Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Trading 7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) traded up 7% on Friday . The company traded as high as $56.94 and last traded at $56.16. 37,532,938 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 82% from the average session volume of 20,606,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of Rocket Lab in a report on Monday, July 14th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a report on Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Rocket Lab from $30.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.27.

Rocket Lab Trading Up 7.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $46.61 and its 200 day moving average is $34.20. The stock has a market cap of $27.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -124.80 and a beta of 2.14.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by ($0.06). Rocket Lab had a negative net margin of 45.87% and a negative return on equity of 48.14%. The business had revenue of $144.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.08) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rocket Lab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Rocket Lab Corporation will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rocket Lab news, insider Frank Klein sold 4,286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.72, for a total value of $204,527.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,316,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,799,758.60. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Beck sold 1,436,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.75, for a total transaction of $70,026,547.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,875,000. The trade was a 36.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,406,361 shares of company stock valued at $267,483,973 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RKLB. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Rocket Lab by 118.1% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,588 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Rocket Lab by 3,319.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 19,900 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 19,318 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Rocket Lab by 9.6% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 525,018 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $9,387,000 after purchasing an additional 45,889 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Rocket Lab by 121.7% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 65,614 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 36,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Udine Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Rocket Lab by 21.6% during the first quarter. Udine Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,080 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 11,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

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.