Virgin Galactic Stock

Part of the Virgin Group, VIRGIN GALACTIC (ticker symbol: SPCE) is the world’s first space tourism company founded by Richard Branson.

British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson founded VIRGIN GALACTIC in 2004, intending to provide suborbital flights to scientists and space tourists. Headquartered in California, USA, the company operates from New Mexico. VIRGIN GALACTIC debuted on the NYSE on Oct. 28, 2019, after a reverse merger with “black check company” Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings. Following the merger with SPAC Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc began trading under the ticker symbol SPCE on the New York Stock Exchange and as part of the Russell 1000 and Russell 3000 indices.

VIRGIN GALACTIC specializes in developing, manufacturing, and operating spaceships and related technologies to conduct commercial human spaceflight and commercial space research and development payloads. VIRGIN GALACTIC reported zero revenue for the first four quarters after its IPO in October 2019, with SPCE debuting at $11.75 per share. VIRGIN GALACTIC’s current primary sources of revenue come from carrying payload cargo and providing engineering services.

In October 2012, VIRGIN GALACTIC took full ownership of its sister company, The Spaceship Company (TSC), by acquiring the 30% stake held by Scaled Composites (Scaled) since TSC’s formation.

VIRGIN GALACTIC Stock History

Sir Richard Branson’s desire to launch commercial suborbital flights into space drove him to establish Virgin Galactic nearly 20 years ago. While the company was officially founded in 2004, Branson registered Virgin Galactic Airways in 1999, prompting Virgin Group officials to look for potential vehicles to launch tourists on suborbital flights. Unfortunately, Branson’s journey to establish commercial space travel would be riddled with many missed deadlines and even fatal accidents.

On December 14, 2005, Branson and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced that VIRGIN GALACTIC would locate its headquarters at a custom-built spaceport near Truth or Consequences. In 2007, VIRGIN GALACTIC signed an agreement with New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA), setting out the terms under which the NMSA would build and own the Virgin Galactic facilities and then lease them to VIRGIN GALACTIC.

VIRGIN GALACTIC went to work in its new headquarters, only to face a significant setback with a ground-based test failure that claimed the lives of three Scaled Composites employees in 2007. The company proceeded to suspend its operations while the causes of the fatal accident were investigated. Despite the controversy, VIRGIN GALACTIC still managed to attract clients, and in April 2013, the company successfully launched its first test flights of SpaceShipTwo. However, the following year another accident claimed the life of SpaceShipTwo’s co-pilot.

It took VIRGIN GALACTIC two years before it could conduct another test fight. But by 2018, the company had accumulated several flight milestones, and on July 11, 2021, VIRGIN GALACTIC completed its first fully crewed spaceflight – Unity 22, with Sir Richard Branson as one of its passengers.

Since its IPO in 2019, VIRGIN GALACTIC has reported zero earnings and net financial losses amid delays to commercial service from New Mexico’s taxpayer-funded spaceport. As of June 2022, VIRGIN GALACTIC has yet to issue any SPCE stock dividends.

How to Trade VIRGIN GALACTIC

With the global sub-orbital transportation and space tourism market projected to reach approximately $2.6 billion by 2031, VIRGIN GALACTIC presents some exciting trading opportunities. Here are some factors that traders should consider when trading VIRGIN GALACTIC stocks:

• Competitor Performance

Space tourism and commercial space flight may be in their infancy. Still, with only a handful of players racing to dominate the market, VIRGIN GALACTIC is already up against some very high-profile competitors. These include the likes of Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. better known as SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC, Axiom Space Inc., and Boeing Co.

• Major Milestones & Breakthroughs

As with any company that aspires to become a pioneer in its field VIRGIN GALACTIC has achieved many milestones but faced its fair share of setbacks. Keeping an eye out for significant milestones, breakthroughs, or the latest development in VIRGIN GALACTIC’s race to become the first commercial space line can help traders better anticipate SPCE’s price action.

• Periodical Earnings Reports

Even though VIRGIN GALACTIC has been reporting negative earnings since its 2019 IPO, SPCE’s quarterly earnings reports can give traders valuable insights into how the company is performing and provide clues on the future of the company line. VIRGIN GALACTIC’s releases quarterly reports at the end of every quarter, with SPCE’s fiscal year running from February 1st to January 31st of the following year.

AvaTrade VIRGIN GALACTIC Stock Trading Information

• VIRGIN GALACTIC Symbol: # SPCE
• Trading Times: Monday – Friday 14:30 – 20:59 GMT
• Country: USA
• Currency: USD
• Exchange: NYSE
• Leverage up to: 5:1

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** Disclaimer –While due research has been undertaken to compile the above content, it remains an informational and educational piece only. None of the content provided constitutes any form of investment advice.