It was a week of horrors for the U.S. markets as they suffered their biggest weekly percentage decline in two years as investors wrestled with the growing likelihood of a recession while global central banks tried to stamp out inflation.
High inflation rates have caused panic in the minds of investors this year because of the U.S. Federal Reserve along with most major central banks, beginning to pivot from easy monetary policies to tightening measures which will slow the economy, possibly causing a recession and potentially dent corporate earnings.
Because of this, the Dow Jones closed the previous week under the 30,000 BP after dipping below that level on Thursday for the first time since January 2021. The Dow closed down 4.8% for the week, its 11th losing week out of 12, while the S&P 500 slumped 5.8% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq also fell 4.8%. Each of the three major Wall Street indexes fell for the third week in a row.
Although the market was down, we saw a stellar performance from Sidus Space Incorporated, a NASDAQ quoted stock, that posted over 300%, starting the trading week at $1.47 to close the week trading at $6.16.
Sidus Space
Sidus Space is a space-as-a-service company. The Company is focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection. It supports commercial space, aerospace, defense, underwater marine, and other commercial and government customers.
The Company’s services include multidisciplinary design engineering, precision Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining and fabrication, Swiss screw machining, American Welding Society (AWS) certified welding and fabrication, electrical and electronic assemblies, wire cable harness fabrication, three-dimensional (3D) composite and metal printing, satellite manufacturing, satellite payload integration and operations support, satellite deployment and microgravity testing and research.
The Company also offers services to satellite/space hardware manufacturing, satellite/space hardware manufacturing, space-based geospatial intel, imagery and data analytics. The company touts to have established its place within this thriving space ecosystem “by the deep relationships developed over the years with those leading the industry.”
The company is solely woman-owned and founded by Carol Craig, who is a self-described “astropreneur,” and is the company’s CEO. She was one of the first women eligible to fly combat aircraft in the U.S. Navy and the first female aviator in her squadron serving as an active-duty P-3C Orion Naval Flight Officer.
What you should know
- The rally in its share price came as a result of an announcement which explained that the firm is part of the Collins Aerospace team which was awarded NASA’s $3.5 Billion Exploration Extravehicular Activity (xEVAS) services contract.
- The xEVAS contract has a potential value of $3.5 billion through 2034 with a 10-year base contract plus two option years. NASA awarded the contract to Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space.
- Sidus was selected as a teammate with Collins Aerospace through the life cycle of the program as a major subcontractor during the period of performance of the NASA xEVAS contract and other contracts with independent commercial entities.
- The announcement explained that the xEVAS Program is expected to include the design, development, production, hardware processing, and sustainment of an integrated Extravehicular Activity (EVA) capability that includes a new Spacesuit and ancillary hardware, such as Vehicle Interface Equipment and EVA tools.
- As part of the Collins xEVAS team, Sidus will help design and manufacture next-generation spacesuits. Astronauts will wear these suits as they head to the moon. Additionally, this contract is expected to support International Space Station work, as well as other commercial space endeavors.
- Given the size of this contract, the rally seen during the week is as a result of investors anticipating that even a microscopic slice of this $3.5 billion pie should increase Sidus’ valuation.
Like other high-growth space-related stocks, SIDU stock has been on a serious downtrend this year, down over 40% Year-to-Date and still down from its 52-week high. This has caused many investors to take the stock off their watchlists. Indeed, in this unforgiving macro environment, there’s reason to be cautious as government spending on space exploration is already a contentious topic. And with the government looking to reduce its deficit, this could be a sector that could stall, at least for the next few years.
