Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) stock is trending on social media and business news websites while rocketing 20% higher in early trading. Yesterday, LUNR’s spaceship landed on the moon, making it the first private firm ever to accomplish that feat.
Moreover, Lunar’s tiny ship became the first American vessel to reach the moon’s surface since 1972. LUNR was hired by NASA to carry out the mission.
More About Lunar’s Expedition
NASA paid the firm $118 million to send its vessel, which The New York Times described as “a bit bigger than a telephone booth,” to the moon. On behalf of the space agency, Lunar’s ship will examine “space weather interactions with the moon’s surface” and evaluate the moon’s surface in order to gauge the feasibility of additional flights there.
On Thursday, it took the ship a significant amount of time to provide data and send strong signals to its base in Houston. But by last evening, it had reportedly accomplished those goals. Also noteworthy is that the company overcame trouble with its ship’s autonomous navigation system last night.
The vessel was powered by a rocket provided by Elon Musk’s firm, SpaceX.
LUNR Stock: An Investment Bank Reacts Positively to the News
Due to Lunar’s ability to successfully send its ship to the moon, the firm has entered “into a very exclusive club of space technology companies and government services contractors that can be relied upon to carry out the most demanding missions for” Washington, investment bank Canaccord Genuity wrote in reaction to the moon landing.
Predicting that LUNR will receive many lucrative deals going forward, Canaccord increased its price target on the shares by over $7 to $14.
Heading into today, the shares had soared 222% in the last month and 173% in the previous three months.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
