Shares of Virgin Galactic soared 24 percent late Tuesday, stretching a strong advance -- and on course to hit another record peak at the opening bell, Wednesday.
The stock, which has surged more than 50 percent in the last six sessions, has settled at a record in its past five sessions. The company pared its advances later in the day but is still surging to an impressive 160 percent so far this year. Shares have skyrocketed lately because of positivism about the space tourism company's plans to launch a commercial spacecraft anytime this year.
Virgin Galactic disclosed last week that it moved out its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, also known as VSS Unity, to its headquarters in New Mexico. That brings Virgin Galactic a step closer to eventually sending adventure-hungry passengers into space.
Stocks of the company spearheaded by tycoon Richard Branson have soared in popularity among investors in recent trading, almost dislodging Tesla Inc, another favorite among non-professional investors.
The space travel firm was the third most heavily-traded stock on Fidelity's online brokerage in recent days, with two-thirds of customers acquiring shares, rather than selling. Orders for Virgin Galactic on Fidelity trailed only Apple Inc and Tesla.
Park West Asset Management on Friday announced it bought 4.25 million shares of Virgin Galactic, or 2.2 percent of the shares outstanding, which would make Park West the seventh biggest stakeholder of the company, FactSet data showed, up from a prior ranking of 13th.
Shares of Virgin Galactic have now skyrocketed more than 200 percent since the company went public last October through consolidation with a so-called "special purpose acquisition company" or SPAC.
Instead of deciding to be listed publicly via traditional sale of shares, or direct stock listing, Virgin Galactic combined with an already existing blank check company named Social Capital Hedosophia. The new partnership was renamed Virgin Galactic.
Virgin Galactic has yet to release a quarterly sales report since the merger. The company is expected to post its fourth-quarter results on February 25.
Fanning optimism -- and excitement -- around paid space travel on Tuesday, Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's SpaceX announced plans to also send up to four private citizens on an orbital trip aboard its Crew Dragon spaceship, which will blast off on its Falcon 9 rocket.
Virgin Galactic is on a tight race against SpaceX and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to send tourists into space, but is the only company of the three whose stocks are publicly listed. That makes Virgin Galactic the only attractive option for investors who want to buy into the rising business of space tourism.
