What Happened?
Shares of aerospace and defense company Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) jumped 12% in the morning session after the company continued to see positive momentum following a stellar first-quarter earnings report and subsequent analyst price target upgrades.
The surge builds on a massive 34% gain from the previous trading session after the company stunned Wall Street with its results. Rocket Lab reported first-quarter revenue of $200.3 million, a 63% increase from the previous year, and announced it had secured more launch bookings in the quarter than in all of 2025. This success contributed to a record backlog of $2.2 billion. In response, analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald and Cowen raised their price targets on the stock to $96 and a Street-high of $120, respectively, citing the strong demand and successful launch record. The company also announced an agreement to acquire Motiv Space Systems, a move that will bring space robotics expertise in-house.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Rocket Lab’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 78 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Rocket Lab and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock gained 30.6% on the news that it reported strong first-quarter 2026 results that beat revenue expectations and provided exceptionally bullish guidance for the upcoming quarter.
The company's first-quarter revenue grew 63.5% year on year to $200.3 million, topping Wall Street's estimates. While its loss per share of $0.07 was in line with expectations, the company's outlook ignited investor enthusiasm. Rocket Lab forecasted second-quarter revenue of around $232.5 million, significantly ahead of the consensus estimate of $207.6 million.
More impressively, the company guided for a positive adjusted EBITDA of $23 million, a dramatic reversal from the $15.14 million loss analysts had anticipated. This strong guidance suggests accelerating growth and a faster-than-expected path to profitability, driving the stock higher.
Rocket Lab is up 56.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $118.72 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Rocket Lab’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $11,992.
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