Eight analysts initiate on space stock York with 'buy' following recent IPO
Shares of York Space Systems have been almost unanimously rated "buy" by Wall Street analysts / Photo: York Space Systems
Eight Wall Street analysts have initiated coverage of York Space Systems, recommending shares of the low-cost satellite maker less than a month after it went public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is heavily reliant on government funding and major defense initiatives such as Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense program for the U.S. homeland, but Wall Street appears willing to accept that risk, Barron’s believes.
Details
Eight analysts have launched coverage of York Space and issued “buy” ratings on the stock, according to MarketWatch data. Among them are JPMorgan, Jefferies, Citi, and Wells Fargo, MarketScreener data indicates. Two additional banks, Goldman Sachs and Truist, have initiated coverage with “hold” recommendations.
The wave of initiations is standard following an IPO. Brokers that participate in an offering typically wait several weeks after an IPO before publishing research, Barron’s noted. This means, as in the case of York Space, investors often receive a flurry of new ratings at once.
York Space shares rose nearly 5% to $27.20 per share on Monday thanks to upbeat valuations. On Tuesday morning, the stock had added about 1% as of this writing. Even so, York Space shares remain roughly 28% off the IPO price.
The average Wall Street target price stands at $38 per share, implying potential upside of nearly 38% from current levels.
What analysts say
“We view York Space Systems as a high-risk/high-reward play on the space megatrend powering other stocks in our coverage,” Citi analyst John Godyn wrote, as cited by Barron’s.
Not all analysts are as bullish. Truist analyst Michael Ciarmoli rates the shares “hold,” citing the company’s current concentration of satellite production for the U.S. Space Force. “Near-term, we need to see York Space Systems secure more awards, preferably from a customer other than the [Space Force], to drive backlog growth,” Ciarmoli wrote.
York Space indeed depends on government contracts and major defense initiatives such as Golden Dome, which entails a multilayered shield against "ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries." The project's price tag has been estimated by Trump at $175 billion.
