Quick Read
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Berenberg's Michael Filatov initiated ASTS at Buy with a $92 target and PL at $25, citing unique hard-to-replicate positions in space.
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Filatov's RKLB Buy at $83 joins the initiation, while UFO's flat 0.2% gain confirms these are isolated bounces, not broad sector momentum.
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Planet Labs reports earnings September 3, the next test of the 72% backlog growth underpinning Filatov's $25 price target thesis.
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AST SpaceMobile( NASDAQ:ASTS ) stock is up 11% to $62.36 in Wednesday morning trading, its sharpest single-session bid in weeks. Planet Labs( NYSE:PL ) stock is climbing alongside, up 5% to $20.14 on the same initiation. Both are still trailing the sector year to date, so today's buying reads as a bounce in laggards rather than a sector-wide continuation.
The Procure Space ETF( NYSEARCA:UFO ) is up 0.2% to $42.83. Two corner holdings running hot while the fund barely moves signals an initiation-driven bounce, not a sector rotation.
Berenberg Initiation Drives the Bid
Berenberg analyst Michael Filatov initiated Rocket Lab ( NASDAQ:RKLB ), AST SpaceMobile, and Planet Labs at Buy in a new sector launch. AST SpaceMobile stock drew the highest price target at $92, with Filatov describing the company as "the only company to have demonstrated true cellular broadband from space to unmodified smartphones." He cited more than 60 mobile network operator partnerships covering roughly 3 billion subscribers.
Planet Labs shares received a $25 price target, with Filatov calling the company "the only company imaging the entire Earth daily." He pointed to a backlog up 72% year over year to roughly $906 million and accelerating revenue growth. Rocket Lab stock picked up an $83 target, with Filatov naming the company "the only end-to-end public pure-play in space."
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Two Different Theses Behind the Bids
Filatov framed the sector view around falling launch costs pushing the space economy past $500 billion in 2025. He cited defence space spending of $74 billion in 2025 and a U.S. Space Force fiscal 2027 budget request that more than doubled from the prior year.
AST SpaceMobile stock is a connectivity bet that hinges on constellation deployment reaching scale. The company launched BlueBirds 8 through 10 in June and BlueBirds 11 through 13 in August, moving toward the 45 satellites needed to open commercial service. SpaceX( NASDAQ:SPCX ) provided the Falcon 9 for the August launch.
Planet Labs shares trade on a different premise. The moat is an imagery archive and daily global coverage that competitors can't rebuild quickly, which explains why the initiation produced a much larger relative move in AST SpaceMobile stock than in Planet Labs shares. Connectivity is priced off milestones a constellation still must hit, while daily-imaging cadence is already booking revenue and lengthening the backlog.
Laggards Getting a Bounce, Not a Sector Rally
Through Tuesday's close, AST SpaceMobile stock was down 23% year to date (YTD) and Planet Labs stock was down 2% YTD, while the Procure Space ETF was up 11%. Today's buying is concentrated in the two names that have trailed the sector rather than across the sector itself.
That gap signals a re-rating of specific stories on a specific thesis rather than fresh capital flowing into space broadly. Both names still have ground to make up on the sector fund before year's end.
What to Watch Next
Planet Labs is scheduled to report quarterly results after the close on September 3, the next test of the backlog figure the Berenberg thesis rests on. Traders can watch for whether reported bookings and remaining performance obligations hold the pace management outlined on the prior call.
For investors building exposure to either name, the price action rewards discipline over chasing. Trimming their positions on strength and scaling in during quieter sessions keeps their risk sized to a story that unfolds over quarters, not days.
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