Piper Sandler is planting its flag in the new space trade with a clear pecking order: AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) gets the Overweight nod, while SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) and Rocket Lab Corp.
(NASDAQ:RKLB) are kept in neutral orbit as richly valued rocket primes whose multi‑year upside already looks priced in.
RKLB stock is sinking.
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In its inaugural "Final Frontier" industry note, the firm argues that vertically integrated launch players like SpaceX and Rocket Lab are "probably best‑positioned over a multi‑year period," but says the cleaner one‑year risk‑reward sits with ASTS and its satellite‑to‑smartphone story.
