AST SpaceMobile shares surged 11% on Wednesday, closing at $62.40, after Berenberg Bank initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $92 price target. The target implies roughly 65% upside from the stock’s previous close.
Berenberg analyst Michael Filatov said AST SpaceMobile is the only company to have demonstrated true cellular broadband connectivity from space directly to standard, unmodified smartphones. The bank highlighted the company’s 60+ mobile network operator partnerships, covering approximately 3 billion potential subscribers, as well as its owned L-band and S-band spectrum and access to low-band spectrum.
The initiation was part of a broader space sector call that also included Rocket Lab and Planet Labs. Berenberg expects AST SpaceMobile to begin scaling commercial operations meaningfully in 2027, with rapid revenue growth and high margins once continuous service launches. The firm noted that AST complements mobile carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and Rakuten rather than competing directly with them.
The stock had pulled back from a May 28 record high of $133.09 after satellite deployment delays. AST originally targeted 45 to 60 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026, but after losing BlueBird 7 in April and updating guidance during its Q2 report in July, the company pushed its 45-satellite target back to early 2027. It currently has 13 BlueBird satellites launched, with 12 in orbit, and reports a $1.3 billion backlog.
Berenberg described the risk-reward profile as asymmetric, while other analysts remain mixed. UBS kept a Neutral rating and lowered its target to $78, and Piper Sandler maintained Overweight but cut its target to $98. At an enterprise value of $21 billion, ASTS trades at roughly 33 times next year’s sales.
