What’s the future of Virgin Galactic?

About three weeks ago, Virgin Galactic flew its final SpaceShipTwo mission with Galactic 07. Last week, the company completed a reverse stock split to keep its stock price above the $1 exchange limit, however its price continues to drop. So what is the future of the company that has been repeatedly the butt of jokes by financial experts?

Galactic 07 was a mixed mission, containing both researchers and tourists experiencing microgravity for the first time. It was also the final flight for SpaceShipTwo as Virgin Galactic plans to focus all its energy on developing its “Delta Class” spaceplanes for debut in 2026.

By the way, the reason why you always see “Delta Class” in parentheses is because we literally know nothing about them. Like, Virgin Galactic just threw that name out there with almost no explanation.

This is a bold strategy from a publicly traded company. No where else on the stock market do you see a relatively high profile company canceling its only product for developing a new one over the next two years. This is most likely why its stock price continues to plummet.

Last week Virgin Galactic’s board approved a 20-for-1 reverse stock split that bumped its share price from less than $1 to about $10. However, the price is already back down into single digits and continues to lower.

The company has stated that it has enough cash to get it through the “Delta Class” development, which is good but that doesn’t mean they’re out of danger. The company will have to keep its budget tight to ensure they don’t over spend each quarter, but that likely won’t fix the problem.

So why end the SpaceShipTwo program at all? Virgin Galactic was able to launch six months in a row, blowing past its only competitor, Blue Origin, in launch cadence. It was also leaning into a market Blue wasn’t even touching, crewed research missions.

Once again Blue Origin has the upper hand. Out of the spotlight of the stock exchange, it can continue to fly at lower numbers, for a higher cost, and on relatively unremarkable missions. Yet it gets the praises from the press while Virgin Galactic is laughed at as nothing more than a ploy for Richard Branson to get richer.

SpaceShipTwo could only launch about once a month due to needed refurbishment, however Virgin claims the “Delta Class” will be able to fly twice a week, and they will have two of them.

So it makes sense for them to want to move away from SpaceShipTwo, but no flights for the next two years (at best)? Seems like a high cost for a company that is struggling to keep its stock price above the $1 NSYE threshold.

Do you think Virgin Galactic will make it to the “Delta Class” launch? Let us know below.