New York, February 12, 2026, 18:13 EST — After-hours
- Rocket Lab shares slid for the third session in a row, caught up in a broader retreat among space stocks.
- The company pointed to a hypersonic test mission for the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit, scheduled for late February.
- Feb. 26 results are on deck, and investors want to hear what’s next for Neutron’s timeline.
Rocket Lab Corporation finished Thursday’s session off 5.2%, settling at $66.01. After hours, a slight recovery brought shares to $66.13, up 0.2%. That makes for an 8% drop across the last three sessions. Roughly 18.2 million shares changed hands. The stock opened at $67.53 before hitting a session low of $63.87. 1
Shares of space companies slipped after AST SpaceMobile announced a $1 billion convertible debt agreement—a financing method that lets lenders trade debt for stock, usually casting a shadow over sector sentiment. “Space stocks tend to move together,” ProcureAM CEO Andrew Chanin said in an interview with Barron’s. 2
It’s an inconvenient moment for Rocket Lab. The company is slated to release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 numbers after the U.S. markets wrap up on Feb. 26, and management will go over the results on a conference call at 5 p.m. ET. 3
Rocket Lab flagged a key milestone for investors: a dedicated hypersonic test flight on its HASTE vehicle is coming up for the Defense Innovation Unit. The launch window opens in late February from Launch Complex 2, Wallops Island, Virginia. Tagged “Cassowary Vex,” the mission aims to put Australia’s Hypersonix-built DART AE, a scramjet-powered aircraft, through its paces. According to Rocket Lab, HASTE is built to handle test speeds up to Mach 20. 4
No lift from the broader market, either. Wall Street’s main indexes dropped sharply—Nasdaq off nearly 2%, S&P 500 down 1.6% late in the day—leaving high-beta names exposed to steeper losses. 5
Analysts haven’t zeroed in on Rocket Lab’s upcoming Electron launch; instead, they’re watching how the company handles the projects lined up after that. In a note published Feb. 10 and picked up by Nasdaq, Zacks Equity Research mentioned Rocket Lab as one of the defense-related stocks to watch this earnings stretch. The firm kept its Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) on the stock, and the consensus still points to a 5-cent loss per share for the quarter. 6
Here’s the risk, plain and simple: delays hit, shares move quickly. Back in January, Rocket Lab disclosed in an SEC filing that its Neutron rocket’s Stage 1 tank blew during a hydrostatic pressure test. The company said it would have more on the Neutron timeline during its February earnings call. 7
Friday arrives with traders eyeing the fallout from the space-sector financing shakeup—does it settle down, or pick up steam? There’s also Rocket Lab’s late-February HASTE window, which could spark new hopes on the defense side. Looking ahead, Feb. 26 looms large: Rocket Lab earnings are due, with investors zeroed in on Neutron’s timeline and how 2026 launch schedules might take shape.
