Overview
- Intuitive Machines shares climbed to an intraday high of $24.30 and closed at $23.99 on about 40.7 million shares traded following the successful Artemis II launch.
- NASA awarded a $180.4 million task order under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to fly the IM-5 mission to the lunar south pole on the cargo-class Nova-D lander.
- The flight will carry seven payloads, including an Australian Space Agency rover and Honeybee Robotics hardware, to study lunar soil and radiation to aid future crews.
- The award is the company’s fifth under CLPS, extending NASA’s reliance on Intuitive Machines after its IM-1 and IM-2 deliveries.
- Analysts reacted by holding to cautious optimism, with Cantor Fitzgerald reiterating Overweight and Stifel raising its target to $22, as investors look past a weak Q4 and focus on a growing backlog and network services work.