Space stocks have soared since Trump’s inauguration

Pure-Play space shares edged higher on Tuesday, as a Wall Street analyst pegged the sector’s fortunes after Pres. Donald Trump‘s inauguration.

“After the election, there seems to be a very deep and broad excitement about opening up the possibilities of private space,” Deutsche analyst Edison Y. told CNBC.

“It’s not just the headlines. If you talk to any (venture) investor, any institutional investor, any family office … it just seems like everybody’s gotten a lot more interested and excited (about) space,” Yu said. , which includes six space companies: Black Sky, Iridium, Planet, Rocket laboratory, telesat and Viasat.

Several stocks in the sector rose nearly 20% or more with no obvious individual catalysts, including Minorianrocket lab, Moments, Intuitive machinesPlanet and Connected.

Redwire, up 51.4%, was the day’s top performer after it announced the planned acquisition defense technology company Edge Autonomy by nearly $1 billion, and as a result, projected full-year 2025 revenue could reach $605 million, roughly double last year.

Investors also boosted the value of Viasat by 32.9%. repeated it NASA chose him as one of the four companies for a five-year, $4.8 billion communications contract to provide satellite communications services as part of the Near Space Network.

Trump made a brief reference to space in his inaugural address, but did not mention NASA or the space agency’s Artemis program, its top priority, which aims to return astronauts to the moon.

“We will pursue our manifest destiny to the stars by launching American astronauts to land the starry sky on the planet Mars,” Trump said alongside the SpaceX CEO. Elon Musk cheered in the audience behind.

There are space reserves in general rallied after the presidential electionssome of which have seen their share prices double or more in the past three months, according to FactSet.

Deutsche’s Yu noted three catalysts for the industry: Trump Jared Isaacman nomination to be the next NASA administrator, significant bidding from retail investors and the prospect of new multibillion-dollar federal contracts up for grabs.

“After Jared Isaac was selected as the next NASA administrator, it was very well received by the institutional community. When you talk to investors who are watching the space very closely, when you talk to people who are running companies, it was seen as very positive. “, – said Yu.

Space stocks largely recovered in 2024 after the sector has fallen significantly in previous years. In the last 12 months, according to FactSet, some have grown significantly: Intuitive Machines is up 779%, Redwire is up 715%, AST SpaceMobile is up 648% and Rocket Lab is up 543%.

However, Yu doesn’t “expect them to repeat that crazy 2024 performance” in 2025. He described last year’s rebound as a significant re-levelling of valuations that were “trading at very depressed” levels.

“These estimates are, of course, much richer than they were six months or even three months ago,” Yu said.