ASTS Stock Jumps After-Hours: Falcon 9 Launch Push And End Of Rakuten Selling Lift Sentiment Before Earnings

• The company announced a mid-June Falcon 9 launch for three BlueBird satellites ahead of earnings next week.
• ASTS reiterated plans for launches every one to two months on average.
• The firm also released a Texas factory tour video highlighting over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity and ongoing satellite assembly operations.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) jumped 4% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company unveiled a mid-June Falcon 9 launch plan and showcased its Texas manufacturing ramp, boosting investor optimism ahead of earnings next week. 

ASTS stock jumped 11% on Monday to end at $70.68, logging its best session in over a month.  

Falcon 9 Launch Timeline Back In Focus

Late Wednesday, AST SpaceMobile said on X that three BlueBird satellites are scheduled for a mid-June launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The company also said 32 next-gen satellites are already at advanced stages of assembly and reiterated plans for launches every one to two months on average as it expands its space-based cellular broadband network. The update comes after weeks of pressure on ASTS shares after last month’s failed BlueBird-7 mission and heavy selling from Rakuten Mobile.

The latest development is likely to ease some fears that AST SpaceMobile’s satellite deployment plans had derailed after BlueBird-7 failed to reach its intended orbit during Blue Origin’s New Glenn Mission-3. 

At the time, AST SpaceMobile said BlueBird 8 through 10 were expected to be ready for shipment in “approximately 30 days.” While AST SpaceMobile did not explicitly reaffirm the original 30-day shipment target, the company focused on launch readiness, assembly progress and Falcon 9 deployment preparations. 

Alongside the launch update, AST SpaceMobile released a factory tour video highlighting large-scale production operations inside its Texas manufacturing unit. The video showed over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity at full production and showed technicians assembling satellite structures across multiple production lines. 

BlueBird-7 Failure Still Looms 

The latest update comes weeks after AST SpaceMobile confirmed BlueBird-7 had been placed into a lower-than-planned orbit and would eventually de-orbit despite successfully separating from the rocket and powering on. CEO Abel Avellan said the launch vehicle’s second stage failed to place the satellite into its intended orbit. The company said the satellite’s cost is expected to be recovered through insurance.

The failed deployment triggered a sharp selloff in ASTS shares and intensified concerns around whether the company can still achieve its target of 45 satellites in orbit by year-end. However, Bank of America Securities estimates that the company could fall short of the target by about 7 satellites. 

Rakuten Selling Ends Ahead Of Earnings

Investors are also monitoring recent stake sales by Rakuten Mobile, AST SpaceMobile’s largest investor. A fresh filing from this week showed that Rakuten completed its previously disclosed trading plan and sold all shares from the program. The filing showed that Rakuten Mobile, alongside founder Hiroshi Mikitani and Rakuten Group, now own 15.5 million ASTS shares, representing a 5.3% stake in the company, down from 11% previously. 

The filing detailed multiple open-market sales between April 27 and May 5, including a 1.8 million share sale on April 30, with the final transactions executed at average prices around $65 per share. 

Wall Street now turns its attention to AST SpaceMobile’s first-quarter (Q1) earnings report due Monday. Fiscal AI estimates revenue of $40 million for the quarter, compared with $3.25 million a year earlier. Analysts expect a loss of $0.17 per share versus a loss of $0.21 last year. According to Koyfin data, analysts maintain an average 12-month price target of $86.4 on ASTS shares, implying a 22% upside from current levels.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About ASTS?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for ASTS jumped to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ levels a day ago amid ‘normal’ message volume.

One user said, “with earnings beat and a few more launches easily $120 again.”

Another user said, “Mid June [is] exactly when space x comes on. Hype will be great at see $150 easy.”

ASTS stock has rocketed 182% over the past year. 

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