What's Going On With Rocket Lab (RKLB) Stock Thursday?

Benzinga·12/11/2025 20:40:36

语音播报

Rocket Lab Corp (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares are trading higher Thursday afternoon, shrugging off a minor mission delay as investors focus on bullish analyst revisions and critical hardware milestones. Here’s what investors need to know.

Rocket Lab shares are climbing with conviction. What’s behind RKLB gains?

What To Know: Despite announcing a scrub of the “Bridging The Swarm” mission for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the stock has climbed around 9% in afternoon trading.

The company on Wednesday posted on X that it was “standing down from today's launch attempt to assess sensor data,” but assured investors of “plenty of back up opportunities in the coming days.” Market sentiment remains resilient, driven by broader long-term catalysts that overshadowed the operational hiccup.

Following the KAIST mission, Rocket Lab is preparing for a rapid turnaround with the ‘RAISE And Shine’ launch for JAXA. Scheduled to lift off from Mahia no earlier than Saturday, Dec. 13 the Electron rocket will deploy the RAISE-4 satellite to demonstrate eight novel technologies in orbit.

Investors also cheered the qualification of the “Hungry Hippo” fairing for the upcoming Neutron rocket. This novel mechanism, which remains attached to the first stage to enable rapid reusability, successfully passed structural testing, keeping the medium-lift vehicle on track for its 2026 debut.

The rally also comes amid a wider surge in space sector interest, lifted by reports of a potential SpaceX IPO in late 2026, which has lifted valuations across the industry. With its stock already up over 150% year-to-date, Rocket Lab continues to solidify its status as the primary public-market alternative to SpaceX.

What Else: Beyond current operations, market focus is shifting toward the emerging theme of orbital data centers, with Elon Musk confirming yesterday that a potential SpaceX IPO would aim to fund such infrastructure alongside similar plans unveiled by Blue Origin.

This trend is gaining significant validation from tech giants, notably with Google CEO Sundar Pichai discussing “Project Suncatcher,” positioning space-based computing as a massive emerging catalyst for launch providers.

Benzinga Edge Rankings: Benzinga Edge rankings further validate this strength with a Momentum score of 95.83, signaling positive price trends across short, medium and long-term horizons.

RKLB Price Action: Rocket Lab shares were up 10.8% at $63.73 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

From a technical perspective, Rocket Lab is trading approximately 15.7% above its 50-day moving average of $54.70, indicating a bullish trend in the near term.

Additionally, the stock is trading approximately 66.3% above its 200-day moving average of $38.05, which further reinforces the strength of the current price action and suggests a robust long-term outlook.

Image: Shutterstock