Syntec Optics has fewer than 200 people at its Rochester, New York factory. On Sunday it said it is supplying optics for U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellite constellations and Space Force infrastructure — what CFO Dean Rudy called the most significant order in the company's 25-year history, according to a September 21 company announcement.
Shares closed 16.20% higher at $7.8900 on September 22, after the announcement, on dollar volume of about $10.7 million.
No contract value was given. What the release did offer was a projection: Rudy said Syntec is beginning to build a forecast for its space product lines with a backlog exceeding $100 million. That is a projected figure, not booked revenue. The release gave no timeline for when, or whether, it would be earned.
The NRO is building out a constellation of hundreds of low-flying satellites, the company said. Having hundreds of smaller satellites in orbit, rather than fewer larger ones, is designed to raise how often any given location can be imaged, increase overall coverage, and remove single points of failure if individual satellites are disabled. Syntec's job is to make the optics that go inside them — components the company says can handle the temperature extremes of space and track objects on the ground in real time.
Matt Carey, a vice president at Syntec and a former Marine, said in the release that the company already produces optics for communications satellites in volume. Syntec said it has built thousands of laser connections allowing satellites to relay data directly to each other in orbit, without routing through ground stations that could be knocked out.
The constellation is still in its early stages. The $100 million figure is where Rudy expects the program to take the company — not where it stands now.