KeyBanc Capital Markets raised its price goal for Rocket Lab USA Inc., which caused the company’s shares to rise 12.5% by the end of the trading day on Friday.
KeyBanc Capital Markets said in a note released Thursday that it had held a non-deal tour with Rocket Lab RKLB 12.54%. Adam Spice, the company’s chief financial officer, was there. “We came away with more confidence in Rocket Lab’s ability to grow its business, and we continue to believe it is positioning itself to be a leader in both launch services and satellite manufacturing/design,” wrote Michael Leshock in a note for KeyBanc Capital Markets.
KeyBanc Capital Markets kept its “overweight” rating on Rocket Lab and raised its price target from $8 to $11. “We continue to see upside flexibility in the long term,” Leshock said.
Dow Jones Market Data show that the market rose 16.57 percent, which was the most since September 25. With a close price of $9.78, Rocket Lab also had its best close since February 24, 2022, when it ended at $9.89.
Rocket Lab shares have now been rising for seven days in a row, which is the biggest winning streak since July 15, 2024, when they were up for nine days in a row.
The latest data from the exchange shows that 18.8% of Rocket Lab’s public float of shares are being sold short.
Rocket Lab announced on Thursday that it had finished building the second spacecraft for Varda Space Industries. Varda Space Industries is a life sciences business that processes materials in space and sends them back to Earth.
Rocket Lab reported on September 21 that its Electron rocket had completed its 53rd successful mission. The mission sent five satellites into low-Earth orbit for Kinéis, a French internet of things company.
The company that competes with SpaceX said last month that its second-quarter sales went up 71%. Rocket Lab also said that the first test firing of its Archimedes engine went well. “After last month’s big step forward with a successful hot fire test, Neutron is still making progress towards its launch target of ‘no earlier than mid-2025,'” Leshock wrote. “In the past few months, important infrastructure improvements have been made to Neutron’s launch pad, and more are currently being worked on.”
KeyBanc Capital Markets also thinks that Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN -1.67% Project Kuiper could be good for Rocket Lab. This project aims to build a network of more than 3,000 satellites to improve internet access around the world. “An FCC order says that Amazon must launch at least half of its 3,236 satellites by July 30, 2026. This would mean that its current launch providers would have to do nearly 50 launches,” Leshock wrote. As of now, none of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites have been launched. We think it makes sense for Neutron to be chosen to help with this.
Last year, Amazon sent up the first two test satellites for Project Kuiper. The company said in June that its first full-scale Kuiper mission would happen in the fourth quarter of this year. It would be launched on an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance, which is a partnership between Boeing Co. BA 1.13% and Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT 0.86%.
In 2024, Rocket Lab shares are up 76.9%, which is more than the 20.3% gain in the S&P 500 (SPX -0.13%).
