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The new space race just got a little more crowded
Deutsche Bank shaved its AST SpaceMobile price target down to $117 from $139, but didn’t throw in the towel. It kept a Buy rating, which is Wall Street’s version of saying, “We still like the movie, we just think the sequel budget got bigger.”
Why the haircut?
The timing matters. Amazon said it’s buying Globalstar as part of its push into direct-to-device satellite connectivity, and that sent a fresh dose of competition anxiety through the space-stock crowd. If you’re AST SpaceMobile, that’s not exactly the kind of headline you want showing up in your morning coffee.
Investors didn’t exactly shrug it off either: ASTS fell 10.5% after the news, closing at $84.83 versus the previous close of $98.97. Translation: the market heard “more competition” and immediately reached for the sell button.
Still a long runway, just bumpier now
There’s still a bullish case here. ASTS keeps pitching its own differentiated satellite network and plans to deploy 45 to 60 large satellites by 2026, which is the kind of long-term story that gets investors dreaming big — and then checking their risk tolerance.
Big picture: this isn’t a thesis-breaker, but it is a reminder that the satellite internet race is turning into a real dogfight. And when Amazon shows up, everyone else has to start running a little faster.