Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock climbed 2.3% to $82.08 on Monday after Viasat chose the company to build a satellite bus for the U.S. Space Force. The contract is part of Viasat’s Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global program, which uses commercial providers for secure military satellite communications.
The stock hit an intraday high of $85.55 during the session. Trading volume came in at roughly 17.9 million, about 25% below the average daily session volume.
Stifel analyst Erik Rasmussen called the Viasat deal an eight-figure opportunity for Rocket Lab and said more similar contracts could follow. Rasmussen rates RKLB a Buy with a $132 price target.
The Space Force win adds to an already busy stretch for the company. Rocket Lab recently deployed eight satellites for MDA Space and Globalstar, the first batch of 17 platforms under a $143 million contract. All eight spacecraft reached orbit, made contact, and began the commissioning process.
Monday’s gains put RKLB up more than 20% over the past month. The stock is still well off its 52-week high of over $150, reached in May ahead of the SpaceX IPO.
Rocket Lab reported Q2 revenue of $234.1 million, up nearly 62% year over year and slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of $231.6 million. That’s the kind of top-line growth most companies would dream about.
However, the company reported an adjusted loss of $0.08 per share, missing the expected $0.06 loss. Management pointed to integration costs and business-mix effects on margins.
The company carries a backlog of approximately $2.36 billion, reflecting demand across commercial, government, and defense customers.
Overall, 82% of analysts covering RKLB rate it a Buy, well above the typical 55-60% Buy-rating ratio for S&P 500 stocks. The average analyst price target sits at around $117, compared to the current trading price of $82.08.
Piper Sandler recently initiated coverage with a neutral rating and an $83 price target. Deutsche Bank raised its target from $73 to $120 with a Buy rating in May.
Not all the news has been positive on the sentiment front. Insiders sold roughly 3.75 million units of stock worth about $351 million over the past 90 days, including sales by CEO Peter Beck. SVP Arjun Kampani sold 88,000 units in June at an average price of $107.98.
Rocket Lab’s market cap sits at roughly $50 billion, or about 40 times sales expected over the next 12 months. Three years ago, that ratio was around 7 times.
Institutional investors have been active buyers. BlackRock took a new position in Q2 valued at roughly $4.1 billion. Vanguard grew its position by 13.4% in Q4. Institutional investors now hold about 71.78% of the stock.
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