Intuitive Machines (LUNR) stock jumps after moon mission update

Shares of Intuitive Machines jumped for a second consecutive day after the company issued an update that said its moon lander mission “is in excellent health.”

The Texas-based lunar company launched its inaugural cargo mission, known as IM-1, on a SpaceX rocket early Thursday morning. In an update on Thursday evening, Intuitive wrote that the lander was turned on and its batteries had been “fully charged.” The company disclosed a minor issue with the spacecraft’s navigation system but said the problem was resolved with a software update.

Intuitive Machines’ stock jumped as much as 30% in early trading Friday before paring gains to trade up about 16% from its previous close of $6.70 a share.

The stock surged 35% on Thursday after the IM-1 mission launched successfully. Since IM-1 launched, Intuitive Machines’ stock is up 75% as of Friday’s trading high.

The company’s shares still trade below its post-SPAC merger debut pricing a year ago, however.

Andrew Chanin – CEO of ProcureAM, which runs the “UFO” space-focused ETF – emphasized to CNBC that he is “never shocked to see volatility related to a space company, especially a pure-play space company” and noted that yet-unprofitable Intuitive Machines is a relatively small company by market size.

“We’re rooting for them. To the extent that they can show success here … hopefully that will bring more belief that this is something that’s doable,” Chanin said.

The IM-1 lander, carrying both government and commercial research payloads, is expected to spend about eight days traveling to the moon before making a landing attempt on Feb. 22.

“There’s a tremendous amount of focus on the moon right now. Most investors don’t have much, if any, space exposure currently and to the extent that the U.S. commercial businesses, [NASA], or foreign governments see success on the moon, it appears that it’s only going to encourage other entities to also ramp up their focus and spending on the moon,” Chanin said.