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Virgin Galactic Stock Is Tumbling. Here’s What’s Troubling Analysts.

Truist Securities downgraded Virgin Galactic stock to Hold from Buy.

Courtesy Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings Virgin Galactic Holdings stock continues to slide on Monday after Truist Securities analyst Michael Ciarmoli downgraded the space-travel company to Hold from Buy slashed his price target to $8 from $24.

Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE
) stock is down 6.3% to $6.38 in Monday morning trading, and is on track to set a new closing low after hitting $6.79 on March 14. Virgin Galactic stock has lost more than half its value so far this year.

On Friday, the space start-up posted first-quarter results that showed it burnt through less cash than analysts had expected. The stock fell 9.3% anyway.

The main issue that Wall Street may have had with the report was that the start date for commercial services was moved to the first quarter of 2023 from the fourth quarter of 2022.

That’s not the only reason why Ciarmoli downgraded Virgin Galactic stock, however.

“The combination of supply-chain delays, timing risk, slide-out of commercial flights to 1Q23, a lack of operational catalysts and rising interest rates drive our downgrade rationale,” Ciarmoli wrote in a research report.

“We see supply chain and labor tightness potentially leading to additional slippages of commercial operations and believe a return to flight might not materialize until 2Q23 or later,” Ciarmoli added.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Austin Moeller also downgraded Virgin Galactic stock after the report was released, lowering the rating to Hold from Buy, and chopping the price target to $8 from $36.

According to FactSet, six of eight analysts surveyed cut their price targets for Virgin Galactic stock on Friday. The average price target of Virgin Galactic is now $10.66.

Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]

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