Why Virgin Galactic Stock Is Up By 10% Today

Virgin Galactic Gains Ground As Richard Branson Would Fly Into Space On July 11

Shares of Virgin Galactic opened with a big gap up today after the company announced that its founder Sir Richard Branson would fly into space on Virgin Galactic’s fourth test flight on July 11.

The stock gave up some of the early gains due to profit taking, but it remains up 10% for the day.

Virgin Galactic has also stated that it did not decide to schedule the flight on July 11 to be ahead of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, whose flight will be launched on July 20.

What’s Next For Virgin Galactic Stock?

The near-term dynamics of Virgin Galactic shares will depend on whether the upcoming flight goes without notable problems. It should be noted that the stock will likely remain highly volatile ahead of July 11, and traders should be prepared for fast moves.

If everything goes as planned, the focus will shift to the company’s valuation. Analysts expect that the company will report a loss of $1.41 per share in 2021 and a loss of $0.72 per share in 2022.

Virgin Galactic stated that it had 600 orders priced at $250,000 each, so the company has an order backlog of $150 million. This is not sufficient enough to justify a market capitalization of more than $11 billion, so traders are betting that the market will grow significantly during this decade and that Virgin Galactic will become a market leader.

In the current market environment, traders are hungry for growth stories and are ready to ignore valuation concerns. There are no signs that market mood is changing as S&P 500 is testing all-time high levels. In this environment, Virgin Galactic stock will have a good chance to gain additional upside momentum and move closer to all-time high levels in case its fourth test flight is successful.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.