Overview
- Shares set a new 52-week high above $112 in Friday trading after the company was named a prime awardee eligible under the Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD program.
- The SHIELD designation allows AST SpaceMobile to compete for research, engineering, prototyping, and operational support work under the Pentagon’s Golden Dome initiative.
- Recent momentum follows the successful deployment of BlueBird 6, described as the largest commercial communications array in low Earth orbit and designed to deliver up to 120 Mbps to standard smartphones.
- Management targets 45–60 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026 and has scaled operations to roughly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space with about 1,800 employees.
- Despite the rally and partnerships with over 50 mobile network operators covering nearly 3 billion subscribers, analysts maintain a Hold view with an average target near $75.51 and warn about funding needs, execution risk, and limited current revenue.