Eva dra VSS Unit for his first fly in captivity over Mojave. ‘/>Virgin Galactic
At a time when non-traditional investors are buying stocks like GameStop and AMC Networks, the pursuit is to find other targets among the markets with the shortest stocks.
Among these stocks is Virgin Galactic, which has a ‘short percentage drift’ of about 70 percent. This means that institutional traders have shorted about 70 percent of the shares available for public trading. It is a big bet by investors that the company will fail.
In the year or so since she joined the New York Stock Exchange as an SPCE, Virgin Galactic has typically traded between $ 15 and $ 25 a share. Last week it rose to $ 58.65 and has since remained comfortably above $ 40 in the trade attributed to shorter mania.
Virgin Galactic – which develops a range of spacecraft to take tourists on short suborbital flights over 80km – falls short of the list of most short circuits. Most of these businesses, such as GameStop, Bed Bath & Beyond and The Children’s Place, are long-standing brick-and-mortar businesses plagued by online shopping, the pandemic, and other forces affecting profits.
In contrast, Virgin Galactic is a relative newcomer to the stock market and is developing a futuristic service. The company remains far from profitable and is still struggling to get its first space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo, in commercial service. The best years, in terms of profitability, lie years in the future, if it ever comes. It will require regular missions to the edge of space, perhaps weekly.
The recent rise in Virgin Galactic’s share comes as the company finally resumes its powered flight program. In mid-December, almost two full years after its last powered spaceflight, Virgin Galactic tried to keep its sleek SpaceShipTwo spacecraft on its third suborbital flight above 80 km.
Shortly after the spacecraft was released from its carrier aircraft, named White Knight Two, the firing sequence to ignite the spacecraft’s engine does not complete. As a result, the rocket engine could not fire, and the two pilots on board safely returned the vehicle to a runway in New Mexico, rather than ascending above the atmosphere. The company then began investigating this failure of the on-board computer, which halted the rocket engine ignition, and began taking steps to address it.
Prior to the test flight in December, Virgin Galactic set out a fairly strict schedule, which would include another suborbital flight with four mission specialists SpaceShipTwo cabin to ensure it is ready for commercial operations. This would be followed by a final test flight, with Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson during the first quarter of 2021. After this point, the company planned to start flying commercial missions with paying customers.
Virgin Galactic said Monday that its next test flight is now scheduled for a flight window that opens on February 13. This test flight will evaluate the repairs done since the December 12 flight test, as well as the new interior, which has been upgraded. for passengers. The results of this test flight “will inform the next steps in the test flight program”, the company said. Commercial missions are therefore unlikely before at least the second half of this year.