had nearly flat quarterly revenues of $1 million year-over-year, although looking across the entire year there was a revenue increase largely due to Canadarm3 Phase 3 work.
MDA also supplied Canadarm2 on the International Space Station and associated robotics, most famously Dextre. The ISS is slated to retire no earlier than the early 2030s, and Greenley said MDA is already thinking about what is coming next.
“NASA is supporting the development of commercially owned and operated space stations in low Earth orbit, in which the agency – along with other customers – can purchase services and stimulate the growth of commercial activities in microgravity. Procurement for the next phase of CLD development is in the coming months, and we look forward to continuing to support the CLD candidates in their system development and bids to NASA,” Greenley said.
As of the market close today (March 4, 2026), shares were trading at $42.91 CAD, up approximately 5.8% following the earnings release.
Key Metric 2025 Result Year-over-Year Change Total Revenue $1.6 Billion ↑ 51% Adjusted EBITDA $324 Million ↑ 49% Adjusted Net Income $190 Million ↑ 71% Ending Backlog $4.0 Billion — R&D Spending Rank 32nd in Canada (3rd consecutive year)
2026 Outlook
- Target Revenue: $1.7B – $1.9B
- Target EBITDA: $320M – $370M
- Opportunity Pipeline: $40 Billion