While most space stocks spent October in retreat, Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) emerged as the sector’s standout performer, booking an 11% monthly gain against a broadly falling group.
That monthly advance lifts VSAT’s year-to-date return to 126%, a figure that dwarfs every other name tracked in this space-sector comparison and reflects a sharp mood shift on retail platforms.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits jumped to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘neutral’ just a month earlier, accompanied by ‘high’ message volume, suggesting renewed speculative interest rather than a quiet drift higher.
Much of that enthusiasm traces to takeover chatter: satellite consultant Tim Farrar publicly suggested Amazon could acquire Viasat, and separately noted that AST SpaceMobile had attempted to assemble a competing bid, though no transaction has been announced.
Operational news added substance to the speculation, with Viasat launching the Rocket Lab-built Maxwell spacecraft under two NASA contracts totaling $81 million, designed to test commercial alternatives to NASA’s aging satellite-relay infrastructure through March 2027.
Viasat also joined Bridge Alliance to help mobile operators expand satellite coverage, while urging the FCC to block AST SpaceMobile’s overseas spectrum application, citing interference and allocation concerns.
At the other end of October’s leaderboard, SpaceX (SPCX) shed 5% for the month and is now down 11% for the year, even as the company reported third-quarter revenue of $14.58 billion, a 161% year-over-year increase, alongside net income of $4.4 billion.
Its Super Intelligence division generated $7.56 billion of that revenue, while connectivity sales climbed 69% to $5.25 billion, with Starlink closing September at 13.6 million consumer subscribers.
A potential Tesla merger added intrigue, with both companies establishing special committees to evaluate a deal, and CEO Elon Musk offering his view: “I think it would be a good idea, but it’s really up to the special committees of both companies.”
SpaceX also struck a deal to acquire Grain Management’s nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio, subject to regulatory clearance, and received FCC authorization for a 15,000-satellite Starlink Mobile constellation, while reportedly pursuing access to at least 80,000 U.S. cellular tower sites.
Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) dropped 15% in October and is down 15% year-to-date, with its flagship Neutron rocket program delayed to 2027 after engineers discovered air pockets in the carbon-composite layers of a first-stage tank dome.
CEO Peter Beck sought to reassure investors, saying: “In the meantime, I’d rather show you real-time progress than give you a date that I might have to walk back,” as the rocket’s second stage and thrust module arrived at Wallops, Virginia for ground testing.
More encouraging was Electron’s continued output, completing its 98th mission and 19th launch of 2026 by placing three HawkEye 360 satellites into orbit, with the company also shipping its 100th Electron vehicle ahead of its flight.
Rocket Lab’s defense pipeline also expanded, with eight of 18 spacecraft in production under a $515 million Space Development Agency contract, and a separate $816 million award pushing the combined potential value of both programs above $1.3 billion.
AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) suffered the sharpest October decline in the group, falling 27% and dragging its year-to-date loss to 41%, even as the company secured Brazilian spectrum approvals, signed four regional operators and filed with the FCC indicating Philippine operations with Smart Communications would begin “imminently.”
Piper Sandler downgraded ASTS to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ and slashed its price target to $54 from $98, though Clear Street maintained a constructive view on the company’s direct-to-cell competitive positioning.
Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) rounded out the decliners with a 13% monthly drop and a 27% year-to-date loss, despite launching its fifth Pelican satellite, Pelican-12, which carries Nvidia Jetson technology for onboard AI processing and targets 30-centimeter imagery resolution versus the prior generation’s 50 centimeters.
NASA separately awarded Planet an evaluation task order covering more than 250,000 square kilometers of Tanager hyperspectral data, while the European Space Agency tapped the company to build Slovenia’s Space Resilience Node for a 12-month disaster-detection pilot.
