In 2024, Intuitive Machines nearly tripled its revenue. / Photo: Intuitive Machines
The stock of U.S. small-cap space company Intuitive Machines surged 30% yesterday, March 24, after the company reported a nearly 80% year-over-year jump in revenue in the fourth quarter. Earlier in the month, the company’s shares had plummeted when its second attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon ended in failure.
Details
Yesterday, Intuitive Machines soared 30% to $9.20 per share, its highest mark since March 7.
The rally followed the release of the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year financial results. Revenue for the fourth quarter reached $54.7 million, up 79% from $30.7 million a year earlier. For the full year, Intuitive Machines had a top line of $228 million — nearly three times the 2023 amount.
The company also announced new contracts through NASA’s Near Space Network program, which provides direct-to-earth services. This could prove lucrative for Intuitive Machines, with the contracts worth as much as $4.8 billion, Reuters reports.
On the bottom line, however, the company reported a loss. The net loss for 2024 amounted to $347 million, compared to $10.1 million net income in 2023.
Intuitive Machines guides for revenue of $250-300 million in 2025 and aims to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA by 2026.
About Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machines is a space company based in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2013, it is one of the fastest-growing firms in the sector.
The company is best known for its lunar landers, designed to deliver heavy payloads. For example, its second lunar lander, Athena, carried a drill, a lunar rover, and a “hopper” — a device equipped with a rocket engine for collecting scientific data and samples.
Intuitive Machines is also developing a so-called Lunar Terrain Vehicle. It has a Near Space Network Services division, which specializes in communications and navigation solutions for lunar exploration. The company’s main revenue stream comes from commercial contracts for direct-to-earth services, according to Cantor Fitzgerald senior equity analyst Andres Sheppard, as cited by Reuters.
This provides navigation and connectivity for spacecraft, such as lunar landers and orbital probes, linking them to Earth-based stations in support of NASA’s moon program.
In late February 2025, the company launched Athena aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The plan was for Athena to land on March 6 on a mountain 160 kilometers from the Moon’s south pole — closer than any previous spacecraft. However, the landing did not go as planned: On March 7, the module tipped over within a crater just 250 meters from the intended landing site. The company later officially called off the mission. Following this failure, Intuitive Machines shares dropped 20% and a further 30% in after-hours trading.
Stock performance
Intuitive Machines is up 29% in the last 12 months, thanks to a strong 2024 performance. In February 2024, it successfully completed an unmanned lunar landing, becoming the first private company to achieve this.
However, since the beginning of 2025, the stock is down nearly 50%, primarily due to the second lunar landing failure.
According to MarketWatch, eight analysts cover Intuitive Machines, with six “buys,” one “hold,” and one “sell.” Their average target price of $15.14 per share implies upside of 64% versus the last closing price.
