Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Stock Up 4% Yesterday despite Lack of Commercial Flights

Leading American spaceflight company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPCE) could be one stock investors could leverage on in this earning season as lined up events could count in the favor of the firm. However, as another quarterly report comes to the fore, the company is expected to report steep losses while investors remain on the lookout for signs on when the aircraft company is likely to begin its commercial flights again.

At the beginning of this month, the company had hinted at the possibility of another attempt carrying out a powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle. Surprisingly, the test never materialized because the firm stated that it needed more time to carry out technical checks on the flight. Since then, no new information has been released about a new flight date. This could however change with the coming quarterly report.

The first powered test flight which was supposed to be carried out on December 12, 2020, was aborted due to technical issues with the rocket motor’s ignition sequence. This aborted flight had put a temporary stop on the plans of the firm to have its first commercial flight in the first quarter of this year, which is beginning to look really bleak.

The newly proposed test flight is necessary so as to “complete data-gathering for the final two FAA verification and validation milestones.” The company has also said it plans to have a second powered flight if the first is successful. After this, plans would be put in place to kickstart revenue-generating commercial flights.

Regardless of the uncertainty looming over the test flight, SPCE stock rose by over 4% and it closed on the stock market at $46.12. The stocks have been on an upward swing since breaking out of the cup base with a $35.92 towards the end of January.

Despite Virgin Galactic’s lack of commercial flights, Wall Street has shown some tinge of confidence in the stock performance of the company.

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