What happened
Shares of stocks of all stripes got hit hard in yesterday's broad-based S&P 500 sell-off -- but few got hit quite as hard as recent SPAC offering turned certified space stock Spire Global (SPIR -4.25%), which fell 5.6% in Monday's trading.
That's the bad news. Now here's the good: On Tuesday, Spire stock is bouncing back in a big way, up 28.3%.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Why is Spire, which operates a constellation of 100 Earth observation satellites and provides space-based data analysis to Earth, rocketing so hard today?
Clearly, part of what we're seeing today is a relief rally, as investors buy back stocks that were sold off in yesterday's panic. But the other part of the reason Spire is rocketing probably owes more to what the company announced last week: It's acquiring another space company -- Canada's exactEarth -- for the bargain price of just 9.1 times revenue. Spire's own stock costs closer to 46 times revenue.
Now what
Admittedly, at last report, neither exactEarth nor Spire were GAAP-profitable companies, so referring to price-to-sales ratios only proves that exactEarth is a relative bargain next to Spire's own stock. Still, in its most recent earnings report, exactEarth appeared to be on the cusp of profitability and had already begun generating positive operating cash flow and positive free cash flow, as well. By acquiring exactEarth, Spire made a move toward becoming free-cash-flow positive itself -- and that's good news for investors.
It may not be "28% gains in a single day" good news, but good news nonetheless.
