Richard Branson glides through space on a Virgin Galactic rocket plane. Virgin Galactic
Bank of America reduced Virgin Galactic's price from $41 to $25 on Friday. This represents a 39% drop in its rating.
Analysts pointed out delays in the company’s commercial space flight schedule, and the absence of catalysts in a short term.
Virgin Galactic's Friday stock price fell by 1% to $23.99
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Bank of America cut its Virgin Galactic price target of 39% Friday. The reason was due to concerns about delays in company's commercial space flight timeline, and lack of catalysts.
Ronald J. Epstein, an analyst, lowered the price target from $41 to $25. Virgin Galactic shares traded at just above $24 on Friday afternoon, and are currently down 4.8% for this week.
BofA stated that Virgin's Eve Mothership's longer maintenance will cause delays in the company's first commercial passenger flight. This could happen late into the third quarter 2022, rather than early 2022. According to analysts, this will lead to lower short-term earnings estimates.
Analysts also predict that Virgin's attempt at orbital customer travel will not be realized until 2035. They had previously predicted 2028 for the base.
BofA stated that Virgin Galactic is currently without short-term catalysts due to the delayed commercial space flight. They also said that the stock could be under pressure because of October's expiration of the lock-up period.
Virgin Galactic's year-to-date growth is 1.9%
