Category: space travel

Top Space Exploration Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

According to Morgan Stanley, “Global space could be a $1 trillion industry by 2040.” .

Have you ever thought about traveling to the moon or Mars? You now have that opportunity.

For example, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is selling tickets to travel around the Earth. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (SPCE) plans to to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists.. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon (AMZN) has created Blue Origin for space tourists.

If you are looking for individual stocks, here are several you might want to consider:

•Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE)

•Maxar Technologies (MAXR)

•Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD)

•Rocket Lab USA (RKLB)

•Momentus (MNTS)

•Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE) is developing commercial spacecraft to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. It was originally a SPAC stock.

Last year, Virgin Galactic announced that it opens ticket sales to the public, with the price of a reservation at $450,000.

The company is currently negative earnings, although long term annual growth estimate for earnings over the next five years is 19.4%.

Maxar Technologies (MAXR) designs and manufactures satellites and spacecraft components, especially those used in high-resolution satellite imagery.

The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 32, with an earnings per share growth this year of 183%, and an EPS growth next year of 379%.

A better alternative might be to allocate your funds to one of the space ETFs.

The exchange traded fund Direxion Moonshot Innovators ETF (MOON), which is up 23.91% so far this year. It has an expense ratio of 0.65 and pays a yield of 2.43%.

Procure Space ETF (UFO), founded in 2019, has increased by 6.39% this year. The expense ratio is 0.75, and the yield is 2.94%.

SPDR Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT) has been around since 2018. It is up 8.48% so far this year, but it also pays a yield of 0.5%. It has an expense ratio of o.45.

The youngest space ETF on the block is ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX), which went public recently. The fund is up 14.17 year-to-date, and th expense ratio is 0.7%.

Hopefully, one of these stocks or ETFs will take your portfolio to the moon.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN.

The Best Way to Invest in Space

by Fred Fuld III

In previous articles, we’ve alerted you to the sale of Elvis Presley‘s childhood house, Steve Job’s autograph on a floppy disk, and a 712 acre Bahamas island.

How would you like to own Buzz Aldrin’s FLOWN Inflight Coverall Jacket, which he wore on his mission to the Moon and back during Apollo 11?

Well you can. You also have the opportunity to buy many other space items.

Sotheby’s is having their auction on July 26, 2022 at 12 noon EDT in New York.

Buzz Aldrin’s Jacket – Credit: Sotheby’s

The featured item is Buzz Aldrin’s jacket. The current bid is $700,000, with an estimated sales price of $1,000,000 to $2,000,000.

Other interesting items up for sale in the Buzz Aldrin: American Icon Auction include Buzz Aldrin’s Lifetime Passes to the National and American Leagues of Major League Baseball which has a current bid of $1300, and the United States flag that was flown to the moon on Apollo 11 currently bid at $17,000,.

One other totally unique item is the broken circuit breaker switch that nearly ended the lives of the Apollo 11 Crew, and the pen that saved them, now bid at $700,000.

There are a total of 69 different lot to choose from in this auction.

What a way to bring space home with you.

How to Invest in Space Exploration

by Fred Fuld III

If you have ever thought about traveling to the moon or to Mars or even just to the Earth’s atmosphere over 50 miles, that opportunity may be on the horizon.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is selling tickets to travel around the Earth. For only $1,000, you can put a deposit down on a space flight with Virgin Galactic (SPCE). Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon (AMZN) has created Blue Origin, which is attracting space tourists.

However, if you are looking to invest in the space industry, there are many stocks to choose from but a better alternative may be to invest in one of the space ETFs.

The exchange traded fund Direxion Moonshot Innovators ETF (MOON), which is up 19.85% so far this year. It has an expense ratio of 0.65. It was established in November of last year.

Procure Space ETF (UFO), founded in 2019, has increased by 18.99% this year. The expense ratio os 0.75.

SPDR Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT) has been around since 2018. It is up 5.27% so far this year, but it also pays a yield of 0.47%. It has an expense ratio of o.45.

The youngest space ETF on the block is ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX), which went public a couple days ago.

If you are looking for individual stocks, Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (SPCE) and Maxar Technologies Inc. (MAXR) are a couple companies that appear in at least two of the space ETFs.

Hopefully, one of these ETFs will take your portfolio to th moon.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN.

What is a SPAC and Why Should You Care?

by Fred Fuld III

If you haven’t heard the term, SPAC, as an investor, you should at least be aware of what it is. SPAC stands for Special-Purpose Acquisition Company, which is a company created specifically to pool funds in order to finance a merger or acquisition opportunity within a set timeframe, usually two years.

SPACs are sometimes referred to as corporate shells or blank-check companies. They have no operations but go public with the intention of merging with or acquiring a company with the proceeds that were raised from the SPAC’s initial public offering. The SPACs are currently sold in $10 units which includes of one share of common stock and one or more out of the money warrants or a fraction of a warrant. The units, stocks, and warrants usually start trading on either the NYSE or NASDAQ.

Probably the most famous SPAC (which no one remembers the original name of but most remember the new name after the merger) was Social Capital Hedosophia (former symbol: IPOA). This is the company that merged with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (SPCE), the space travel company.

The most recent SPAC transaction hitting the news is the merger of the SPAC called Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. (DEAC) with DraftKings (DKNG), one of the world’s largest daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting provider.

Here are a list of SPACs that have announced mergers:

SPAC Symbol Buying Business
8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp. JFK Diginex blockchain
Act II Global Acquisition Corp. ACTT Merisant sugar substitute
Arya Science Acquisition Corp. ARYA Immatics cancer immunotherapies
Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. DEAC DraftKings fantasy sports
Far Point Acquisition Corporation FPAC Global Blue airport sales tax refund kiosks
Gordon Pointe Acquisition Corp. GPAQ HOF Village Pro Football Hall of Fame
KBL Merger Co. IV KBLM CannBioRx Life Sciences biotech
Legacy Acquisition Corp. LGC Blue Valor digital marketing
Leisure Acquisition Corp. LACQ Gateway Casinos gambling
Monocle Acquisition Corporation MNCL AerSale Aviation Aftermarket
Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation MUDS Hycroft Mining gold & silver
Nebula Acquisition Corp. NEBU Open Lending automotive finance
Proficient Alpha Acquisition Corp. PAAC Lion Financial Group financial services
Pure Acquisition Corp. PACQ HighPeak Energy oil & gas
VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. VTIQ Nikola zero emissions trucks
Wealthbridge Acquisition Limited HHHH Scienjoy China streaming video

Although the SPACs are a way of getting an early investment in currently private companies, they do carry risk.

Happy investing!

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

How to Invest in Space Travel

by Fred Fuld III

Last month, I published an article called UFO Stocks. The report covered many of the companies that are involved in the satellite and space industry, such as Maxar Technologies (MAXR),  Viasat (VSAT), and EchoStar (SATS). I also mentioned the Procure Space ETF (UFO) which is a diversified way to play the space industry.

However, there is a new way to invest in space travel. How would you like to invest in Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic? This is the company that will allow anyone (even you) to flying space, assuming you are willing to pay the fee of $200,000 to $250,000. The company already has a waiting list of 600 people.

The way to invest in Virgin Galactic is through a company called Social Capital Hedosophia (IPOA), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Social Capital Hedosophia will be involved in a merger and end up owning 49% of Galactic.

It will be interesting to see if this stock gets as high as the aircraft that will be sent into space.

Disclosure: Author owns IPOA.

UFO Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Do you believe UFOs really exist? If so, would you like to invest in the UFO industry? Unfortunately, you can’t just yet but you can invest in the next best thing, space travel.

The business of traveling to outer space may be the next big long term industry for investors. But you may be asking, what are the best stocks to play this investment theme?

Unfortunately, a few of these companies are privately held, but there are some, many of which are small corporations, which are close to space pure plays.

One of these companies is Maxar Technologies (MAXR) which has three divisions, space systems, imagery, and services. The space systems division provides satellites, satellite payloads, and antennas.  This Colorado based company has been around since 1969. The stock trades at 42 times forward earnings by recent earnings have been negative. It has a very favorable price to sales ratio of 0.21, and sells at 76% of book value. This $442 million market capitalization company even pays a dividend, with a yield of 0.54%.

Another space related company with a much larger market cap of $5.3 billion, is Viasat (VSAT), which designs and develops satellites along with many types of communication services. The company, which has generated negative earnings, trades at more than two and a half times sales and book value. It does not pay a dividend.

The Englewood, Colorado company EchoStar (SATS) owns and leases in-orbit satellites. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 28 and trades at 98% of book value.

There are several other companies that might fit into the space category such as IntelSat (I), Trimble (TRMB), and Iridium (IRDM). However, a better strategy might be to invest in the Procure Space ETF (UFO), which has cornered a great stock ticker symbol.

This ETF owns all of the above stocks plus a couple dozen more that have ties to the space industry. UFO just started trading this year.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.