Virgin Galactic's Stock Will Come Back Down To Earth: Morgan Stanley

What goes up, into the stratosphere and in the stock market, often will also come down, and that's likely to be the case with the soaring stock of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE, Morgan Stanley said Thursday.

Investors appeared to agree, as the stock was down more than 5% Thursday after a big run up this month that has seen the stock roughly double in value.

The Virgin Galactic Analyst

Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas continues to have an Overweight rating on Virgin Galactic with a $22 price target.

The Virgin Galactic Thesis

"A modest correction is overdue, and frankly, healthy, in our opinion," Jonas wrote in a Thursday note. The run up has taken several analysts by surprise, with no obvious catalyst in the last few weeks, other than potentially growing awareness and excitement around the prospect of space tourism.

Just this week, a Virgin Galactic competitor, Elon Musk's privately-held SpaceX said it has agreed to fly four private customers into orbit later this year. Virgin Galactic has previously said it plans its first commercial flight, carrying its founder, Richard Branson, later this year.

"Enthusiasm around the emerging space economy has triggered a pace of volume and volatility around SPCE that has taken the MS Space Team by surprise," Jonas wrote, adding that the stock "deserves a bit of a breather."

Virgin Galactic reports fourth quarter results on Feb. 25.

SPCE Price Action

Virgin Galactic shares were trading down 5.4% at $35.30 at publication time Thursday.

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