There is a problem with Virgin Galactic inventory. Every time good news comes out, it goes down again, and there’s a good reason for that. As a capital intensive startup, it always needs more money.
Case in point: Virgin Galactic stock fell more than 10% in early trading Friday after it said it would raise up to $400 million through the sale of common stock to fund development of its spaceship fleet. in Thursday Virgin Galactic (Stock Ticker: SPCE), which filed, said the proceeds will be used to help expand its business operations.
The show seems pushy. Stocks have soared recently after the company announced details of its first commercial flight into space last week. It said in a statement that Galactic 01 will fly between June 27 and June 30. Prior to this announcement, the stock was trading around $4.06 and closed Tuesday at $6.01.
The shares have already given up some of the gains, closing at $5.32 on Thursday, and are now down 14%, to $4.57, in pre-market trading on Friday.
Standard & Poor’s 500
And
NASDAQ Composite
Futures are down about 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
This is only the latest share sale, as Virgin Galactic said in a statement Thursday that it had recently completed an “in-market” offer of $300 million. That the company continues to sell shares shouldn’t come as a surprise. Virgin Galactic finished the first quarter with about $900 million in cash and securities on its books. That’s a healthy balance, but Wall Street expects the company to use up to $2 billion over the next four years to build its business.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the timing of the additional capital raise or whether any were needed.
The problem is that analysts don’t project positive free cash flow until around the end of the decade when annual sales are expected to be north of $700 million. Sales in 2023 are expected to be approximately $11 million.
This is the first year of the company’s commercial operations. Commercial flights took longer than investors had hoped. In July 2021, when founder Richard Branson and others completed a test flight, the stock was trading at around $50. But a series of technical and organizational issues have since caused delays.
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As exciting as it is to see Virgin Galactic shares post good news, just remember that another share sale could be right around the corner.
Write to Robert Steiner at [email protected] and Al Root at [email protected]
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