Space Stocks in 2026: How to Invest in the Space Economy (Updated Weekly)

The Five Segments of the Space Trade

Space Stocks: The Thirteen Tickers That Carry the Category

Prices refresh automatically every week. Everything else comes from company filings and is dated.

• 

  SPCX

  SpaceX

  Launch
  $165.46

  ▲ +4.09% session change
  MKT CAP $2.18TP/E N/A52W $105-226
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Debit spread / covered call · 30-45 DTE

  The sector benchmark and now one of the largest listed companies in the world. Q2 2026 revenue $7.81B against $4.07B a year earlier, a $141M operating loss and roughly $93.5B of cash after the June listing. Owning SPCX is pro rata ownership of Starlink, xAI, X and, since the deal closed on August 14 2026, Cursor. Deepest options chain in the sector by a wide margin.

• 

  RKLB

  Rocket Lab

  Launch
  $72.03

  ▼ -2.56% session change
  MKT CAP $46.06BP/E N/A52W $38-151
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined-risk debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  The only Western launch alternative operating at scale: 87 Electron flights and the second most active launch provider in the world. Q2 2026 revenue $234M with a $58M operating loss, $2.13B of cash and a backlog near $2.2B across more than 70 missions. Neutron has already slipped and the window for a 2026 debut is narrowing. 598,350,482 shares as of August 5 2026, about 22% more than a year ago.

• 

  ASTS

  AST SpaceMobile

  Connectivity
  $58.03

  ▼ -0.72% session change
  MKT CAP $22.58BP/E N/A52W $49-134
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk only, size small · 21-30 DTE

  The widest gap on the board between story and income statement. Q2 2026 revenue $32M against a $172M operating loss that is still widening. Over $1B of contracted commitments from more than 50 mobile operators including AT&T and Verizon, plus FCC clearance for commercial direct-to-device service in the US. 389,167,494 shares across three classes; many screeners show only the 299.8M Class A line.

• 

  IRDM

  Iridium Communications

  Connectivity
  $48.55

  ▼ -0.84% session change
  MKT CAP $5.15BP/E 55.252W $16-57
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  The one pure play that already works as a business. Positive operating income in each of the last four quarters, $225M of revenue and $34M of operating income in Q2 2026, gross margin near 72%. The trade-off is growth near 4% and $1.79B of debt. Share count 105,960,383 as of July 15 2026, slightly lower than a year ago rather than higher.

• 

  VSAT

  Viasat

  Connectivity
  $71.08

  ▼ -1.28% session change
  MKT CAP $9.79BP/E N/A52W $29-93
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  The largest revenue base here outside SpaceX and the most leveraged: roughly $1.16B of quarterly revenue, positive operating income, and $6.93B of debt against about a $10B market value. Revenue is flat to slightly lower year over year. This one trades on the balance sheet rather than on the space narrative. 137,755,810 shares as of July 23 2026.

• 

  GSAT

  Globalstar

  Connectivity
  $83.36

  ▲ +0.16% session change
  MKT CAP $10.80BP/E N/A52W $41-85
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined-risk debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  Revenue is going the wrong way. Q2 2026 revenue $65M against $67M a year earlier, with operating income back to a $5M loss, on a market value above $10B. That is roughly 38 times sales for a business whose top line is shrinking. 129,563,390 shares as of July 31 2026, essentially flat year over year.

• 

  PL

  Planet Labs

  Earth imaging
  $17.18

  ▼ -1.86% session change
  MKT CAP $6.25BP/E N/A52W $11-52
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined-risk debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  Earth imaging with real customers and improving numbers. Revenue $116M in the quarter ended July 31 2026, up 59% year over year, with the operating loss narrowing to $14M from $35M the quarter before. 340,354,193 Class A and 23,493,796 Class B shares as of August 27 2026, about 18% more than a year ago.

• 

  BKSY

  BlackSky Technology

  Earth imaging
  $21.52

  ▼ -1.82% session change
  MKT CAP $881MP/E N/A52W $12-53
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk, small size · 21-30 DTE

  The small one in imaging and the lumpiest on the board: quarterly revenue of $22M, $20M, $35M, $21M and $33M across the last five quarters on contract timing rather than deterioration. Mostly government and defence customers. 40,924,846 shares, up about 18% in a year. Thin chain and wide spreads, so size accordingly.

• 

  KRMN

  Karman Holdings

  Components
  $33.76

  ▼ -1.11% session change
  MKT CAP $4.47BP/E 120.652W $32-118
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  The quiet one that earns. Q2 2026 revenue $182M, up 58%, with $35M of operating income, and positive operating income in every quarter of the last year while revenue climbed from $115M to $182M. Makes payload protection, propulsion and interstage hardware for launch and missile programs. 115,038,025 shares as of July 22 2026, up about 8% since December.

• 

  RDW

  Redwire

  Components
  $10.56

  ▼ -2.94% session change
  MKT CAP $2.64BP/E N/A52W $5-27
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk only, small size · 21-30 DTE

  The clearest dilution story in the sector. Shares outstanding went from 191.9M at the end of 2025 to 249,992,609 by August 3 2026, roughly 30% in six months, including 49.8M issued at $19.08 for the $1.02B Edge Autonomy purchase and about $566M raised through equity in the first half. Three at-the-market programs totalling $1.1B of authorized capacity have opened since November 2025. Q2 revenue $117M.

• 

  FLY

  Firefly Aerospace

  Launch
  $22.44

  ▼ -3.77% session change
  MKT CAP $3.76BP/E N/A52W $16-62
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk, size for volatility · 21-30 DTE

  Newly listed and scaling fast off a small base: quarterly revenue went from $16M to $118M in a year while the operating loss widened to $95M. Flies the Alpha rocket and built the Blue Ghost lunar lander. $460M of cash at the end of Q2 and 167,404,645 shares as of August 6 2026. The chain is young and the spreads show it.

• 

  VOYG

  Voyager Technologies

  Components
  $30.13

  ▼ -2.60% session change
  MKT CAP $1.84BP/E N/A52W $17-52
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk, chain still thin · 21-30 DTE

  Listed in 2025 and still finding its margin: $53M of Q2 2026 revenue at roughly 11% gross margin, a $51M operating loss and $373M of cash. 55,270,494 Class A and 5,758,566 Class B shares as of July 31 2026. Year over year share growth looks alarming until you remember the IPO sits inside that comparison.

• 

  LUNR

  Intuitive Machines

  Lunar
  $14.15

  ▼ -3.81% session change
  MKT CAP $2.28BP/E N/A52W $8-47
  ◎ BEST PLAY: Defined-risk debit spread · 30-45 DTE

  Lunar delivery, and the revenue genuinely re-rated: $203M in Q2 2026 against $50M a year earlier, though the operating loss widened to $47M. $367M of cash. 173,231,343 Class A and 55,692,725 Class C shares as of August 6 2026, a total of 228,924,068; quote services counting only Class A understate the market value by roughly a third.

Launch: The Toll Booth Everything Else Pays

SpaceX (SPCX) is no longer a private company you read about. It listed on Nasdaq on June 12 2026 at $135 per share and reported $7.81B of revenue in Q2 2026, against $4.07B in the same quarter a year earlier. Operating loss was $141M and it held roughly $93.5B in cash after the offering. Buying SPCX is pro rata ownership of Starlink, xAI, X and, since the deal closed on August 14 2026, Cursor. We cover the listing in detail in the SpaceX IPO breakdown, the supply overhang in the SPCX lockup schedule, and the contracts in how to trade SPCX options.

Rocket Lab (RKLB) is the only Western alternative operating at scale. Eighty seven Electron flights, second most active launch provider in the world, a contracted backlog around $2.2B spanning more than seventy missions. Q2 2026 revenue was $234M with a $58M operating loss and $2.13B of cash. The open question is Neutron, the larger rocket that carries the growth case. Its debut has already slipped once and the window for a 2026 first flight is narrowing. The first flight carries no customer.

Firefly Aerospace (FLY) is the newest of the three and the fastest growing off the smallest base: quarterly revenue went from $16M to $118M in a year while the operating loss widened to $95M. It flies the Alpha rocket and built the Blue Ghost lunar lander. It held $460M of cash at the end of Q2 with 167,404,645 shares outstanding as of August 6 2026.

Satellite Connectivity: Where the Revenue Actually Is

This segment holds the only name on the board with consistently positive operating income, and also the widest gap on the board between story and income statement.

Iridium is the answer to a question most space lists never ask: is any of this a business yet? Iridium earned operating income in all four of the last four quarters, on gross margins near 72%, and its share count is slightly lower than a year ago rather than higher. It is also the slowest grower on this page. That trade-off is the whole point.

AST SpaceMobile is the opposite trade and deserves to be stated plainly rather than dismissed. The contracts are real: AT&T, Verizon and more than fifty operators, over $1B of commitments, and regulatory clearance to run commercial service in the United States. The income statement is also real: $32M of revenue last quarter against a $172M operating loss that grew, and revenue that swung $54M, $15M, $32M across three quarters because it books on milestones rather than subscriptions. Both of those facts are true at once.

Earth Imaging: Small Revenue, Real Customers

Planet Labs (PL) is the better of the two and improving. Revenue reached $116M in the quarter ended July 31 2026, up 59% year over year, with the operating loss narrowing to $14M from $35M the quarter before. It had 340,354,193 Class A and 23,493,796 Class B shares outstanding as of August 27 2026, about 18% more than a year ago.

BlackSky (BKSY) is the small one, and its quarters swing hard on contract timing: $22M, $20M, $35M, $21M, $33M across the last five. That is not a deteriorating business, it is a lumpy one, and it is the reason a single quarter tells you almost nothing here. 40,924,846 shares outstanding, up about 18% in a year.

Both sell mostly to governments and defense agencies. That makes their demand durable and their timing political, which is a different risk profile from a commercial subscription business and should be sized differently.

Components: The Two Names Here That Actually Make Money

Karman Holdings (KRMN) is the quietest name on this page and the one that earns. Q2 2026 revenue was $182M, up 58% year over year, with $35M of operating income, and it has posted positive operating income in every quarter of the last year while revenue climbed from $115M to $182M. It makes payload protection, propulsion and interstage hardware for launch and missile programs. Its share count was 115,038,025 as of July 22 2026, up about 8% since December.

Redwire (RDW) is the sector's clearest lesson in reading the cover page. Shares outstanding went from 191.9M at the end of 2025 to 249,992,609 by August 3 2026, roughly 30% in six months. That includes 49.8M shares issued at $19.08 for the $1.02B Edge Autonomy acquisition and about $566M raised through equity in the first half of 2026. Three at-the-market programs totaling $1.1B of authorized capacity have been opened since November 2025. Q2 revenue was $117M with a $22M operating loss.

Voyager Technologies (VOYG) listed in 2025 and is still finding its margin: $53M of Q2 revenue at roughly 11% gross margin, a $51M operating loss, and $373M of cash. It had 55,270,494 Class A and 5,758,566 Class B shares outstanding as of July 31 2026. Its year over year share growth looks alarming until you remember the IPO is inside that comparison.

Lunar: The Option, Not the Business

Intuitive Machines (LUNR) is the one place on this page where the revenue genuinely re-rated: $203M in Q2 2026 against $50M in the same quarter a year earlier, on NASA lunar delivery and related contracts. The operating loss also widened, to $47M. It held $367M of cash.

One detail worth checking before you calculate anything. As of August 6 2026 Intuitive Machines had 173,231,343 Class A shares, zero Class B and 55,692,725 Class C outstanding, a total of 228,924,068. Quote services that count only the Class A line understate the company's market value by roughly a third.

Read the Share Count Before You Read the Story

Every figure below comes off the cover page of the most recent 10-Q, which is free to check and takes a minute. It is the single most useful sort in this sector, because it separates the companies funding themselves from operations from the ones funding themselves from the market.

Read the two ends of that table together. The only two names with positive operating income last quarter, Iridium and Karman, are also the two barely issuing stock. The heaviest issuer on the list is also carrying an operating loss. That correlation is not a coincidence and it is not a judgement about which stock goes up. It is a description of who is paying for the company: customers, or shareholders.

The Names on Every Space Stock List That Are Not Space Companies

Search results for space stocks routinely include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and L3Harris. All four genuinely build spacecraft. None of them is a space stock in any way that matters to a position, because space is a small share of a very large defense and aerospace business, and the stock moves on the other part.

If defense exposure is what you actually want, that is a different page and a different trade. We cover it in the defense stocks playbook, which sorts those names by how much they move on headlines rather than by segment labels.

Space Stocks Under $5, and Why That Screen Finds the Wrong Names

"Space stocks under $5" is one of the most searched versions of this question, so here is the honest answer. A low share price is not a low valuation, it is a share count. Sorting a sector by price per share reliably surfaces the companies that have issued the most stock, which is the opposite of what the screen is trying to find.

Two names do sit under $5 at the moment. Momentus (MNTS) reported about $4M of trailing revenue, which is down sharply, against a market value under $100M. Sidus Space (SIDU) reported roughly $3M of trailing revenue at a negative gross margin, meaning it costs more to deliver the work than the work brings in. Neither has an options chain worth trading, both move on financing news rather than operations, and a single capital raise can reprice them overnight.

Why Space Stocks Fall Together on the Same Day

If you hold more than one name here you will notice they drop as a group, often without company news. There are three reasons, and knowing which one is operating tells you whether to do anything about it.

1. They are long-duration assets. Almost every company on this page is valued on cash flows that arrive years from now. When rate expectations move, the present value of a distant cash flow moves more than the present value of a near one. That is why space, quantum and unprofitable software all sell off on the same afternoon despite having nothing to do with each other.

2. They share a funding channel. A sector that finances itself by issuing stock depends on there being a bid for that stock. When the window narrows, every name in the group gets repriced for the same reason at the same time, and the ones with the largest at-the-market programs move most.

3. One customer sets the tone. Government budgets, NASA program decisions and defense appropriations touch most of these companies at once. A single procurement headline is a sector event, not a company event.

None of that is a reason to avoid the sector. It is the reason position sizing matters more here than stock selection: correlated names do not diversify each other, so four space positions are closer to one large position than to four independent ones.

If You Would Rather Own the Basket

Three listed funds cover this theme, and they are not interchangeable. Read the holdings before assuming a space ETF holds space companies, because most of the assets in this category sit in aerospace and defense primes rather than in the names above.

A fund removes single-name blowup risk and removes the upside that draws people to this sector in the first place. It also does nothing about the correlation problem above, because the holdings fall together for the same three reasons.

What the Options Market Will Actually Let You Do Here

Liquidity in this sector is bimodal. A few names have chains deep enough to trade properly and the rest will cost you more in spread than the thesis is worth.

The sector-specific hazard is implied volatility around scheduled events: a launch, a lunar landing attempt, an earnings date, a lockup expiry. Volatility ramps into the event and collapses the moment it resolves, regardless of the outcome. Owning a long single option through a known event is a bet on magnitude that has to beat the volatility crush, which is why spreads are the more common structure here.

Three Questions Before Any Space Position

1. Which segment am I actually buying, and who pays it? Launch is paid by satellite operators and governments. Connectivity is paid by subscribers and carriers. Components are paid by everybody building hardware. Imaging and lunar are paid mostly by government programs, which means the customer is a budget line and the timeline is political.

2. How many more shares exist than a year ago? The table above is the whole answer and it is free to check on any 10-Q cover page. A company diluting 30% in six months is not doing something wrong, it is telling you how it is funded. Put the number in your math before you size anything.

3. Can I define my risk on this name at all? On MNTS and SIDU the honest answer is no. On KRMN, RDW, BKSY, FLY and VOYG the chains exist but the spreads will cost you. That answer should change your position size before it changes your thesis.

Frequently Asked Questions