TLDR
- AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) closed at $36.89 on Monday, up 14.1%.
- The company and Rakuten will form Rakuten AST to bring satellite cell service to Japan.
- Third-quarter revenue of $42.3 million missed estimates, but the full-year forecast held.
- AST plans to build its own rocket, Backlift, with Firefly engines.
- The stock slipped 1.3% after hours to $36.43.
AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) stock closed at $36.89 on Monday, up $4.56 or 14.1%. The S&P 500 rose 2.3% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.7% the same day.
ASTS traded between $32.26 and $38.20 during the session. Its market cap now sits near $11.06 billion.
The spark was a new deal in Japan. AST and Rakuten, partners since 2020, agreed to form a joint venture called Rakuten AST.
AST SPACEMOBILE $ASTS Q3’26 EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS
🔹 Revenue: $42.3M (Est. $46.6M) 🔴
🔹 EPS: -$0.44 (Est. -$0.40) 🔴
🔹 Cash & Liquidity: ~$3.2BAffirms FY26 Guide:
🔹 Revenue: $150M-$200M (Est. $167M) 🟡Announcements:
🔹 Blacklift: 20-ton reusable rocket; launches starting… pic.twitter.com/Vx71M7Xdln— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) November 9, 2026
Rakuten will control the venture. It will use AST’s satellites to bring cell service to parts of Japan with weak coverage.
The network is also meant to keep people connected during a disaster. Rakuten AST can receive up to about $1 billion in Japanese government funding.
Old Funding News, New Momentum
That funding was not a surprise. The company won a bid for it back in June.
Space stocks also got a lift from NASA, which announced awards to SpaceX, Voyager Technologies, Firefly Aerospace, Blue Origin and others. Voyager rose about 16% and Firefly about 17%.
AST was not named in those awards. It still got a ride on the rally, which is not a bad deal for a company that was not on the guest list.
What the Quarter Showed
After the close, AST reported third-quarter revenue of $42.3 million. That nearly tripled from a year earlier but missed the $45.7 million Wall Street wanted.
The net loss was $132 million, or $0.44 a share. Analysts had expected a $143 million loss, so the loss came in smaller than forecast.
AST kept its full-year revenue forecast of $150 million to $200 million. It ended the quarter with about $3.2 billion in cash.
The company still expects to offer intermittent coverage in the U.S. and other markets by the end of the year. It also expects 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by mid-2027.
AST expects to build six satellites a month by December, and it has launch partners lined up for 100 satellites. Last week it said it would build its own rocket, Backlift, with engines from Firefly.
Backlift is expected to be operational by late 2028. Short sellers are watching closely, with about 35% of the float sold short, roughly 10 times a typical stock, according to FactSet.
The stock remains down about 70% from its May peak above $130. In after-hours trading, ASTS slipped 1.3% to $36.43 following the results.
