Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) Hits New 12-Month High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $18.25 and last traded at $18.25, with a volume of 7558365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.66.

The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $104.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.74 million. Rocket Lab USA had a negative return on equity of 37.95% and a negative net margin of 51.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RKLB has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on Rocket Lab USA from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Rocket Lab USA from $7.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities assumed coverage on Rocket Lab USA in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Rocket Lab USA from $10.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Rocket Lab USA from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.72.

Insider Activity at Rocket Lab USA

In other Rocket Lab USA news, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 62,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total value of $435,083.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,321,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,195,308.40. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael D. Griffin sold 39,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.90, for a total value of $272,177.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,235.70. This represents a 48.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 130,521 shares of company stock worth $906,059 in the last 90 days. 13.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab USA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RKLB. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab USA in the 1st quarter worth approximately $192,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 50,879 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 4,713 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 294,054 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 6,534 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 217.1% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,284,060 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $5,277,000 after acquiring an additional 879,160 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,000,578 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $119,192,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448,789 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

Rocket Lab USA Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 2.82. The company has a market cap of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.86 and a beta of 1.29.

Rocket Lab USA Company Profile

Rocket Lab USA, Inc, a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets.