If there is one thing shareholders of Midland, Texas-based aerospace company AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) have grown accustomed to, it is share price volatility. In January, the stock gained more than 46% before falling nearly 29% since.
But on March 3, ASTS shares rose, an upbeat market reaction to its full-year and Q4 2025 earnings report. Shares shot up nearly 6% in after-hours trading before giving back some of those gains.
Over the past year, shares of ASTS saw run-ups of as much as 159.25% from trough to peak, and crashes of more than 47% from peak to trough.
But the takeaway for investors is that, despite the headwinds, AST SpaceMobile is on a spacebound trajectory as it continues to work toward deploying 45 to 60 Bluebird satellites into low Earth orbit by year-end.
Here are the big takeaways from the company’s most recent earnings call.
AST SpaceMobile’s Big Revenue Beat Is the Headline-Grabber
When AST SpaceMobile announced financial results on March 2, it reported quarterly revenue of $54.31 million, beating analyst expectations of $39.53 million by a country mile. That was good for a year-over-year (YOY) revenue growth rate of nearly 2,758%, following YOY revenue growth of 1,240% in Q3.
Earnings per share (EPS) of -26 cents fell short of analyst expectations of -8 cents, but the company's cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and liquidity position grew to $3.9 billion, leaving it well-equipped to continue scaling its infrastructure for direct-to-cellphone satellite services.
AST SpaceMobile also announced that in 2025, it secured over $1.2 billion in aggregate contracted revenue commitments from its partners.
Management provided an operational update during the earnings call, noting that the firm's manufacturing division is on track to produce more than 40 satellites in early 2026, with a year-long average of 6 satellites per month.
But the most noteworthy upshot remains the strong revenue growth story, which has contributed to ASTS’s financial health remaining in the green zone for more than 10 months, according to TradeSmith.
ASTS’s Growing List of Clients and Government Contracts Attracts Notable Backing
The space-based cellular broadband company—which has existing strategic partnerships with companies including Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T), Vodafone Group (NASDAQ: VOD), Japanese tech conglomerate Rakuten (OTCMKTS: RKUNY), real estate investment trust American Tower (NYSE: AMT), and BCE (NYSE: BCE), one of Canada’s largest telecommunications and media companies—is increasingly positioning itself as a federal government contractor.
Last month, AST SpaceMobile announced that it had secured a $30 million prime contract from the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) for the HALO Europa Program, marking the first-ever prime contract for its defense subsidiary and solidifying its role as a key government contractor.
That federal agreement, announced on Monday, Feb. 23, marked the first-ever prime contract for AST SpaceMobile USA, the company’s wholly owned defense subsidiary, and the company’s second federal government contract announcement since the start of the year.
According to Chris Ivory, CEO of AST SpaceMobile USA, the “selection for SDA’s Europa Track 2 program validates AST SpaceMobile’s ability to rapidly operationalize commercial space capabilities for national security.”
The broadband-via-satellite provider continues to receive the backing of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), which holds more than 8.9 million shares of ASTS—a position it opened in early 2024 and expanded in 2025. That amounts to more than 23% of Alphabet’s investment portfolio, making it the Magnificent Seven company’s largest holding.
Meanwhile, institutional owners remain bullish on the stock, with 374 buyers outnumbering 122 sellers over the past 12 months, resulting in inflows of $3 billion versus outflows of less than $502 million. That institutional buying was particularly pronounced in Q4 2025, when quarterly inflows reached $1.35 billion—a record high since the company went public on April 7, 2021.
Wall Street Analysts Are Still Issuing Caution
Despite bullish institutional buying, shares of ASTS receive a consensus Reduce rating based on the 12 analysts covering the company.
The stock’s average 12-month price target of $52.94 implies more than 39% downside from current prices.
After nearly 1,635% since the start of 2024, current short interest is elevated at 16.96%, or more than 43 million shares of the over 367 million shares outstanding.
However, those shares—which are valued at $3.55 billion—mark a steep decline from the $4.54 billion worth of shares that were shorted the month prior.
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The article "AST SpaceMobile Reports Big Revenue Beat as It Continues to Scale" first appeared on MarketBeat.
