If You Invested $1,000 In Virgin Galactic Stock One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Investors who have owned stocks in the last year have generally experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 SPY total return over the last 12 months is 42.7%. But there is no question some big-name stocks performed better than others along the way.

Virgin Galactic’s Bumpy Ride: One stock that ultimately performed well in the past year has been space travel company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE.

Virgin Galactic made major headlines back in 2019 when the company went public via a SPAC merger and became the first pure-play space tourism stock listed on a major exchange.

With tickets currently priced at about $250,000 each, the company is initially targeting high net-worth customers, but it will likely expand its business and lower its prices over time.

See also: How to Buy Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Stock

Unfortunately, Virgin has yet to successfully complete its first paid flight and has even struggled to complete test flights. Meanwhile, the company reported a $129.6 million net loss in the first quarter and a $644.8 million net loss in 2020.

At the beginning of 2020, Virgin shares were trading at $11.70. By the beginning of March, the stock was up to $27.44 despite news of COVID-19 spreading in China prompting concerns about a U.S. pandemic.

Virgin ultimately hit its low point of the pandemic later that month, trading all the way down to $9.06 during the broad market sell-off. Like the rest of the market, Virgin quickly recovered and was back up to as high as $27.55 in July.

At that point, Virgin shares stalled and didn’t make new highs again until November. 

Related Link: UBS Upgrades Virgin Galactic, Sees String Of Bullish Catalysts Ahead

Virgin hit $35.82 in December ahead of the delay of its planned test flight for VSS Unity, which was rescheduled to May 22. The stock then took off to the moon in early 2021 when Reddit got involved.

Virgin In 2021, Beyond:  Virgin’s stock prices have been ascending and descending nearly as much as its spaceships in the past year, and Reddit’s WallStreetBets added rocket fuel to the fire when they included Virgin Galactic as part of a targeted buying campaign to trigger short squeezes in highly shorted stocks.

Virgin shares hit their 2021 peak at $62.80 in February during the short squeeze before pulling back to $25.23. The February rally was an excellent opportunity for Virgin investors looking for a chance to abandon ship with some big gains.

At this point, Virgin will need its test flights to continue to go smoothly and its timeline to stay on track for the stock to make it back to its February highs. 

This week, the company announced that it successfully completed the VSS Unity test flight. UBS analyst Myles Walton is now anticipating three additional test flights over the next four months before tickets once again reopen in the second half of 2021.

Virgin investors who bought one year ago and held on through the volatility have made a decent return. In fact, $1,000 in Virgin stock bought on May 24, 2020, would be worth about $1,591 today.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting a rebound for Virgin in the next 12 months. The average price target among the 10 analysts covering the stock is $28.50, suggesting 13.8% downside from current levels.

(Photo VSS Unity in space over New Mexico via Virgin Galactic)