The Space Investor - 🚀 Varda Partners with NASA

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The Space Scoop
Week Ended 08.05.2022

Happy Friday! Its been a huge week on the news front. NewSpace earnings kicked off, SES and Intelsat might merge, Slingshot Aerospace acquired two businesses, a PE firm acquired Descartes Labs, Astra announced a $100M equity facility, SpaceX raised $250M last month, and more. Lets dive in.

📈 Market Max-Q

S&P 500: 4,145.19 +0.3%
NASDAQ: 12,657.56 +2.2%

UFO: 21.67 +3.0%
ROKT: 38.84 +0.2%
ARKX: 15.33 +2.6%
SSIT: 70.0 -13.6%

MNTS: 2.13 +21.0%
SATL: 4.83 +15.3%
RKLB: 5.34 +14.4%
MYNA: 8.18 -9.5%

1W return as of 4:00pm EDT.

🚀 Top Stories

1) Q2 2022 Space earnings season is well under way. Five companies reported this week, including NewSpace kick off with Virgin Galactic and Astra.

$SATS
- Revenue: $499.3M, flat YoY
- Net Income: $10.4M, -70% YoY
- Adj. EBITDA: $167.7M, -10% YoY
- Broadband Subscribers: ~1.346M, down 60k from Q1'22
- Shares: -1.7%
$SPCE
- Cash & Equivalents: $329.9M
- Revenue: $357K, -37% YoY
- Oper. Loss: $(109.7)M vs. $(73.9)M YoY
- Adj. EBITDA: $(92.5)M vs. $(56.4)M YoY
- Free Cash Flow: $(91)M vs. $(66)M YoY
- Takeaway: Commercial tourism service pushed back to Q2 2023
- Shares: -17.5%
$ASTR
- Cash & Equivalents: $104.3M
- Revenue: $2.7M
- Oper. Loss: $(82.6)M vs. $(29.9)M YoY
- Adj. EBITDA: $(48.4)M vs. $(21.4)M YoY
- Takeaway: Halting launches until 2023 and pivoting away earlier than expected from Rocket 3.3 to 4.0
- Shares: -17.7%
$GSAT
- Revenue: $36.8M, +22% YoY
- Oper. Loss: $(11.4)M
- Adj. EBITDA: $14.6M, +49% YoY
- Shares: +7.8%
$TSAT
- Revenue: CAD$186.6M, -1% YoY
- Net Income: CAD$(4.4)M
- Adj. EBITDA: CAD$146.3M, -1% YoY
- Shares: +8.2%

2) Research analysts were out Friday morning with rating and price target adjustments for Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) following Thursday evenings' negative report.

Truist: Downgraded to 'Sell', PT lowered to $5 from $8.
Wells Fargo: 'Underweight', PT lowered to $3.25 from $4.
Canaccord Genuity: Remain at 'Hold', PT lowered to $7 from $8.

3) SES and Intelsat are reportedly in merger talks, per the Financial Times, in a continued consolidation push among competitors.

The Luxembourg-based SES and U.S. rival Intelsat are in active discussions about the structure of any potential deal. The discussions are reportedly in an early stage and there is no guarantee of a deal being reached.

4) Slingshot Aerospace announced a double acquisition of Numerica’s space-domain awareness division and Seradata.

The acquisitions fast track the Company's ability to "drive the space economy towards sustainability by providing satellite and launch operators with robust and authoritative space situational awareness and space traffic coordination solutions." Terms were undisclosed.

5) Varda Space Industries announced a partnership with NASA Ames and NASA Langley to accelerate its re-entry and heatshield technology.

The space manufacturing startup's partnership will allow for the purchasing of heat shield material and IP know-how for future self development needed for their first demonstration missions.

6) SpaceX raised $250M in equity in July.

The detail was disclosed in a Form D SEC filing. The funds came from 5 Investors and the valuation was not disclosed. Further detail to come.

🛰️ In Other News

Xona Space Systems Raises $15M of Funding (SpaceNews)
The GPS-alternative navigation startup has raised an oversubscribed round led by First Spark Ventures. New investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures, SRI Ventures, Velvet Sea Ventures, Gaingels, Airstream Venture Partners, and Space.VC participated alongside existing investors.

Antarctica Capital Acquires Controlling Stake in Descartes Labs (PRNewswire)
The private equity firm announced the acquisition of the geospatial intelligence solutions provider for an undisclosed amount, expanding its existing portfolio of NewSpace companies. For a sobering read on what led to this acquisition, check out co-founder Mark Johnson's post..

LiveEO Raises €19M of Funding (TechCrunch)
The Berlin-based satellite analytics startup has raised capital on the back of strong demand for its earth observation raw data application technology. MMC Ventures is leading the non-specific round investment. The European Commission and Investitionsbank Berlin are also backing the round.

📊 Chart of the Week

Space Capital released their Q2 2022 Space Investment Quarterly report. In the second quarter, $6.1B has been invested into 92 space companies and the VC firm states it does not believe the space economy is at existential risk with current macro-economic headwinds. Check out the full report here.

🔗 Links

• Momentus ($MNTS) Provides Fourth Demonstration Mission Update

• Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) Secures Land for New Astronaut Campus and Training Facility

• Sidus Space ($SIDU) Selects AWS for LizzieSat Constellation

• Astra ($ASTR) Announces $100M Committed Equity Facility from B. Riley

• BlackSky ($BKSY) Expands Capabilities With Airbus ($EADSY) Reseller Partnership

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Successfully Launches Second of Two Back-to-Back NRO Missions

• Spire ($SPIR) Announces Space Services Deal To Scale Constellation for HANCOM inSPACE

• Viasat ($VSAT) Initiates Mechanical Integration on ViaSat-3

• Maxar ($MAXR) Awarded GeoXO Spacecraft Phase A Study Contract for NOAA’s Weather Monitoring Satellites

• Lockheed Martin ($LMT) Doubles the Size of Its VC Fund To $400M

🗣️ Opinion

• The Investor’s Guide to the Galaxy: Why the Space Industry Should Be Your Next Investment

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Is Red-Hot So Why Is Its Stock Ice-Cold?

• Is the Space Tech Bubble Bursting?

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) vs. SpaceX: Buy 2nd Place for 98% Less

• Iridium ($IRDM): A Great Company at a Fair Price

📅 Earnings Calendar

• $VSAT: August 8 - After Market Close
• $LLAP: August 9 - Before Market Open
• $MAXR: August 9 - After Market Close
• $BKSY: August 10 - Before Market Open
• $SPIR: August 10 - After Market Close
• $MNTS: August 11 - Before Market Open
• $RKLB: August 11 - After Market Close
• $SIDU: August 12 - Before Market Open
• $MDA: August 12 - Before Market Open
• $VORB: August 12 - After Market Close
• $ASTS: August 15 - After Market Close

*Company confirmed dates only.

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Disclaimer: The Space Investor ("TSI") does not provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets. TSI is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer.

The Space Investor - 🚀 Varda Partners with NASA

📈 Market Max-Q

🚀 Top Stories

🛰️ In Other News

📊 Chart of the Week

🔗 Links

🗣️ Opinion

📅 Earnings Calendar

Older messages

🚀 Masten Space Files for Bankruptcy

🚀 Virgin Galactic Expands To Arizona

🚀 ASTS Divests NanoAvionics

🚀 Space SPACs Get Indexed

🚀 Viasat To Acquire Inmarsat

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