Al Root
Intuitive Machines' stock rose early Wednesday after the company won more work from NASA.
Shares of the space technology company were up 4% at $18.64, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were both up about 1.1%.
The move came after the company announced that NASA awarded it a $180.4 million contract to deliver seven science and technology payloads, including an Australian Space Agency lunar rover and technologies from Blue Origin's Honeybee Robotics, to the Lunar South Pole Region.
The business is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, program, which uses commercial providers to provide services, instead of building space vehicles on its own. The contract is Intuitive Machines' fifth CLPS "task order."
The award is "bullish," wrote Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard in a Wednesday note.
"We remain bullish on Intuitive Machines, and we are buyers on weakness, ahead of additional, potentially material, catalysts ahead," added the analyst. Catalysts include: SiriusXM 11 satellite delivery in the first half of 2026, other CLPS payloads, a Lunar Terrain Vehicle contract decision, and potential Golden Dome missile shield awards, among others.
Buyers on weakness is needed modifier. Shares dipped 12% on Tuesday, falling after NASA said it paused the Gateway program, a space station that was to orbit the moon.
That might have shaken investor confidence, but the CLPS award shows there is still a lot of business to do in space.
Sheppard rates Intuitive stock Buy and has a $26 price target. Overall, about 90% of analysts covering Intuitive Machines stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 typically ranges between 55% and 60%. The average analyst price target for Intuitive stock is about $24.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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March 25, 2026 09:16 ET (13:16 GMT)
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