AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) jumped 5.1% on Friday, with the stock touching $61.67 intraday before closing at $57.80. Volume hit 30.2 million, up 62% from its daily average.
The catalyst? B. Riley upgraded ASTS to Buy from Neutral, slapping an $85 price target on the stock. Analyst Mike Crawford pointed to a favorable risk/reward setup after the stock had fallen 44% over the past six months.
Crawford’s upgrade came right after AST priced $1 billion in 1.625% convertible senior notes due 2034. The deal also included a potential additional $150 million tranche.
The company executed capped call transactions that lift the effective conversion price from $79.57 to $149.20. B. Riley models this as pushing deployable cash above $3.4 billion by end of Q3.
AST exited Q2 with more than $2.7 billion in cash. Crawford views the company as fully funded to deploy its global SpaceMobile direct-to-device constellation.
On the satellite side, AST successfully deployed the 2,400 square foot array of its BlueBird 10 satellite. BlueBird 8 and 9 arrays are expected to follow shortly.
BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13 are slated for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in early August. The company is in production and assembly through BlueBird 37.
The week wasn’t all positive. The convertible note pricing initially sparked dilution concerns, and the company disclosed a delay in its commercial satellite service timeline.
Broader weakness in space stocks — partly tied to SpaceX-related headlines — also weighed on sentiment earlier in the week.
Last quarter’s earnings didn’t help either. ASTS reported a loss of $0.66 per share, missing the $0.23 consensus by a wide margin. Revenue came in at $14.73 million against expectations of $39.01 million.
Piper Sandler also upgraded ASTS to Strong Buy. Deutsche Bank moved in the opposite direction, cutting its rating to Hold and lowering its target from $117 to $106.
UBS holds a Neutral rating with an $80 target. Barclays has an Underweight rating and a $65 target.
The overall consensus is “Hold” with an average price target of $86.95, still well above Friday’s close.
On the institutional side, Vodafone Ventures picked up a new stake worth roughly $397 million in Q4. Vanguard raised its position by 7.9% to over 21.4 million units.
Insiders have been selling. The CTO sold 40,000 units in early June at $96.37, cutting his position by 53.5%. Total insider sales over the past three months totalled 105,809 units valued at approximately $9.7 million.
ASTS still holds commitments from nearly 60 global carriers and has more than $1.2 billion in signed agreements.
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