Richard Branson’s sale of 2.6 million shares has taken some steam out of the story at Virgin Galactic (SPCE), notes Carl Delfeld, editor of Cabot Global Stocks Explorer.
The stock sale — which netted in the neighborhood of $500 million — reduced the founder’s stake by about 22%.
Billing itself as the “First and Only Public Company Focused on Commercial Human Spaceflight,” this story is compelling, with a first-rate management team. Below is a chart highlighting how the stock has been a bit volatile.
Galactic plans to send groups of paying customers on brief flights to the edge of space. Perhaps even more important to its future than space tourism is its plan to launch point-to-point hypersonic flights.
SPCE still plans to make its first commercial space-tourism flight this year, and took a step forward with two test flights from its New Mexico spaceport in the first quarter.
If you have not stepped up yet to buy more shares in this compelling story, I encourage you to do so and I’m moving my buy rating from a half to a full position for aggressive investors.
