ASTS Stock Jumps Overnight: Retail Traders Brush Off Rakuten's Massive Share Sale

• A Friday filing showed that Rakuten Mobile sold 5.1 million ASTS shares between April 17 and April 24.
• However, Rakuten still holds about 21 million shares, or a 7.2% stake in ASTS.
• A filing from two weeks ago showed that Rakuten entities owned over 31 million ASTS shares.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) jumped 2% overnight on Monday as retail traders brushed off Rakuten’s massive share sale even after a week marked by spectrum setbacks and rising competition in the satellite-to-smartphone race.

ASTS stock declined for a second straight week, including a 11% drop last week that marked its worst weekly performance in a month. 

Rakuten Offloads 5.1M ASTS Shares 

A fresh filing from Friday showed that Rakuten Mobile sold 5.1 million shares of AST SpaceMobile between April 17 and April 24 through open-market transactions executed under a pre-arranged trading plan. Despite the sales, Rakuten still holds about 21 million shares, representing a 7.2% in the company and remaining one of its largest shareholders.

A filing from two weeks ago showed that Rakuten entities owned over 31 million ASTS Class A shares through Rakuten Mobile, meaning that the group has reduced its stake by 10 million shares since then.

FCC Setback Narrows ASTS Spectrum Expansion Plans

Last week, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dismissed requests from satellite operators, including AST SpaceMobile, seeking expanded access to portions of the mobile-satellite service spectrum. The decision preserved existing allocations across key satellite airwaves in the 1.5 GHz and 2 GHz ranges, limiting AST SpaceMobile’s ability to expand into additional higher-frequency spectrum bands.

Satellite communications analyst Tim Farrar said that the ruling restricts AST’s ability to deploy services using portions of the 2 GHz band and could shift near-term priorities toward lower-band spectrum already supporting the company’s U.S. rollout strategy with carrier partners.

SpaceX, Amazon Add Pressure In Space Race

Competition across the emerging direct-to-device satellite connectivity market has also remained a key investor focus. During a recent earnings call, AT&T CEO John Stankey said that multiple satellite constellations are expected to drive growth in the U.S. direct-to-device ecosystem rather than a single dominant provider.

He also expects SpaceX to ultimately develop a robust direct-to-device capability and said Amazon’s Project Kuiper network is also expected to build comparable functionality.

Focus Shifts To ASTS BlueBird Satellite Launch 

Investors are also watching progress on AST SpaceMobile’s constellation rollout following the BlueBird-7 launch anomaly during New Glenn Mission-3. The company said production continues across its next-gen spacecraft, with BlueBird-8 through BlueBird-10 expected to be ready for shipment within about 30 days.

Michael P., executive vice president of government operations at AST SpaceMobile, recently said that the satellites are nearing deployment readiness and the company expects to return to Cape Canaveral soon for the next launch campaign.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About ASTS?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for ASTS slipped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ levels over the past day amid ‘high’ message volume.

One user noted Rakuten’s stake sale and said, “It has nothing to do with the company. It is a distressed Japanese conglomerate raising cash to survive.”

Another user said, “Surely Rakuten will pause some selling the beginning of the week and allow price to rise for a better sell price.”

ASTS stock has surged 217% over the past year.

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