AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) shares climbed 4% following its second-quarter earnings report, even as the company missed revenue estimates and widened its per-share loss.
Rocket Lab (RKLB), despite delivering record revenue and above-consensus guidance, saw its shares edge lower after results, drawing a significant buy from ARK Investment Management.
Rocket Lab posted Q2 revenue surging 62% year-over-year to a record $234.07 million, beating the $230.94 million consensus and exceeding its prior quarterly record by $34 million.
“Q2 was another fantastic quarter for Rocket Lab, highlighted by record results and massive momentum,” CEO Peter Beck said after the results were released.
Rocket Lab’s backlog hit a record $2.36 billion, and the company said contracts added since quarter-end brought new Q3 awards to more than $1 billion across launch and Space Systems.
The company guided Q3 revenue of $250 million to $265 million, comfortably above Wall Street’s $235.9 million estimate, though Neutron development spending continues to pressure near-term profitability.
AST SpaceMobile reported Q2 revenue of $31.5 million, missing the $34.4 million consensus, with its per-share loss widening to $0.77 from $0.41 a year earlier.
CEO Abel Avellan reaffirmed the company’s 2026 revenue forecast of $150 million to $200 million, saying AST SpaceMobile remains “uniquely positioned to deliver scalable direct-to-device connectivity” through satellites.
ARK Investment Management purchased 292,873 Rocket Lab shares worth approximately $23.43 million across three funds, including ARKK, ARKQ, and ARKX, following the post-earnings dip.
The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) acquired 200,987 shares worth about $16.08 million, the ARK Autonomous Technology and Robotics ETF (ARKQ) bought 64,785 shares valued at $5.18 million, and ARKX added 27,101 shares worth $2.17 million.
Wall Street remained far more bullish on Rocket Lab, with KeyBanc retaining its Overweight rating and $135 price target, implying roughly 68.7% upside from current levels.
Citizens maintained its Market Outperform rating and $130 target, calling the pending Iridium acquisition the “missing piece” in Rocket Lab’s architecture and citing a potential market exceeding $100 billion.
Needham reiterated a Buy rating with a $120 target, representing 50% upside, while raising its 2026 and 2027 revenue forecasts for Rocket Lab.
Rocket Lab’s average analyst price target of $112.76 implies 41% upside, while AST SpaceMobile’s average target of $79.66 suggests just 11% upside, according to Koyfin.
BofA lowered its ASTS price target to $80 from $95, maintaining a Neutral rating, while UBS cut its target to $78 from $80 and also retained a Neutral rating.
Concerns over Neutron’s inaugural launch potentially slipping beyond 2026 weighed on RKLB’s post-earnings reaction, though Beck pushed back on pessimistic interpretations.
“I think probably headlines [were] overblown a little bit,” Beck told Bloomberg, adding, “It’s getting a little bit tighter to get a launch away this year.”
Beck urged investors to look beyond the rocket’s debut, saying “The real question that should be asking is, what about the 10th flight?” in reference to achieving commercial scale and reusability.
Over the past year, RKLB climbed 78% compared with ASTS’s 56% gain, with retail sentiment on Stocktwits described as extremely bullish for Rocket Lab and bullish for AST SpaceMobile.
One Stocktwits user noted that similar share prices mask vastly different valuations, with ASTS valued at roughly $26 billion versus RKLB’s nearly $50 billion market capitalization.
