Why Planet Labs Stock Went to the Moon Today
Key Points
Rocket Lab will buy Iridium Communications in an $8 billion deal.
No one is buying Planet Labs -- yet.
Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) is buying Iridium Communications (NASDAQ: IRDM) for $8 billion, as the two space companies announced -- and it's getting investors in other space stocks pretty excited this morning.
Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) stock for example isn't involved in the RKLB-IRDM deal at all, but as of 10:30 a.m. ET it's already up 10.5% -- even more than Rocket Lab's 8.7% bump, albeit not as much as Iridium's 21.6% gain!
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Details, please
Rocket Lab is paying $8 billion in cash and stock to acquire the original satellite phone company, Iridium, and expand its own business beyond mainly space launch and satellite construction, into providing Internet of Things (IoT), aviation, maritime, and Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services.
Planet Labs doesn't really do any of these things; its focus is on Earth observation satellites (spy satellites).
What the Rocket Lab-Iridium tie-up means for Planet Labs
For forward-thinking investors, though, this could be a good thing. As Rocket Lab expands into new space markets, one that it might want to enter is Earth observation -- and that could make Planet stock a future merger target.
Alternatively, someone else in the space industry might decide to scoop up Planet Labs -- whose stock is down more than 40% in the wake of the SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) IPO -- before Rocket Lab can get to it.
Speaking of which, Rocket Lab's purchase of Iridium demonstrates that not all the space money will go to SpaceX from now on. Consolidation is still happening elsewhere, and investors are still interested in finding and buying "the next SpaceX."
Maybe, just maybe, that next SpaceX will be named Planet Labs.
Rich Smith has positions in Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Planet Labs PBC and Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.