Shares of Terran Orbital Corp. LLAP rocketed 71.4% on heavy volume, to pace all premarket gainers, after the satellite products maker announced contract valued at $2.4 billion to produce a total of 300 satellites. Trading volume ballooned to more than 23.6 million shares ahead of the open, compared with the full-day average volume of about 590,200 shares. As part of the contract, Terran Orbital’s subsidiary Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. will design, build and deploy 288 low-earth orbit satellites for privately held, Colorado-based wireless technology company Rivada Networks Inc., and also develop 12 “spare” satellites. Terran said Tyvak will make the 500 kilogram satellites and integrate the communication payload, and will also develop portions of the ground segment. To put the order in perspective, Terran Orbital recorded revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30 of $68.8 million, and a net loss of $130.7 million. Terran’s stock has lost 32.7% over the past three months through Tuesday, and plunged 82.7% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX has slipped 0.2% the past three months and lost 7.1% the past year.
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