** Shares of satellite communications firm AST SpaceMobile ASTS.O down 4.6% premarket at $25.90 after co reported qtrly rev below Wall Street's expectations and announced planned equity raise
** Midland, Texas-based firm late Mon said Q1 rev was $718,000, well below analysts' estimate of $4.2 mln, per LSEG data
** Loss of 20 cents/sh in qtr was wider than 16 cents loss a year ago, while analysts projected loss of 18 cents
** Co said anticipates orbital launches every one to two months on avg during 2025 and 2026
** Early Tues, co files up to $500 mln ATM (at-the-market) equity sales program to be handled by B. Riley, Barclays, BofA, Cantor among others
** It plans to use net proceeds from any sales for general purposes
** Co has ~328 mln total shares outstanding for $8.9 bln market cap
** Through Mon close, shares up 29% YTD
** 7 of 8 analysts rate stock "buy", 1 rates "hold" and median PT is $38 - LSEG
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))