Rocket Lab (RKLB) Stock: Climbs 55% in One Month Despite CEO Selling $90 Million

TLDR

• Rocket Lab shares rose 2.8% to $78.14 on Monday with volume up 3% from average as stock trades above key moving averages
• Wall Street assigns “Moderate Buy” rating but $61.25 average price target implies 22% downside from current levels
• Third-quarter revenue of $155.08 million beat estimates and grew 48% year-over-year while loss narrowed to $0.03 per share
• CEO Peter Beck sold 1.56 million shares worth $90 million in December as insiders unloaded $152 million total in 90 days
• Company maintains 3.18 current ratio for liquidity but posts negative 35.6% net margin with full-year loss expected

Rocket Lab Corporation stock climbed 2.8% to $78.14 on Monday. Volume reached 33.2 million shares, up 3% from the daily average.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc., RKLB

The aerospace company outperformed major indices. The S&P 500 gained 0.64% while the Nasdaq rose 0.69%.

Shares surged 54.91% over the past month. This crushed the Aerospace sector’s 10.26% gain and the S&P 500’s 0.55% advance.

Strong Revenue Growth Continues

Third-quarter results topped expectations. Revenue hit $155.08 million, beating the $152.45 million consensus by $2.63 million.

Year-over-year revenue jumped 48%. The company posted a $0.03 per share loss versus the expected $0.05 loss.

Analysts project fourth-quarter revenue of $178.38 million. This represents 34.74% growth compared to last year.

Full-year estimates call for revenue of $600.52 million. The expected loss of $0.20 per share marks a 47.37% improvement from prior year.

The stock trades at $78.14 with a market cap of $41.7 billion. Technical indicators show strength with shares above the $56.30 50-day moving average and $50.94 200-day moving average.

Wall Street Maintains Cautious Stance

Analysts rate Rocket Lab stock “Moderate Buy” with two Strong Buy ratings, seven Buy ratings, five Hold ratings and one Sell rating.

The average price target sits at $61.25. This implies 22% downside from current levels.

Morgan Stanley set a $67 target with an “equal weight” rating. Bank of America raised its target from $50 to $60 with a “buy” rating.

Roth Capital maintains a “buy” rating with a $75 price target. The stock currently holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

The company shows solid liquidity metrics. Current ratio stands at 3.18 with a quick ratio of 2.83 and debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

However, profitability remains negative. Net margin came in at -35.64% with return on equity at -27.26%.

Heavy Insider Selling Activity

CEO Peter Beck sold 1.56 million shares on December 15th at $57.47 per share. The transaction totaled $89.67 million and reduced his stake by 62.41%.

Beck now holds 939,746 shares valued at $54 million. SVP Arjun Kampani sold 28,615 shares in November for $1.16 million.

Total insider sales reached $152 million over 90 days. Company insiders own 11.90% while institutions control 71.78% of shares.

Baillie Gifford grew its position by 176.1% to 12.1 million shares worth $580.9 million. Vanguard increased its stake by 5.4% to 41.8 million shares valued at $2 billion.

Rocket Lab provides launch services through its Electron vehicle for deploying small satellites to low Earth orbit. The company manufactures the Rutherford engine with electric-pump-fed design and additive-manufactured components.

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