AST SpaceMobile Is Down 32% in a Month and SpaceX Is Down 34%. Are Space Stocks Doomed?

4 weeks ago 13

David Moadel

Fri, July 17, 2026 astatine 10:29 AM CDT 5 min read

Quick Read

  • A $1 cardinal convertible indebtedness superior rise deed AST SpaceMobile's investors with dilution fears, portion a Starship abort pushed SpaceX banal to post-IPO lows.

  • Goldman Sachs calls the space-stock selloff a convulsive shakeout, noting its abstraction handbasket is inactive up 13% twelvemonth to day aft surging 360% implicit 2 years.

  • RKLB banal slid 36% successful a month, but Rocket Lab's vertically integrated exemplary positions it arsenic the adjacent rivals whitethorn privation to transcript heading into the recovery.

  • Act now: the expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks — and AST SpaceMobile didn't marque the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Shares of abstraction names are sliding Friday greeting arsenic a crisp one-month reversal deepens crossed the sector. AST SpaceMobile banal (NASDAQ:ASTS) is down 32% implicit the past month, and SpaceX shares (NASDAQ:SPCX) are down 34%, trading astatine caller post-IPO lows.

A nighttime  photograph   captures a rocket launching, a superb  achromatic  plume of occurrence  and sparks erupting from its basal  arsenic  it ascends. Thick, billowy clouds of achromatic  and grey fume  engulf the launchpad, obscuring concern   facilities successful  the foreground. The entity  supra  is dark, with hints of clouds illuminated by the launch.

Rocket Lab

The harm during the past period extends crossed adjacent much space-sector names. Rocket Lab banal (NASDAQ:RKLB) has slid 36%, and Virgin Galactic shares (NYSE:SPCE) are disconnected 28%. Meanwhile, the diversified Procure Space ETF (NYSEARCA:UFO) is down 14% implicit the aforesaid stretch.

The question investors are asking is whether the assemblage is breached oregon simply shaking retired excess. The information suggests the latter, though it's a brutal, high-volatility reversal aft a monolithic run.

Starship Scrub and Convertible Notes Fuel the Selloff

SpaceX's Starship V3 Flight 13 was scrubbed Thursday night. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted connected X that immoderate engines didn't start, triggering an automatic motorboat abort, with different effort expected successful a fewer days. The scrub was expected to beryllium a affirmative catalyst and alternatively deepened the slide, with SpaceX having gone nationalist connected June 12.

JPMorgan's Seth Seifman remains cautious, focused connected however rapidly the 2nd signifier tin refly and connected refurbishment outgo and time. He besides noted abbreviated sellers person built a ample bearish presumption successful SpaceX shares.

Act now: the expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks — and AST SpaceMobile didn't marque the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

AST SpaceMobile stock's 2026 debased follows a astonishment $1 cardinal convertible elder notes rise this week, priced astatine 1.625% and owed 2034 with a $79.57 conversion terms that sparked dilution fears. Options traders Jon and Pete Najarian called the operation "a beauteous beardown stake to the upside" fixed the conversion price, portion stressing AST SpaceMobile banal is highly volatile with implied volatility astatine 100%.

Rocket Lab shares are up somewhat successful Friday greeting trading. The institution features a vertically integrated concern exemplary that Rocket Lab's peers whitethorn privation to emulate. Virgin Galactic banal has been swept up successful the aforesaid speculative-space unwind.

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