AST SpaceMobile Inc. stock started to rise again on Monday, just in time for the launch this week of the company’s first five business satellites.
The stock is up 3.4% on Monday and has gone up 349.7% in 2024, more than the 14.7% gain in the S&P 500 index (SPX).
BlueBird satellites will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on or after September 12. This news caused AST SpaceMobile stock to go through the roof last week. The stock then fell sharply on Thursday and Friday after AST SpaceMobile said it would sell up to $400 million worth of common shares at the market.
AST SpaceMobile says that each of the satellites has the biggest commercial communications systems that have ever been put into low Earth orbit. A company statement said, “After launch, the BlueBird satellites are planned to offer non-continuous cellular broadband service across the United States and in select markets around the world.”
The first service, which will use premium low-band spectrum, will be available to beta test users for AT&T Inc. (T2.53%) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ 3.84%). AST SpaceMobile said that the service will aim to provide coverage for over 5,600 cells across the United States, which is about 100% of the country. The company said in July that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission had given them their first license to do business in space in the U.S.
After the news of a deal with Verizon came out in May, AST SpaceMobile stock went through the roof.
Brian Macauley, co-portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds, said that the share price of AST SpaceMobile has gone up about ten times since May. AST SpaceMobile is in the Hennessy Focus Fund. “We believe it is only the beginning,” he wrote in a note.
Macauley also said, “AST is building a satellite network to provide a mobile broadband connection directly to your unmodified everyday cell phone.” He said that this had never been done before because it was so hard to do. He wrote, “Yet AST seems to have cracked the code.”
