Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Shares Up 10.4% – Should You Buy?

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB)’s share price rose 10.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $64.15 and last traded at $63.53. Approximately 31,026,524 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 50% from the average daily volume of 20,649,922 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Rocket Lab in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.17.

Rocket Lab Stock Down 3.2%

The stock has a market cap of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of -161.82 and a beta of 2.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $155.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.45 million. Rocket Lab had a negative return on equity of 27.26% and a negative net margin of 35.64%.Rocket Lab’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.10) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Rocket Lab Corporation will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Merline Saintil sold 10,000 shares of Rocket Lab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $480,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 413,529 shares in the company, valued at $19,849,392. The trade was a 2.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Frank Klein sold 4,736 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total value of $199,290.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,269,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,420,012.96. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,583,532 shares of company stock worth $274,781,358. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rocket Lab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RKLB. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Rocket Lab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rocket Lab during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Rocket Lab by 352.5% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 543 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab by 109.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

About Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab USA, Inc, a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets.