Intuitive Machines and Virgin Galactic Jump 10% While Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile Sit Out the Space Stock Rally

Quick Read

• LUNR surged 10% connected grounds $1.8 cardinal backlog contempt missing Q2 estimates, portion SPCE bounced 10% aft Thursday's 8% driblet connected a delayed launch.

• Stifel upgraded LUNR to Buy portion Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile gained conscionable 1%, confirming the abstraction assemblage rally is narrow.

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

Shares of Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) are surging 10% to $19 and alteration connected Friday morning, and Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) shares are gaining 10% arsenic it approaches $3.50. The remainder of the abstraction analyzable is not tagging along, with Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) banal up 1% to $81.25 and AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares up conscionable 1% to $72.32.

This is simply a two-name, earnings-driven determination concentrated successful LUNR and SPCE. SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) banal is down 2% astatine $138, Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) shares are up 1% to $25, and the Procure Space ETF (NASDAQ:UFO), a space-focused fund, is level astatine $48 and change.

Backlog, Not the Quarter, Fuels LUNR

Intuitive Machines really missed connected some lines. Q2 2026 gross of $206.2 cardinal came successful beneath the astir $221.1 cardinal statement per Fiscal.ai, though it was much than 4 times the $50.3 cardinal a twelvemonth earlier. The GAAP nonaccomplishment widened to $0.29 per stock from $0.22, missing the expected $0.10 loss.

Evidently, Intuitive Machines banal is rallying anyhow due to the fact that backlog reached astir $1.8 billion, up $1.5 cardinal from the extremity of 2025, divided 37% civil, 49% commercialized and 14% nationalist security. Year-to-date bookings beryllium astatine $1.7 billion, including $1.2 cardinal during and aft Q2, with authority-to-proceed awards that could adhd different $300 cardinal successful the 2nd half. CEO Steve Altemus stated, "This marks the highest quarterly bookings successful institution history."

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

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) added substance this morning, upgrading Intuitive Machines to Buy from Hold portion lowering its terms people to $26 from $32. The expert statement 12-month people sits astatine $31.67 per Koyfin, with 7 of 9 analysts astatine Buy, 1 Hold and 1 Sell. Intuitive Machines maintained full-year 2026 gross guidance of $900 cardinal to $1 cardinal with affirmative adjusted EBITDA expected, and ended the 4th with $367 cardinal successful cash.

Virgin Galactic Bounces Off a Rough Session

Virgin Galactic banal has nary caller catalyst today. SPCE shares fell 8% Thursday aft the institution pushed archetypal commercialized work to February 2027 from a anterior people of the 4th fourth of 2026. Looking astatine our expert roundup, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) chopped its SPCE terms people to $2 from $2.05 portion keeping an Underweight rating, citing execution risk. Today's determination is simply a bounce disconnected that decline.