{"id":289027,"date":"2026-02-17T23:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289027\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T23:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:52:09","slug":"ast-spacemobile-intuitive-machines-and-rocket-lab-tumble-while-iridium-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289027\/","title":{"rendered":"AST SpaceMobile, Intuitive Machines, and Rocket Lab Tumble While Iridium Gains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space stocks delivered a mixed week of performance last week, with established players showing resilience while high-growth names faced pressure. The sector continued its volatile trajectory as investors weighed near-term execution risks against long-term orbital infrastructure opportunities.<\/p>\n

As we begin a new week, it\u00a0looks like the trend willonce again be weighted to selling off \u2018risk\u2019 and growth. In premarket trading this morning, AST SpaceMobile (Nasdaq: ASTS) is down 2.5%, Rocket Lab down 1.7%, and Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) is down 3.3%.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive into what happened last week to see what the trends in space have been so far in 2026.<\/p>\n

Weekly Performance Tracker<\/p>\n

As we noted in our free daily newsletter<\/a> this morning, infrastructure plays across tech sectors are showing divergent performance as investors reassess growth timelines.<\/p>\n

M&A Activity Reshapes Sector<\/p>\n

Intuitive Machines announced its $800 million acquisition of Lanteris Space Systems in November, expected to close in Q1 2026. CEO Steve Altemus framed the deal as positioning the company \u201cas next generation space prime.\u201d The acquisition comes as LUNR carries a $235.9 million backlog and $622 million in cash. Reddit sentiment hit 88 (Very Bullish) on Saturday morning as investors digested consolidation implications.<\/p>\n

Deutsche Bank last week issued a research note that featured Intuitive Machines as a top stock idea surrounding America\u2019s return to the moon. The researcher has an $18 price target on Intuitive Machines, but noted SpaceX\u2019s recent \u2018pivot\u2019 back to the moon and general interest in creating a base on its surface leads to Intuitive Machines being the most logical beneficiary.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab secured a record number of launch contracts while advancing its Neutron launch vehicle. The company is working through qualification tests in hopes of a first launch as early as the middle of the year. Last week, 24\/7 Wall St. author Rich Duprey took a look at how hypersonic tests<\/a> could be another catalyst for Rocket Lab\u2019s stock.<\/p>\n

Financing and Index Inclusion<\/p>\n

AST SpaceMobile\u2019s week was dominated by financing activity, generating sustained discussion on r\/wallstreetbets with peak engagement of 858 upvotes and 254 comments. The company graduated to the MSCI World Index effective February 27, 2026, creating predictable passive fund buying pressure despite concerns reflected in the week\u2019s double-digit decline.<\/p>\n

Overall, shares sank 19%, one of the worst performances across the broader space industry. It looks like this week is once again starting with a rotation away from \u2018risk assets\u2019 and into safer industries. If that situation continues, it will lead to broad selling across pre-revenue stocks.<\/p>\n

Iridium Communications led gainers after reaffirming steady service revenue growth guidance and highlighting strong operational momentum in its IoT business. Iridium has a much different profile than many other space stocks, in that it\u2019s now defending a cash-cow business. Investors cheered their latest quarterly earnings, but that\u2019s because shares were down massively across the past year headed into earnings. That is to say, investors were happy to see the results simply weren\u2019t worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The upcoming months should be action-packed with the Artemis mission returning to the moon scheduled for March. We\u2019ll see if broader enthusiasm surrounding that mission leads to more positive sentiment for space stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Space stocks delivered a mixed week of performance last week, with established players showing resilience while high-growth names…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-289027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}