What happened
Shares of Virgin Galactic (SPCE +8.57%) dropped 6.7% Monday, soon after the news broke that U.S. President Donald Trump and the first lady have both tested positive for COVID-19. In afternoon trading, the stock remains down about 3.2% as of 12:30 p.m. EDT -- and there's still no news about Virgin Galactic itself.
So what
No downgrades from analysts. No press releases from the company. Honestly, about the closest thing I see to "news" on Virgin Galactic today is an advertisement for a non-destructive testing (NDT) supervisor on the company's Twitter account.
Virgin Galactic's space testing continues apace. Image source: Virgin Galactic.
Now what
All that seems to indicate to me is that Virgin Galactic is still doing what it says it has been doing: conducting tests on its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft and SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes, and preparing for its next test flight of the latter, which is scheduled to take place Oct. 22.
Although I admit I still have reservations about this stock -- until it has conducted at least one successful commercial spaceflight and brought its passengers home safely, how can one not? But lacking any negative stock-specific news today, I consider today's decline in share price more noise than signal.
In short, if you liked Virgin Galactic stock yesterday, there's no reason you should like it any less today.
