What Happened?
Shares of global satellite communications provider Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) jumped 12.4% in the afternoon session after the company announced it secured a major contract from the U.S. Space Force.
The contract is part of the Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global (PTS-G) program and involves building, launching, and operating the first satellite in a new fleet of small, maneuverable geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) satellites designed for military communications.
The award also covered associated ground infrastructure and five years of operational support. While the value of Viasat's specific award was not disclosed, the broader PTS-G program has a ceiling value of $4 billion across all participating contractors. Investors viewed the long-term government partnership as a strong revenue driver, boosting confidence in the company’s growth prospects.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Viasat’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 70 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Viasat and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock dropped 7.9% on the news that a stronger-than-expected May jobs report fueled concerns that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates elevated.
The U.S. economy added 172,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in May, significantly surpassing economists' expectations of around 85,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. This robust labor market data eases concerns of an economic slowdown but diminishes the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
A prolonged high-interest-rate environment can create headwinds for growth-oriented sectors like technology, as it pressures stock valuations by making future earnings less valuable in the present. As a result, investors recalibrated their expectations for a 'higher-for-longer' rate scenario.
Viasat is up 88.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $71.05 per share, it is still trading 18% below its 52-week high of $86.69 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Viasat’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,378.
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