Latest news with #RKLB
Business Insider
8 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
RKLB, IONQ: 2 Soaring Russell 2000 Stocks Still Rated as Strong Buys
Small-cap stocks Rocket Lab (RKLB) and IonQ (IONQ) have both posted explosive gains over the last 12 months, catching the attention of growth-focused investors. Yet despite their big rallies, Wall Street analysts remain bullish, maintaining strong buy ratings on these Russell 2000 stocks. Confident Investing Starts Here: Nonetheless, RKLB and IONQ represent classic high-risk, high-reward opportunities, appealing to investors with a strong appetite for volatility and long-term disruption. While their sharp rallies reflect massive growth potential, both companies operate in emerging, capital-intensive sectors where success is not guaranteed. Let's dive into the details. Is RKLB a Good Stock to Buy? Rocket Lab builds and launches small satellite rockets, including its flagship Electron and upcoming reusable Neutron rocket. Over the last 12 months, RKLB stock soared more than 640%. Most recently, RKLB shares gained almost 12% on Thursday after securing a deal with the European Space Agency to launch two satellites for its LEO-PNT test constellation. Looking ahead, rising global tensions continue to fuel demand for Rocket Lab's defense and surveillance satellite launches, reinforcing the company's long-term potential. Its Electron rocket caters to the growing market for small satellite deployments, while the upcoming Neutron rocket, designed for medium-lift missions, positions Rocket Lab to meet the increasing demand for affordable and dependable space access. Furthermore, analysts remain optimistic. Top-rated analysts at firms like Cantor Fitzgerald and Stifel Nicolaus are bullish on the Neutron rocket, calling its planned launch in the second half of 2025 a critical milestone. They view it as a major step toward Rocket Lab's broader ambition of becoming a fully integrated space company. What Is the Target Price for RKLB? According to TipRanks, RKLB stock has received a Strong Buy consensus rating, with nine Buys and three Holds assigned in the last three months. The average Rocket Lab stock price target is $30.20, suggesting a potential downside of 16.4% from the current level. It's worth noting that despite analysts' bullish ratings, the recent surge in share price has pushed RKLB stock above its average price target, implying a potential downside in the near term. Is IonQ a Good Stock Buy? IonQ is a leading quantum computing company focused on trapped-ion technology, delivering its systems through major cloud platforms. Its stock has surged over 470% in the past year, reflecting its standout position in the space. IonQ is ahead of the curve, having already sold quantum hardware to cloud giants like Amazon's (AMZN) AWS and Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Cloud. The company's systems offer full qubit connectivity and an industry-best 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity, which is an essential metric indicating the system's ability to perform calculations with minimal error. With increasing demand and additional system deployments on the horizon, IonQ is well-positioned for further growth. Turning to Wall Street, five-star-rated analyst David Williams of Benchmark Co. recently reiterated his Buy rating on IonQ and earlier this month raised his price target to $50. His bullish stance follows IonQ's announcement to acquire UK-based Oxford Ionics in a $1.075 billion deal. Benchmark analysts believe the acquisition will significantly enhance IonQ's leadership in trapped-ion quantum computing by integrating Oxford's advanced technology, expanding its technical edge and global market reach. What Is IonQ Forecast for 2025? According to TipRanks, four out of five analysts currently covering IONQ stock have issued Buy recommendations. Meanwhile, the average IonQ share price target of $43 suggests a 4.6% upside from current levels.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rocket Lab vs. BlackSky: Which Space Tech Stock Is the Smarter Player?
As investors increasingly focus on the commercialization of space and national security needs, the demand for space technology stocks like Rocket Lab Corp. RKLB and BlackSky Technology BKSY is rising, further fueled by the growing demand for real-time data and satellite infrastructure. RKLB and BKSY represent two distinct, yet complementary, facets of the space economy. Rocket Lab operates as a launch service provider and space system manufacturer, specializing in small satellite launches through its Electron rocket. In contrast, BlackSky operates in geospatial intelligence, collecting and delivering high-frequency, real-time satellite imagery and analytics to clients, including government agencies and commercial entities. In recent times, heightened investor interest has been observed for these stocks amid rising global defense spending, increased demand for commercial Earth observation data, and the recent momentum in the private space sector post-SpaceX success. Additionally, intensifying geopolitical tensions and climate-related monitoring needs have strengthened the investment case for real-time satellite analytics and launch resilience. Against this backdrop, an investor seeking a profitable space tech stock may find it challenging to choose between RKLB and BKSY solely based on their business models. Let's dig deeper to see which stock emerges as the smarter player in the evolving space tech landscape. Recent Achievements: Among RKLB's more recent achievements, worth mentioning is the successful launch of its 67th Electron rocket for HawkEye 360, a radio frequency geospatial analytics provider, in June 2025. As Electron continues to post record launch volumes, Rocket Lab aims for more than 20 launches this year. This optimistic guidance reflects growing commercial confidence in RKLB's launch services, which, combined with Electron's 100% mission success rate year to date, should inspire more clients to choose RKLB as their preferred launch service provider. This, in turn, should boost Rocket Lab's launch cadence and bolster its future revenue stream. Financial Stability: Rocket Lab ended the first quarter with a cash and cash equivalent of $428 million. Its current debt was $20 million, while its long-term debt totaled $419 million. So, we may safely conclude that the company holds a moderate solvency position, which should enable it to continue investing in innovative space technologies to support the manufacturing of components, sub-systems, and assemblies across the full range of its launch vehicles and spacecraft family. Challenges to Note: A key risk to investing in Rocket Lab lies in its high operating expenses, caused by investments in innovations like the Neutron launch vehicle, Electron's first-stage recovery, advanced spacecraft capabilities and an expanded portfolio of components. These expenses often offset revenue gains, leading to losses, as evident from its recent quarterly reports. Moreover, the space industry is highly capital-intensive and subject to long development cycles, with uncertain timelines for launch vehicle readiness (such as the upcoming Neutron rocket), which might delay revenue streams and dampen investor sentiment for the stock. Recent Achievements: Among BlackSky's most recent achievements, worth mentioning is the $24 million, four-year contract it secured from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to provide AI-powered global monitoring of military and economic sites, earlier this week. Last month, the company signed Gen-3 early access agreements with multiple international defense sector customers for providing real-time, space-based monitoring capabilities. These contracts should duly boost BKSY's top-line performance in the next few years. Moreover, in mid-June, the company revealed its plans to expand its current high-frequency monitoring constellation with multispectral, large-area collection satellites, with their launches expected in 2027. Such innovations, once available in the market, should fetch more revenues for BKSY in the coming years. Financial Stability: BlackSky ended fiscal 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $77 million. Its current debt, as of March 31, 2025, was $4 million, while its long-term debt was $112 million. So, we may safely conclude that the company holds a solid solvency position in the near term, which should enable it to continue investing in the development of innovative space-based intelligence products. It is currently focusing on expanding its satellite constellation and enhancing its analytics platform, including work on a high-resolution optical satellite in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space for India's defense contractor, Nibe Ltd. Challenges to Note: BlackSky faces intense competition in the crowded satellite imaging sector, where rivals like Planet Labs and Maxar dominate with larger constellations, lower pricing and established government contracts. The rise of AI-driven analytics startups and SpaceX's Starlink-backed imaging ventures further escalates pressure on BKSY to differentiate its real-time intelligence offerings. Moreover, despite achieving strong revenue growth, the company is unable to deliver strong bottom-line performance, which might be a cause of concern for its investors. Evidently, though BKSY's first-quarter 2025 revenues grew 22% year over year, the company registered a loss of $12.8 million. Since investment in space-based technologies is highly capital intensive, BKSY incurs huge operating expenses in the form of high research and development costs as well as professional and engineering services costs, in addition to high interest expenses due to its huge long-term debt load. This trend is unlikely to reverse soon, thereby continuing to put a downward pressure on BKSY's bottom line in the near future. To this end, analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence don't expect BlackSky to earn its first profit before 2028 (as per an article published by The Motley Fool in June 2025). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Rocket Lab's 2025 sales suggests a surge of 32.8% from the year-ago quarter's reported figure, while that for its loss per share also implies a solid improvement. The company's near-term bottom-line estimates reflect mixed movement over the past 60 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BlackSky's 2025 sales implies year-over-year growth of 28.5%, while that for its loss also suggests a solid improvement. The stock's annual bottom-line estimates have moved north over the past 60 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research RKLB (up 94.1%) has underperformed BKSY (up 158.9%) over the past three months. However, over the past year, RKLB surpassed BKSY. Shares of RKLB and BKSY have surged 652.9% and 139.2%, respectively, in a year. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research BKSY is trading at a forward sales of 4.32X, below RKLB's 22.96X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The image below, reflecting a negative Return on Equity (ROE) for both RKLB and BKSY, suggests that neither space company is generating profits from its equity base very efficiently. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The image below reflects that BKSY is more leveraged than RKLB, considering its high debt-to-capital ratio. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research To conclude, both RKLB and BKSY are positioned to benefit from rising demand in the space tech sector. However, based on recent achievements and key metrics, RKLB stands out as the more financially sound stock compared to BKSY for long-term investors. Despite its premium valuation, RKLB's consistent launch cadence and low leverage should appeal to most investors. In contrast, BKSY's higher leverage and a delayed path to profitability diminish its near-term investment appeal. Therefore, for investors seeking a balanced risk-reward in space tech, RKLB is the preferred choice. However, those who already own BKSY may continue to do so, considering its recent share price outperformance on the bourses and upward movement in its annual earnings estimates, which reflect increased investor and analyst confidence in this stock. Both RKLB and BKSY carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Rocket Lab Corporation (RKLB) : Free Stock Analysis Report BlackSky Technology Inc. (BKSY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rocket Lab Stock Surges Aiming for Orbit with ESA Deal
Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) just gave investors a reason to smileits stock popped 13% after snagging two launch orders from the European Space Agency. The deal covers the December 2025 liftoff of two prototype satellites (built by GMV and Thales Alenia Space) to test a low Earth orbit positioning, navigation and timing network. ESA tapped Rocket Lab for its knack at quick turnarounds and small-sat expertise to meet a spring 2026 deadline under International Telecommunication Union rules. While these two missions are high-profile, ESA's longer-term rollout of around 300 satellites will likely favor European launchers, making this a big but potentially one-off win for RKLB outside its home turf. This ESA nod cements Rocket Lab's standing in the hot small-launch marketits 43.7% year-to-date rally shows investors believe in the commercial space story. Still, future growth hinges on building a more diverse customer lineup once ESA goes back home. You'll want to watch for updates on the December 2025 launch and any fresh contractscommercial or governmentalthat fill RKLB's manifest. Analyst targets for Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) sit at an average of $28.30about 19% below current levelswith a high-side forecast of $35 and a low of $16. This spread reflects divergent views on the sustainability of RKLB's post-ESA-launch rally and the broader small-sat launch market. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Rocket Lab USA Stock (RKLB) Soars 13% on ESA Launch Orders
Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) stock soared on Thursday after the aerospace company announced a launch deal with the European Space Agency. This will see it launch two small spacecraft to test a planned low Earth orbit positioning, navigation and timing (LEO-PNT) constellation. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Rocket Lab USA will launch the first of these satellites no earlier than December 2025. The two satellites also have different manufacturers, with one made by GMV and the other by Thales Alenia Space. These are two of a planned 10-satellite setup. The European Space Agency needs the satellites launched before Spring 2026 to comply with International Telecommunication Union regulations. That's why it chose Rocket Lab USA for the task, as the company offered a quick launch period to meet these requirements. What This Means for Rocket Lab USA Stock Investors were pleased with the news that Rocket Lab USA will handle the launch of the two satellites for the European Space Agency. This sent shares of RKLB stock 13.38% higher as of Thursday morning, extending their 43.66% rally year-to-date. Unfortunately, this may not lead to further launches for Rocket Lab USA. The European Space Agency would prefer to use rocket companies in its home territory. It's likely to do so for the launch of an estimated 300-satellite network after the LEO-PNT test is finished. Is Rocket Lab USA Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Turning to Wall Street, the analysts' consensus rating for Rocket Lab USA is Strong Buy, based on nine Buy and three Hold ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average RKLB stock price target of $30.20, representing a potential 17.89% downside for the shares.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rocket Lab (RKLB) Jumps 9% on New Mission Launch
Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) is one of the . Rocket Lab extended its winning streak to a third straight day on Monday, jumping 9.12 percent to end at $32.78 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios ahead of the launch of the Symphony in the Stars mission. In a post on X, Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) said that its next launch attempt for the mission was scheduled for Tuesday, June 24th, at 7 PM NZT, or 3AM EDT. Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) attempted to launch the Symphony in the Stars on Friday but scrapped the plan due to strong winds. In other news, Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) received a higher price target from Cantor Fitzgerald—$35 versus the $29 previously. The latter also maintained its 'overweight' rating on the stock. A launch pad atop a grassy hill, smoke filled sky from a successful voyage to space. Cantor Fitzgerald said that its revision was based on Rocket Lab Corporation's (NASDAQ:RKLB) successful space launch track record, which positions it in the industry. While we acknowledge the potential of RKLB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
