What Happened?
Shares of aerospace and defense company Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) jumped 9.5% in the afternoon session after it secured its largest-ever contract, an $816 million deal with the U.S. Space Development Agency, and completed a record number of successful launches for the year.
The major contract involved designing and manufacturing 18 satellites for a missile-defense system intended to track advanced threats. This landmark agreement significantly boosted the company's order book. Adding to the positive news, Rocket Lab successfully completed its 21st Electron rocket launch of the year, setting a new annual record with a perfect success rate. This operational achievement demonstrated the company's reliability and execution capabilities. In response to these developments, analysts at Stifel increased their price target on the stock, signaling growing confidence in the company's future.
The shares closed the day at $77.67, up 10.5% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Rocket Lab’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 74 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock gained 16.6% on the news that the stock's positive momentum continued as the U.S. Space Development Agency awarded the company a contract worth up to $805 million to provide 18 satellites for missile warning, tracking, and defense. This major agreement added to the company's existing contracted backlog of roughly $1.1 billion. The news provided a significant boost to investor confidence and came on the heels of another positive development. The previous day, Rocket Lab had announced the successful launch of a mission for the U.S. Space Force, completing the task a full five months ahead of schedule. Together, the substantial government contract and the demonstrated operational success fueled the stock's significant rally.
Rocket Lab is up 211% since the beginning of the year, and at $77.50 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Rocket Lab’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $7,570.
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