Planet Labs Pbc (PL) saw its shares plummet 5.21% during Friday's intraday trading session, as the satellite company was caught in a broad sell-off across the space sector.
The sharp decline followed a dramatic incident where an uncrewed New Glenn rocket, owned by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, exploded during a test on a launchpad in Florida late Thursday. This event created significant uncertainty for companies within the aerospace industry, weighing on investor sentiment for related stocks.
Adding to the sector's weakness was a report that SpaceX, which had recently filed to go public and fueled a rally in space stocks throughout May, is now targeting a valuation of $1.8 trillion, down from previous expectations of $2 trillion. The combination of the launch failure and a reassessment of a key competitor's worth prompted a pullback from the sector's recent spectacular gains.