Intuitive Machines Stock (LUNR) Flies High As Lunar Ambitions Fuel Retail Frenzy

Intuitive Machines (LUNR), the aerospace company that made history with the first commercial moon landing, is experiencing a wild ride.  While the stock is witnessing some bit of profit-booking in Wednesday’s pre-market session after yesterday's 33% surge, retail investor enthusiasm remains sky-high.

Sentiment on Stocktwits for LUNR has gone deeper into ‘extremely bullish’ territory (85/100), while message volume jumped a staggering 744% in 24 hours, as last week’s Q2 results and management commentary are still sparking a lot of interest.

Despite missing Wall Street revenue estimates, LUNR's Q2 loss per share was lower than expected. The company also raised the low end of its full-year revenue guidance, projecting $210 million-$240 million (versus a prior guidance of $200 million-$240 million) exceeding analyst consensus.  

CEO Steve Altemus's comments about the firm being debt-free and having enough cash to fund operations for the next 12 months further fueled investor optimism.

While Wall Street analysts have lowered LUNR's price targets this year, they still remain above current trading levels.

Intuitive Machines is planning its next lunar mission for early 2025 and is reportedly confident in its bid for NASA's Near Space Network Services contract, which Benchmark’s Josh Sullivan says “has a potential long-term value of $4.2 billion.”

This is resonating with retail investors, who have also taken note of the fact that LUNR’s mentions on Reddit's ‘r/WallStreetBets’ forum are spiking. The stock has a high short interest (18.5% of the float.

On a year-to-date basis, Intuitive’s shares have gained a whopping 140.25%.

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