New York, June 4, 2026, 12:04 EDT
- Redwire shares jumped 14.6% to $21.33 in late-morning trading in the U.S. after the company announced a contract with Astrobiome Space for crop research on the International Space Station.
- Redwire didn’t say what the contract is worth, so investors are left guessing how much it might move the needle financially in the short term.
- Jefferies downgraded Redwire to Hold earlier this week, though the firm bumped its price target up to $24 from $13.
Redwire Corp shares climbed Thursday after the company reported it landed a contract from Astrobiome Space. Redwire will use its Greenhouse system on the International Space Station to grow strawberries and test a soil-enhancement product.
Redwire shares jumped 14.6% to $21.33 in late-morning trading, off a session high of $22.75. Volume reached about 47.8 million shares. The company’s market cap sat near $4.13 billion.
Redwire is starting to move more like a high-beta space stock than a low-key aerospace supplier. High-beta stocks swing harder than the market. Bulls pointed to the latest contract as a win after shares dropped earlier this week on valuation worries.
Redwire said it won its first flight contract for the commercial Greenhouse system, which it says lets customers take crop science from lab to production in orbit. Astrobiome Space, a biotech group from Luxembourg, will grow test crops on Earth starting in June ahead of the ISS launch.
Marc Dielissen, executive vice-president at Redwire Europe, said the contract is an “exciting step forward” for sustainable life-support systems off Earth. Astrobiome’s founder and CEO Vera Mulyani said she hopes Mars travelers will still be able to “taste the Earth.” Redwire
The commercial terms are still unknown. That’s a key detail. Shares in the company have swung sharply on buzz for the space sector. How much and when it books revenue from the Greenhouse mission will tell whether Thursday’s jump holds up or fades as another quick trade.
Redwire still gets most of its business from space infrastructure, defense tech, and airborne systems. The company said in May that first-quarter revenue hit $97.0 million, a 57.9% jump from last year. Reported backlog reached a record $498.1 million, which is contracted work that hasn’t been recognized as revenue yet.
Redwire CEO Peter Cannito said the company was seeing “very strong demand” at the time, with book-to-bill at 1.92. Book-to-bill, which compares new orders to revenue booked for the period, was above 1, a sign orders are growing faster than revenue. Redwire Corporation
Redwire posted a net loss of $76.5 million for the first quarter and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $9.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA removes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and some other costs. The company kept its 2026 revenue forecast at $450 million to $500 million.
The risk is clear. If the Astrobiome award ends up being small, takes longer, or is tough to scale, it might not move Redwire’s earnings much. Jefferies analyst Greg Konrad cut the stock to Hold from Buy on June 1, though he bumped up the price target. He said Redwire has limited room for near-term gains while it tries to turn backlog into actual revenue.
Redwire’s Thursday pop came even as other space names had a mixed day. Rocket Lab was up 2.5%, Planet Labs gained 1.1%. AST SpaceMobile dropped 2.3%. The move in Redwire looked tied more to its own news versus a strong group move.
Redwire is trading on optionality for now—space farming, defense contracts, plans for lunar and orbital systems, and drones. The coming test is more basic. Investors want proof that growing strawberries in orbit can start moving backlog into real money.
