The unearthly surge driving the stock of Virgin Galactic to a stratospheric 298% increase over the past three months at the end of trading Wednesday has all the hallmarks of a speculative bubble.
Virgin Galactic's stock has rocketed 162% since the beginning of the year. Its stock was bought more than any other stock on Tuesday -- topping Apple, Inc and Tesla, Inc, among others.
Virgin Galactic only went public on Oct. 28, 2019, at the New York Stock Exchange without resorting to an IPO. Sir Richard Branson, founder of the spaceflight and space tourism firm, retained majority control of the firm that merged with a publicly-traded shell company, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings (SCH).
SCH is a special-purpose acquisition company created by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, who is also a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team. The merger with SCH allowed Virgin Galactic to go public without the need for an IPO.
Virgin Galactic was valued at more than US$1 billion following its merger with SCH but saw a 20% drop in its share price after a week of trading. The stock ended week one at Wall Street with a market cap of $800 million. On Wednesday (Feb. 19), the company's market cap hit $7.30 billion.
Shares of Virgin Galactic rose as high as 15% in trading Wednesday from its previous close of $30.30, its highest-ever finish. It closed at $37.35 -- a new record -- up 23.27% and hit $38.46 in after-hours trading. Wednesday's spike follows a 21% jump on Friday and 5% hike on Tuesday.
Financial analysts say Virgin Galactic's daily trading spikes resemble the speculative run Tesla had two weeks ago. Tesla's stock more than tripled in value over the past three months.
Daily trading volume in Virgin Galactic also shows the speculative influence. Before Tuesday, an average day of trading saw 12 million Virgin Galactic shares change hands. Investors of all stripe gobbling up Virgin Galactic's shares are pushing that average higher. Virgin Galactic's trading volume hit 104.1 million shares Tuesday compared to 45.6 million shares on Friday. It traded 175,000 calls per day last week compared to 38,000 calls per day in January.
"That's bats--- crazy volume!" said Jon Najarian, co-founder of Market Rebellion, to CNBC.
Jim Cramer, a former hedge fund manager and now a TV host for CNBC, has warned that Virgin Galactic's rally "is what happens when too many people want a stock around the clock." He said this rally can't be stopped right now, "and these things tend to end badly -- but you try to tell someone that."
