Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Shares Up 2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Bank of America raised its price target on Rocket Lab from $50 to $60 and kept a buy rating, sending the stock up about 2% to roughly $43.62 midday; the consensus MarketBeat rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $58.17.
• Rocket Lab beat Q3 estimates with EPS of ($0.03) versus ($0.05) expected and revenue of $155.1M (up 48% year-over-year), but remains unprofitable with a negative net margin and negative return on equity.
• Insiders have sold heavily (5.4M shares worth $267M in the last three months, including CEO Peter Beck), even as institutional ownership is high at 71.78% with large stake increases from firms like Baillie Gifford and Vanguard.

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $60.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Rocket Lab traded as high as $44.53 and last traded at $43.62. Approximately 14,811,540 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 20,773,854 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.78.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Rocket Lab in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Rocket Lab from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Rocket Lab from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Rocket Lab from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rocket Lab

In other Rocket Lab news, insider Frank Klein sold 45,535 shares of Rocket Lab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.97, for a total transaction of $2,229,848.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,320,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,654,650.27. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Beck sold 1,436,442 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.75, for a total value of $70,026,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,500,000 shares in the company, valued at $121,875,000. The trade was a 36.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 5,406,361 shares of company stock worth $267,483,973 in the last three months. 11.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rocket Lab

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Rocket Lab by 176.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 12,125,910 shares of the rocket manufacturer's stock worth $580,952,000 after buying an additional 7,734,788 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Rocket Lab in the second quarter valued at approximately $192,918,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Rocket Lab during the second quarter valued at approximately $164,751,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Rocket Lab by 10.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,029,546 shares of the rocket manufacturer's stock worth $715,728,000 after purchasing an additional 3,833,969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab by 67.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,242,304 shares of the rocket manufacturer's stock valued at $223,287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.78% of the company's stock.

Rocket Lab Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $21.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -114.79 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $55.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.33.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $155.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 48.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. Rocket Lab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Rocket Lab Corporation will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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