AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading 6.3% Higher – Here’s Why

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price traded up 6.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $104.80 and last traded at $101.25. 16,798,423 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 17,498,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.22.

AST SpaceMobile News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Missile-defense prime contract — Being awarded a prime position on the MDA’s SHIELD IDIQ validates ASTS’s dual‑use LEO capabilities and makes the company eligible to bid on future task orders, boosting expectations for government revenue and defense market expansion. AST SpaceMobile Awarded Prime Contract Position on U.S.-Missile-Defense-Agency SHIELD Program
• Positive Sentiment: Market coverage of the Pentagon win — Multiple outlets highlight the Golden Dome/SHIELD link and note the contract as a material validation of AST’s government pipeline, which traders view as a fresh revenue/credibility catalyst. Pentagon Deal Sends AST SpaceMobile Soaring—Is This the Next Leg Up?
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/technical catalysts — Continued BlueBird program progress (BlueBird‑6 success and BlueBird‑7 integration) remains a near‑term growth story that supports longer‑term commercial and defense opportunity expansion. Pentagon Deal Sends AST SpaceMobile Soaring—Is This the Next Leg Up?
• Neutral Sentiment: Momentum/technical flow — Traders flagged a “Power Inflow” signal and the stock set fresh highs, amplifying buying interest that can accelerate moves but also raise short‑term volatility. AST SpaceMobile Shares On A Tear Following Yesterday’s Key Trading Signal
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade — B. Riley recently cut ASTS to Neutral, tempering near‑term analyst enthusiasm and signaling caution among some institutional investors. AST SpaceMobile Wins Missile Defense Contract Days After Analyst Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/investor scrutiny and valuation risk — A Pomerantz investor investigation and bearish write‑ups (Seeking Alpha/Sohu) plus elevated short interest and analyst price‑target dispersion increase downside risk and the chance of volatile pullbacks. INVESTOR ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims On Behalf of Investors of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. – ASTS

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. B. Riley lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.51. The stock has a market cap of $42.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -93.36 and a beta of 2.70.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The business’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,572,882.50. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,668,000 after buying an additional 2,351,539 shares during the period. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,104,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,185,000 after acquiring an additional 168,832 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,411,000 after acquiring an additional 231,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 125.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 782,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,382,000 after purchasing an additional 434,615 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

About AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile is a U.S.-based aerospace company developing a space-based cellular broadband network designed to connect standard mobile phones and other devices directly to satellites. The company’s core proposition is “space-to-cell” service: operating a constellation of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites equipped with large, high-power phased-array antennas to provide wide-area mobile broadband without requiring users to buy specialized terminals or handset modifications.

AST SpaceMobile designs, builds and operates satellite payloads and supporting ground infrastructure.