A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket carrying the AST Spacemobile Bluebird 7 satellite launches from Pad 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 19, 2026.
Paul Hennessy | Anadolu | getty images
A failed satellite launch AST Spacemobile There was a sharp decline on Monday.
The stock fell nearly 12% in premarket trading on Sunday after a rocket designed by Jeff Bezos’ space technology company Blue Origin placed the satellite into a lower orbit than planned.
AST Spacemobile’s Bluebird 7 satellite will be the company’s eighth satellite launched into low-Earth orbit, the company said Sunday. Press release. It was launched on Blue Origin’s third New Glenn rocket.
Blue Origin accepted into A post on x The satellite was placed in the wrong orbit, but only said it was assessing the situation and would provide further updates. The company has not made any statement since the satellite was officially declared lost.
The cost of the satellite loss is expected to be covered by an insurance policy, AST said in the release. It still expects to launch a satellite on average once every one to two months in 2026, and said Bluebird satellites 8, 9 and 10 should be ready to ship in 30 days.
ASTS Year-to-Date Chart.
William Blair analyst Louis DePalma believes it will now be difficult to achieve AST’s goal of putting 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year. However, he did not view Sunday’s events as a total loss for the company.
“AST gained experience integrating its satellite with New Glenn and working with the Blue Origin team,” DePalma wrote in a Monday note. “This experience will be integral to future missions. The silver lining is that there was only one satellite on board, whereas future New Glenn launches may have eight Bluebirds on AST.”
While Clear Street analyst Greg Pendy was still bullish on the stock, he lowered his price target to $115 from $137, reiterating a buy rating after the news. That’s still a 34% gain from Friday’s close, but well short of the 60% surge shares had previously estimated.
UBS analyst Christopher Schoell said in a note that the financial impact on AST would be limited, but he added that AST and its share price performance are now closely linked to Bezos’ Blue Origin.
“We believe the success of Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicle … is key to meeting year-end deployment targets/management’s 2027 revenue target, and expect uncertainty to weigh on investor sentiment until there is more clarity on launch,” Shoell wrote.
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