AST SpaceMobile’s stock price is soaring after the SpaceX rival reported earnings. Here’s why

Heads up, Elon?

AST SpaceMobile, a Texas-based startup that designs and manufactures satellites with aims of challenging companies like SpaceX, saw its stock price shoot closer to the moon after it announced second-quarter earnings on Monday.

The catalyst appears to be that the company’s plan to deploy as many as five dozen satellites into orbit by next year is actually taking flight, and is fully funded, per AST’s earnings report. 

“We are confirming our fully-funded plan to deploy 45 to 60 satellites into orbit by 2026 to support continuous service in the US, Europe, Japan, and other strategic markets, including the U.S. Government,” Abel Avellan, founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We also have planned orbital launches every one to two months on average during 2025 and 2026.”

At the same time, the company reported widening losses of $99.4 million for the second quarter of 2025, compared to $72.6 million for the same period last year.

Shares in AST SpaceMobile Inc (Nasdaq: ASTS) were up almost 13% in premarket trading on Tuesday as of this writing.

Half dozen satellites already in orbit

The company currently has six satellites in orbit, Avellan added, so the deployment of dozens more would signify a huge increase in its current presence in space.

Its goal is to create a space-based cellular broadband network to rival SpaceX’s Starlink, which could help connect smartphones and computers to the internet in areas where terrestrial coverage gaps exist.

“We are on target to complete 40 satellites equivalent of microns by early 2026 to support full voice, data, and video space-based cellular broadband services,” Avellan said.

Starlink is only one of several potential rivals in this space, however. For instance, Apple is currently backing Globalstar, while Amazon has Project Kuiper.

In all, it seems that space is about to get less empty—at least in orbit, where numerous companies are competing for an advantage.