This Recent IPO Drops 59% After Big Rise. What’s Behind the Wild Swings.

Starfighters Space is vying to support commercial and government space missions. (Dreamstime)

Key Points

• Starfighters Space shares plummeted 59% to $12.94 on Tuesday, following a 371% surge to $31.50 on Monday.
• The company went public at $3.59 per share, raising $40 million, with 11.1 million of 21.7 million shares publicly traded.
• Starfighters reported no revenue for the past three years and a $7.9 million loss in 2024, operating a fleet of seven Lockheed F-104 jets.

Shares of Starfighters Space plummeted Tuesday in another tumultuous trading session following the space-launch company’s completion of its initial public offering last week.

Starfighters, which says it owns and operates the world’s largest commercial supersonic aircraft fleet, began trading on the NYSE American small-cap exchange on Thursday. It went public at $3.59 a share, raising $40 million in the offering. Starfighters is based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The stock has swung wildly since, soaring from its IPO price to $8.50 on the first day of trading, before dropping on Friday, and then spiking 371% to $31.50 on Monday. It fell 59% to $12.94 on Tuesday.

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Starfighters SpaceStock ticker: FJETSource: FactSet

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Dec. 19Dec. 2251015202530$35

“As a newly listed company, Starfighters has seen heightened investor attention following our recent NYSE American listing,” a Starfighters spokesperson told Barron’s. “The Company remains focused on executing its business plan, supporting customer missions, and building long-term value as a public company.”

Space companies have had a big month. Rocket Lab stock has soared after completing multiple successful launches this month and winning a contract worth up to $816 million to make satellites for the U.S. Space Force. More hints emerged that Elon Musk’s SpaceX, meanwhile, may be headed for an IPO of its own.

Starfighters’ wild week likely has a much simpler explanation. To start, the company issued just 11.1 million of its 21.7 million outstanding shares of common stock. This relatively low public float means stock transactions can cause outsized swings in price.

Second, the company is very small. It recorded no revenue each of the past three years and reported a loss of $7.9 million in 2024. It has a fleet of seven Lockheed F-104 Starfighter jets, a model NASA retired in 1975.

Small-cap IPOs are often risky bets. As early shareholders are finding out, Starfighters is no exception.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com