AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) faced selling pressure this week as new proxy disclosures tied executive compensation directly to satellite deployment targets, revealing that a key orbital milestone was not achieved on schedule.
New proxy filings show CEO Abel Avellan has taken $0 in base salary since 2021, with his entire 2025 compensation of $14.2 million paid in stock and tied to execution milestones. One key goal tracking the number of satellites in orbit by the end of February 2026 was marked as not achieved, reducing that portion of his payout to zero. A connectivity standards goal earned a 75% payout while a revenue goal paid out at 95% after $70.9 million came in just under the $75 million target.
The company had also suffered a setback in April when BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit following its launch on the New Glenn vehicle from Kennedy Space Center.
On the positive side, AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) received a fresh regulatory tailwind after the FCC granted authorisation on April 22 to deploy and operate a constellation of up to 248 satellites, a key gating item for scaling direct-to-device coverage using low-band spectrum.
The stock carries a Hold consensus rating with an average price target of $75.52. Recent analyst moves include Barclays maintaining Underweight with a raised target of $65, while B. Riley Securities holds Neutral with a $95 target.
The company is set to report Q1 2026 results on May 11. Shares traded around $71 in early May, well below the all-time high of $129.89 reached in January.
Ewan is a reporter at the Foreign Policy Journal, primarily covering US current affairs and news related to NYSE-listed stocks. He has over two decades of experience in journalism and digital publishing.
