After surging in share price on news of a successful launch and trip toward the moon earlier this week, shares of tiny space stock Intuitive Machines (LUNR 7.37%) sold off in subsequent days. Investors held their breath and waited for word on whether the company's Nova-C lander would land successfully...or crash.
And now, the news is out. Nova-C has landed on the moon -- and Intuitive Machines stock is rocketing, up an astounding 25.8% as of noon ET.
NASDAQ: LUNR
Key Data Points
Once more, with feeling
Intuitive Machines' first Nova-C lander, dubbed "Odysseus," blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just after midnight on Thursday last week. Almost precisely one week after its launch -- this Thursday evening -- Intuitive Machines was able to proudly announce:
"Odysseus has a new home" https://t.co/oVgLobxH8T
-- Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 22, 2024
In an update this morning, Intuitive Machines was further able to confirm that Odysseus landed safe, sound, and upright (in contrast to some failed landings by other countries in recent months); that its solar panels are charging; and that it's in contact with the company's mission control center in Houston.
In short, the mission is a 100% success -- America's first moon landing in more than half a century.
Is Intuitive Machines stock a buy?
Space stock Intuitive Machines isn't looking too shabby itself. Maybe not up 100%, but easily 25%. That seems a fair reward for the company that just returned America to the moon. The question now for investors is whether Intuitive Machines stock can continue to reward them with a higher and higher stock price.
It's not entirely clear that it can, but there's a chance. Here's how the math works.
Analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence think Intuitive Machines -- which was profitable last year thanks, in large part, to the $118 million NASA paid it for Odysseus -- will turn unprofitable again in 2024. That's the bad news.
The good news is that Intuitive Machines is slated to launch as many as two more Nova-C landers to the moon this year (on missions dubbed IM-2 and IM-3, respectively). If those two contracts prove as lucrative as the first, analysts see the company pulling down revenues approaching $270 million this year -- which would mean Intuitive Machines is trading for a pretty cheap 1.1 times current-year sales.
Again, the forecast is for Intuitive Machines to lose money this year. But even if it does, a 1.1 price-to-sales valuation seems really cheap to me relative to a space company like Rocket Lab, for example, which is also losing money but sells for an incredible 9 times sales.
Call me an optimist, but I'm starting to think this little space stock could be a long-term winner.
