Space stocks surge after Trump inauguration with 'broad excitement' about sector, analyst says
Pure-play space stocks flew higher on Tuesday, a rally that a Wall Street analyst pinned to exuberance around the sector after President Donald Trump's inauguration.
"Post the election, there seems to be this very deep and broad excitement about opening up private space opportunities," Deutsche analyst Edison Yu told CNBC.
"It's not just the headlines. When you talk to any [venture capital] investor, any institutional investor, any family office ... it just seems like everybody has kind of gotten much more interested and excited [about] space," said Yu, whose coverage includes six space companies: BlackSky, Iridium, Planet, Rocket Lab, Telesat and Viasat.
Several of the sector's stocks climbed nearly 20% or more without clear individual catalysts, including Mynaric, Rocket Lab, Momentus, Intuitive Machines, Planet and Sidus.
Redwire, up 51.4%, was the day's top performer after it announced its planned acquisition of defense technology company Edge Autonomy for nearly $1 billion and, as a result, forecast full-year 2025 revenue may reach as much as $605 million, about double from last year.
Investors also boosted Viasat, up 32.9%, as it reiterated that NASA selected itas one of four companies for a five-year communications contract worth as much as $4.8 billion, to provide satellite connectivity services as part of the "Near Space Network."
Trump briefly addressed space in his inauguration speech, but did not mention NASA or the space agency's Artemis program, its current top priority that aims to return astronauts to the moon.
"We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars," Trump said, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk cheering in the audience