
Shares of AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) jumped 15% on Friday as the company announced that it was awarded a government contract for the Missile Defense Agency Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract.
The jump in price comes after communication services stock slipped earlier in the week following the SpaceX rival being downgraded from a Buy rating to a Neutral rating by B. Riley Securities on Jan. 13.