Abstract:
The aerospace company Rocket Lab announced that the first launch of the reusable medium-sized launch vehicle "Neutron" has been postponed to 2027. The company's shares plunged more than 14% in early trading Thursday following the news. Rocket Lab originally planned to achieve the first flight of the Neutron rocket in the fourth quarter of 2026. CEO Peter Baker blamed the delay on manufacturing issues with the rocket's first-stage propellant forward dome.
According to the video briefing reproduced by Stocktwits, Baker said: "This does not mean that the dome will definitely fail during flight, but our principle is that only after confirming that the system has sufficient safety margin will we proceed with follow-up work. 'It is possible to succeed' is not our standard."
Baker said that the company has found a corresponding manufacturing repair solution and expects to complete the final assembly of the first stage of the rocket within this quarter, which will be more suitable to announce the exact launch date. He also mentioned that market demand is strong and new contracts will be announced in the future.
In a market dominated by SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the Neutron is the centerpiece of Rocket Lab’s competition for large space missions. The rocket's timetable has been postponed many times before: when it was announced in 2021, it aimed to fly for the first time in 2024, then postponed to mid-2025, and then changed to 2026. In January this year, the rocket's first-stage tank ruptured during testing.
The stock had fallen 7.9% in regular trading Wednesday before the company issued this updated announcement at 4:40 p.m. ET.
If Thursday's losses hold through to the close, it would be Rocket Lab's lowest closing price since December 2025. The stock is down about 25% this year and is down about 65% from its 52-week high of $151 in May.
The aerospace sector as a whole is already under pressure. Piper Sandler lowered its target price on AST SpaceMobile to $54 due to competitive pressure from SpaceX. As a result, the company's stock price fell 10% on Wednesday.
Rocket Lab is also advancing a deal to acquire satellite operator Iridium.
Yahoo Finance analyst data shows that after the announcement, Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an "overweight" rating on Rocket Lab, with an unchanged target price of $122.
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