The company’s banner above the New York Stock Exchange on March 28, 2022.
Terran Orbital
Terran Orbital shares surged in trading on Wednesday, after the company announced a $2.4 billion contract to build communications satellites for Rivada Space Networks.
“I believe this is the largest small [satellite] deal in the history of small sats – I don’t know any deal that is larger,” Terran cofounder, chairman and CEO Marc Bell told CNBC.
The spacecraft builder will design, manufacture and deploy 288 satellites for Rivada out of Terran’s Tyvak subsidiary based in Irvine, California. It will also build 12 spare satellites, for a total contract of 300 satellites, and develop portions of the ground support for the constellation.
“It solidifies our place as the manufacturer of small sats of choice … we’ve been doing a lot of work for the government and the intelligence community, and now we’re doing it for the commercial side as well,” Bell said. “I think people can now draw a very confident line on our path to profitability, our path to growth and they could see how we’re gonna get there.”
Rivada aims to begin launching the constellation as early as 2025. The company wants to build an interconnected global satellite network, with service to telecommunications, enterprise and government markets.
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Terran stock jumped as much as 80% in trading from its previous close of $1.71 a share. The stock has slid steadily since its debut just over a year ago, when it finished its first day of trading at $11.80 a share.
“We are, in my opinion, still dramatically undervalued. The stock has moved up a little bit, compared to where it was, but it’s way down off its highs,” Bell said.