By
Godfrey Benjamin
August 10th, 2023
Virgin Galactic stock has climbed more than 106% over the past year. These days, the stock is also in the green.
American spaceflight company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPCE) continues to record increases in its stock. On the 25th of January, Virgin Galactic surged 13% before a correction where the company lost the gains. On the same day, the stock recorded both loses and gains, showing investors uncertainties around the spaceflight company.
A report by The Motley Fool highlighted the reason behind the instability in Virgin Galactic’s stock. Investors have been anticipating successful test flights from the spaceflight company. Although Virgin Galactic announced back-to-back successful test flights in the past week, it was not exactly the news investors have been waiting for.
The successful tests were for Virgin Galactic’s VMS EVE “mothership” aircraft and not test flights of the spaceplane like investors have been expecting.
In December, Virgin Galactic recorded its third-worst day trading ever in history after a failed spaceflight test on the 12th of December. The company’s CEO Michael Colglazier commented on the aborted test. He revealed that the “spaceship’s onboard computer that monitors the rocker motor lost connection.”
In reaction to the unsuccessful spaceflight test, Virgin Galactic lost 17.4%. Despite the failed test and stock decline, Credit Suisse analyst Robert Spingarn said Virgin Galactic had proved a safe flight as the pilot safely flew back to Spaceport America.
Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Stock Increases
At press time, in the pre-market, Virgin Galactic is trading at $36.76, a 2.11% gain over its previous close of $36.00. Virgin Galactic has been surging all year. The company’s stock has climbed over 106% over the past year. In addition to the increases, the spaceflight company has grown 51.71% in its year-to-date record and gained 96.51% in the last three months. Also, Virgin Galactic has advanced over 50% over the past month and up 18.30% over the last five days.
On the 25th of January, Space Capital released a quarterly report on private investment in space companies for Q4 2020. It reads:
“With another $5.7B invested into 80 space countries in Q4, there has now been $177.7B of equity investment into 1,343 unique companies in the space economy over the past 10 years, with $25.6B invested in 2020.”
The report added that space companies saw a new annual record despite the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic that affected several companies. The report stated:
“While many expected Infrastructure to be the hardest hit by the pandemic, 2020 turned out to be a record year for investment in this layer of the stack with $8.9B invested.”
Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson also commented on the 24 exits of infrastructure space companies last year:
“Nearly all of the Infrastructure exits over the past decade have come in the form of acquisitions. The low-interest rate environment has acted as a tailwind for M&A activity with 2020 being the most active year on record.”
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