What happened
Yesterday's downgrade from UBS took Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE 5.23%) stock's latest price spike and cut it off at the knees -- limiting the space tourism pioneer's gains to just 3% Tuesday.
Responding rapidly, analysts at Truist bank -- the former BB&T -- rushed out a note assuring investors that when Sir Richard Branson flies to space on Sunday, it will be a "positive catalyst" for the stock (reports TheFly.com). Then Virgin Galactic itself released a promotional TikTok clip showing its founder talking on the phone and commenting "I'd love to go to space... in fact, I think I'll go Sunday!
Watch this space... @VirginGalactic is now on @tiktok_us! Follow us here; https://t.co/SYMnxWbShk pic.twitter.com/VZtXVX42VY
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 7, 2021
But it was all for naught. Virgin Galactic stock is in free fall today -- down 6.5% as of 10:40 a.m. EDT.
So what
The good news is that there's no bad news to explain the stock's sudden unpopularity. The bad news, though, is that even great news might not be able to sustain Virgin Galactic stock at its current, elevated stock price.
As UBS explained in its note yesterday, there are certainly catalysts coming up that could support Virgin Galactic's current $10 billion-plus market capitalization. Nevertheless, the simple fact of the matter is that with Virgin Galactic's shares up 170% from their lows just two months ago, most of the good news that Virgin Galactic might report in the months and quarters ahead is already priced in to the stock.
Image source: Virgin Galactic.
Now what
And here's the thing: With neither profit nor even revenue to provide a valuation argument in favor of its stock price at present, Virgin Galactic's shares basically trade on good news. Until that changes -- until Virgin Galactic begins flying paying customers to space, and reporting the results of those trips as revenue -- the lack of any positive "surprises" on the news front could keep a lid on the stock price going forward.
