Virgin Spaceship Unity and Virgin Mothership Eve
Courtesy Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic Holdings stock has gone through a rough patch of weather in recent weeks that has investors reaching for airsickness bags. But a Thursday announcement has shares soaring: Flight testing is about to resume.
Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE) stock is up 21% in premarket trading to almost $21 a share. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, for comparison, are both down.
The jump, however, still leaves the stock down about 67% from a 52-week intraday high of $62.80 set back in February.
Virgin Galactic stock is down along with many other more-speculative stocks. The Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF (SPAK), for instance, is down 32% from a 52-week high set in February. Virgin Galactic is in that ETF and completed its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in October 2019.
But the decline in Virgin Galactic stock can’t be blamed only the market. The company has had some trouble with its test flights, which need to be completed before the company can begin commercial operations and generate sales.
Virgin Galactic management disclosed problems with electromagnetic interference and flight control systems in late February on its fourth-quarter earnings conference call, delaying test flights. Then, on the company’s May 10 first-quarter-earnings conference call, management disclosed a new issue related to parts wearing out, delaying testing again.
Management had committed to an update, and on Thursday Virgin Galactic announced the test flight would happen May 22, if the weather allows.
Commercial flights will require more tests, and the next will be scheduled after data from May 22 is fully analyzed.
It’s taking longer than management wanted to start commercial operations, Virgin Galactic, back in 2019, projected $210 million in sales for 2021. Analysts are projecting $3.2 million. Virgin Galactic is trying to take civilians into orbit, and a spacewalk is no cakewalk. It’s a new business, and some delays might have been expected, but the severity of the holdups have clearly hurt the stock. Investors hope that a resumption of testing can help shares recapture some of its previous momentum.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
