AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 9.7% – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was down 9.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $77.65 and last traded at $77.3850. Approximately 26,220,713 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 114% from the average daily volume of 12,254,264 shares. The stock had previously closed at $85.67.

Key Headlines Impacting AST SpaceMobile

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

• Positive Sentiment: BlueBird 6 successfully launched into orbit and is described as the largest commercial communications array deployed in low?Earth orbit — a clear operational milestone that validates ASTS’s technology and expands its commercial/government addressable market. AST SpaceMobile Announces Successful Orbital Launch of BlueBird 6
• Positive Sentiment: Mainstream coverage highlights the successful India launch and reiterates the company’s progress toward a global space?based cellular network, supporting long?term revenue potential from carrier contracts and roaming partnerships. AST SpaceMobile announces successful orbital launch of BlueBird 6
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/commentary pieces (retail?oriented outlets) are touting ASTS as a high?growth satellite play and comparing investor interest favorably versus other speculative names, which can sustain retail demand. Forget Archer Aviation: The Smartest Investors Are Piling Into This Game-Changing Satellite Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation discussion: recent pieces assess ASTS after a strong multi?year share run, raising the possibility that future gains depend on execution and revenue scaling rather than further multiple expansion. That can temper momentum. Assessing AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Valuation After Its Strong Multi?Year Share Price Run
• Neutral Sentiment: Market context: broad futures weakness around the holiday session likely amplified selling pressure on high?beta names like ASTS, contributing to intraday declines separate from company?specific news. Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P 500 Futures Drop On Christmas Eve
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short?interest data is uninformative (shows zero/erroneous values), so there’s no clear sign that a large short squeeze or covering is behind today’s moves. Traders should treat the short?interest report with caution.
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the launch, several outlets note the stock fell on the day — a sign that the milestone was largely priced in and that investors are booking gains; this suggests near?term upside may be limited until the company demonstrates revenue growth from new satellites. AST SpaceMobile Falls Despite Successful Satellite Launch
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines report a retreat after the India launch, reinforcing the narrative of profit?taking and the need for concrete commercial contracts / revenue recognition before sentiment improves further. AST SpaceMobile retreats after successful India launch

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASTS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday. UBS Group cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $69.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.40 billion, a PE ratio of -62.41 and a beta of 2.76.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The firm had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 2,140 shares of company stock valued at $137,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,668,000 after buying an additional 2,351,539 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,796,000 after acquiring an additional 33,259 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,411,000 after acquiring an additional 231,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,182,000 after acquiring an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.