Virgin Galactic Earnings: A Return To Space, Orbit May Have A Buyer And More

Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE are flat in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company reported first-quarter earnings. Here’s what investors need to know.

By The Numbers: Richard Branson’s space exploration company reported a loss of 57 cents per share, missing the consensus estimate of a 52-cent loss, on revenues of $392,000 against a $1.16-million estimate.

On Monday, the company issued a release saying it is planning to send a crew of four mission specialists to space later this month on the Unity's 25th flight, which will act as the final assessment of the full spaceflight system and astronaut experience before commercial services commence in June.

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“We are excited to return to space with the 'Unity 25' mission planned for the end of May, and we are actively readying for commercial service to begin in late June,” CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.

“Concurrently, we are making steady progress on the development of our Delta Class spaceships, the driver of revenue growth and profitability in the business.”

The company's first commercial flight, "Galactic 01," is scheduled for late June.

What’s Going On With Orbit? Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc VORBQ, formerly Nasdaq-listed under the ticker VORB and the sister company to Virgin Galactic, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early April after the satellite launching business struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed launch in the beginning of the year.

Virgin Orbit’s CEO Dan Hart, a former executive at Boeing Co BA, said at the time that the company made some key financial and operational “missteps,” and the company was exploring a potential sale.

On Monday, Virgin Orbit issued a press release stating that it has received more than 30 indications of interest, including multiple parties that proposed to continue to operate the business as a going concern and retain current employees in an integrated enterprise.

The bid deadline for final binding offers is set for later this month.

SPCE Price Action: Shares of Virgin Galactic were trading down 1.71% at $4.02 in Tuesday's after-hours session. 

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