Heads up, Mars, the USA is on the way.
During his inauguration speech, President Donald Trump put the universe on notice about America’s high-flying intentions of turning the Red Planet to red, white and blue.
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“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” said Trump, much to the delight of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who threw his hands into the air upon hearing the declaration.
Musk, the world’s richest man, Tesla (TSLA) CEO, and Trump’s biggest donor, has been a longtime proponent of Mars exploration.
The SpaceX website has a page dedicated to “Mars & Beyond,” which is subtitled “the road to making humanity multiplanetary.”
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“It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past,” Musk is quoted on the web page. “And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”
But Musk wasn’t the only one jumping for joy following Trump’s rocket-powered vow. Pure-play space stocks were blasting off as well.
Rocket Lab USA founder and CEO Peter Beck. The company is slated to report Q4 earnings next month.
‘Broad excitement’ about private opportunities in space
“Post the election, there seems to be this very deep and broad excitement about opening up private space opportunities,” Deutsche analyst Edison Yu told CNBC.
People were pretty excited about private space exploration even before Trump’s election.
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The Federal Aviation Administration said in August that it could oversee 338 launches by 2028, more than twice the forecast 156 for fiscal 2024.
The Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization co-founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, had a list of recommendations for the Trump administration that included demanding “the best performance from NASA’s civil service, contractors and commercial partners.”
“Over the last decade, commercial space companies have dramatically reduced launch costs, improved reliability, and spurred a new age of entrepreneurial energy,” the group said.
“NASA’s future success hinges on forging closer alliances with these private partners — while preserving NASA’s core missions that only the government can undertake.”
Rocket Lab signs deal with German company
One of the companies that saw its stock take off after Trump’s Mars mission statement was Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) , which has been launching missions to space for commercial and government customers since 2017.
Founded in 2006 by Peter Beck of New Zealand, Rocket Lab said on Jan. 23 that it was supporting Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 45-day journey to the moon with the company’s Max Flight and Max Ground Data Software suites.
“The new era of commercial lunar exploration is underway, and we’re excited to be part of making it possible,” Richard French, Rocket Lab’s vice president of business development and strategy, said in a statement.
Rocket Lab also recently said it had signed a deal with the German company Orora Technologies to develop a satellite constellation to monitor wildfires.
“Knowing that time is of the essence to get these satellites in space, we’re proud to be rising to the challenge and supporting the OroraTech mission to better monitor for and protect against these devastating natural disasters globally,” Beck said.
The Long Beach, Calif., space-tech company, which is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings next month, has seen its stock rise nearly 13% from a year ago.
On Jan. 20, Citi raised its price target on Rocket Lab to $35 from $22 and affirmed a buy rating on the shares as part of an earnings preview for the aerospace and defense group.
Wall Street veteran: Rocket Lab’s guidance will be closely watched
Citi said it expected to hear positive commentary from commercial aftermarket suppliers in Q4, saying that traffic looked poised to grow above trend in 2025 and from commercial original equipment exposed names as production rates head higher.
Further, defense contractors will be “somewhat balanced,” with positive commentary on demand from Europe but some caution on the U.S., given the presidential transition, the firm said.
Citi also said it expected positive demand commentary from business-jet and space-exposed names. The defense-stock selloff “looks overdone” as investors have become too cautious on the outlook for defense spending, the firm contended.
Veteran trader Stephen Guilfoyle has been highlighting Rocket Lab’s stock on TheStreet Pro for a while. In fact, Rocket Lab has been on his list since its shares were trading in the mid-single digits.
On Jan. 10, Guilfoyle, also known as Sarge, cited the company’s announcement that it had reached a mutual agreement with NASA to include Neutron launch services to the space agency through Rocket Lab’s existing Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare contract.
He said the company’s new Neutron medium-lift reusable rocket permits Rocket Lab to continue to broaden access to space, It can deliver a multitude of missions across a range of orbits to include CubeSats and Class D missions as well as other payloads.
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Guilfoyle, who began his career on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1980s, made a return voyage to Rocket Lab in his Jan. 22 column.
“Has Rocket Lab USA broken out?” Guilfoyle asked. “Maybe I should add the word ‘again’ to that question.”
He said that Wall Street was looking for Rocket Lab to post an adjusted loss of 7 cents a share, compared with an 8-cent loss a year earlier. The revenue estimate of $130.6 million reflects a doubling (up 118%) year over year.
“This time around, the guidance will be watched more closely than ever as the aerospace environment is evolving rapidly and Rocket Lab USA is now in the thick of it,” Guilfoyle said.
While he hadn’t seen Rocket Lab’s stock breakout as he had hoped, Guilfoyle said he was boosting his price target to $39 from $33.
“What may already be the ‘highest on Wall Street’ target for RKLB is now about $8, or 25%, higher than the second highest that I am aware of,” he said.
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