First to wilt was the mid-cap FTSE 250, which is down nearly 12% since the end of February, putting it into correction territory (down 10% or more from its recent high). The FTSE 100 is holding up better, but is still nearly 9% off its recent peak.

Meanwhile, across the pond, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average have both declined over 10%. And the S&P 500 is trending toward the 10% correction mark.

With the war in Iran expected to last another few weeks, according to Washington, there’s the potential for prolonged inflation and significant economic damage. I’m writing this after visiting four separate petrol stations to find diesel, due to panic buying.

If the conflict drags on for months, there could be fuel shortages worldwide due to disrupted Gulf state supplies. And therefore a bear market or even a crash can’t be ruled out.

Switch to cash?

During periods of volatility like this, it can be tempting to sell all one’s stocks and hide out in cash until uncertainty passes. The problem with this is that it’s extremely difficult to re-enter successfully (time the market).

Historically, most of the stock market’s best days are clustered around the worst. As a result, missing out on strong rebounds can seriously harm long-term returns. I expect a strong rebound at some point and I don’t want my portfolio to lose out.

The Vanguard graph below shows this phenomenon over 45 years.

A Nasdaq rocket

My strategy then is to keep holding the vast majority of my stocks, while selectively buying shares that have sold off heavily. One I’ve been watching fall over the past few weeks is Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB).

Now trading for $61, it’s down 38% since hitting a high of $99 in January.

Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space systems firm that could become a primary competitor to SpaceX. It offers launch services and makes satellites and spacecraft components.

Indeed, its spacecraft have been chosen to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private mission to Venus.

Over the weekend, Rocket Lab successfully launched its sixth mission of 2026, and 85th in total. Notably, this was its first dedicated launch for the European Space Agency, building on its success serving the national space programmes of the US, Japan, and South Korea.

The contracts are coming thick and fast. Earlier in March, Rocket Lab secured a $190m contract to conduct 20 HASTE launches for the US military (its single largest launch contract to date). This brought the backlog across launch and space systems to more than $2bn.

All this is translating into strong financial performance. Revenue surged 38% last year to $602m, with Wall Street expecting that to hit $1.6bn by 2028.

Plus, analysts expect the firm to turn profitable next year, boosted by its upcoming medium-lift rocket, Neutron. This is designed to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Now, the risk here is that Neutron fails, prolonging losses longer into the future. And with the stock trading at 40 times forward sales, it’s currently too pricey for me.

But if it keeps falling, I’ll make my move.

The post Stock market crash? 1 Nasdaq share I’m keeping an eye on appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

In recent months, however, Baillie Gifford has been trimming Tesla and other highly successful picks like Amazon and Nvidia. And according to a recent regulatory 13F filing in the US, the company has been piling into a little-known growth stock dubbed a ‘mini-SpaceX’.

The next big winner?

The company is Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB). In Q4, Baillie Gifford was a heavy buyer, adding around $400m worth of shares, a 47.2% increase to its portfolio.

So what does Rocket Lab do? Well, the name probably gives it away — it designs and launches rockets. However, as an end-to-end space company, it also makes satellites, various components, and lunar spacecraft.

In essence, it’s building the infrastructure of the new space economy. Today, Rocket Lab has a $37bn market cap. Hence why it has been dubbed a ‘mini Space-X’ (Elon Musk’s unlisted rocket firm is now valued at potentially more than $1trn).

The stock has surged in recent times. In fact, anyone who invested in Rocket Lab just two years ago at around $4 per share would now be sitting on gains of approximately 1,500%, excluding currency moves.

Reaching for the stars

Rocket Lab is now the world’s second most active commercial launch company after SpaceX. In 2025, its small orbital-class rocket Electron flew a record 21 missions, with a 100% success rate.

This helped drive annual revenue 38% higher to $602m, with the company’s backlog surging 73% to $1.85bn. Key contracts signed included a record $816m deal from the Space Development Agency to design and manufacture 18 satellites for defence purposes.

And it successfully launched two spacecraft it built for NASA and the University of California Berkeley toward Mars for the ESCAPADE mission. So this is a firm with its fingers in a few lucrative pies, including commercial, defence, and the future Moon and Mars missions.

A potential $1.8trn global market

But is the stock still worth considering after such a strong run? I think it is, assuming an investor has a long enough timeframe (five years minimum), and is willing to build up their position over time, especially on dips.

I say this because it’s a higher-risk stock and is certainty not cheap. Based on the 2026 revenue forecast for $1.3bn, the forward price-to-sales ratio is about 42 (potentially falling to 29 by 2027).

There’s no price-to-earnings ratio because the rocket firm isn’t expected to turn profitable until at least 2027, adding risk to any investment.

Having said that, McKinsey & Co. estimates the global space economy could hit $1.8trn by 2035. So the long-term market opportunity here is extremely large, as Rocket Lab also makes satellites/spacecraft.

Plus, there’s a significant commercial opportunity with its larger reusable Neutron rocket. Due to be tested in Q4 2026, this will have a payload capacity of 13,000 kg, potentially enabling it to compete for much larger government and commercial launch contracts.

Unfortunately, this growth stock only seriously appeared on my radar around a year ago. But it’s one I’m wanting to buy sooner rather than later.

The post After making a fortune on Tesla, Scottish Mortgage manager Baillie Gifford is piling into this ‘mini-SpaceX’ growth stock appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Here are two of them. 

A skyrocketing stock

The first stock is Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB), which frustratingly has surged by more than 150% this year while I’ve sat on the sidelines. 

This includes a 67% jump in the past month after the rocket and spacecraft maker announced its largest contract ever, worth up to $816m. This is to build a missile-defence constellation of 18 satellites for the US Space Force. 

Rocket Lab also wrapped up 2025 by successfully completing a record 21 launches of its Electron rocket. The last mission deployed the QPS-SAR-15 satellite for iQPS, a Japanese Earth-imaging company.

The record cements Electron as both America’s preeminent small launch provider and the world’s most frequently-launched small-lift orbital rocket.
Rocket Lab

Looking ahead, Wall Street anticipates a doubling of revenue over the next two years, from $600m in 2025 to $1.2bn by 2027. The company is also expected to turn — or be close to turning — profitable over this period.  

However, there are risks, as always. Rocket Lab has delayed the first launch of its larger reusable Neutron rocket to 2026. If this is pushed back again, or Neutron fails and needs to be redesigned, the firm’s timeline for profitability could be delayed. 

The key risk I see here though is valuation. After reaching for the stars, the stock is ending 2025 at roughly 65 times sales. So there are very rosy growth expectations already baked in here. 

As such, I would prefer to invest in the stock at a MUCH cheaper price. So Rocket Lab remains on my watchlist. 

Tech giant

The second stock — Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) — needs no introduction. Whether it’s online shopping, Alexa, Kindle, Twitch, Fire TV, or Prime Video, hardly a household in the UK escapes the tech giant’s commercial tentacles. 

However, despite Amazon’s continued dominance in e-commerce and cloud computing, the stock has actually underperformed the S&P 500 over the past five years. And it’s up just 6% in 2025, as I write (30 December).

I think this presents me with a potential buying opportunity, as the stock is trading near its lowest level ever on some key metrics.

In Q3, sales at its cloud computing unit (AWS) surged 20% to $33bn, the fastest pace since 2022. But as the vast majority of global IT spending moves to the cloud in future years, management sees a multi-hundred-billion dollar opportunity for AWS.

Also, Amazon is now the third-largest digital ad player globally, behind Google and Meta. This ad revenue is very profitable and also has a long runway of growth ahead.

Finally, Amazon has over 1m robots operating in its fulfilment centres worldwide. These hold out the promise of boosting efficiency and improving retail margins over time.

Admittedly, Amazon does face intense competition from Microsoft and Google in cloud computing, and the likes of TikTok Shop and Temu globally in e-commerce.

However, I suspect this high-quality stock is due a comeback, and I wouldn’t mind owning it if and when that happens. Note, Amazon is on track to generate $1trn in annual revenue before 2030.

The post 2 top-notch growth shares I want in my Stocks and Shares ISA in 2026 appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Obviously, I don’t have anywhere near $382bn in my humble Stocks and Shares ISA. But I do have some cash for a couple of stocks, were a market meltdown to occur.

Here are two I’d love to add to my portfolio at cheaper prices.

Nasdaq stock

According to McKinsey, the global space economy is projected to reach $1.8trn by 2035, up from $613bn in 2024. This will be driven by more satellite launches, internet-from-space connectivity, potential lunar missions, space tourism, and more.

As a result, I’m keen to get Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares into my portfolio. This company has found great success serving a niche part of the market that industry leader SpaceX doesn’t bother with — rocket launches for small payloads.

Year to date, it has carried out 18 successful launches of its Electron rocket. That’s nearly double the 10 missions flown in 2023. And in Q3 alone, it secured a record 17 launch contracts.

Rocket Lab is on course to grow revenue from $436m in 2024 to around $1.2bn by 2027. It’s also expected to turn profitable by then.

However, the company’s new medium-lift reusable rocket Neutron could be a game-changer. If successful, Neutron would allow the company to compete with SpaceX in the more lucrative mid-market. It would expand Rocket Lab’s market opportunity significantly.

So, why wait to snap up shares? Well, even after a 27% pullback since October, the stock is trading at 45 times this year’s forecast sales.

Unfortunately, at this valuation, I see a lot of risk. The Neutron rocket might not work as intended, delaying the firm’s move into profitability.

That said, with Western governments wanting to reduce reliance on SpaceX, I’m bullish on Rocket Lab long term.

Meanwhile, in the private sector, Google is reportedly planning to put AI data centres in space by the 2030s. With trial equipment due to be sent up as soon as 2027, this could open up another huge opportunity for Rocket Lab.

FTSE 100 stock

The second stock I’m keen to buy is 3i Group (LSE:III). This is a private equity investment firm that’s structured as a FTSE 100 investment trust.

So far, a couple of things have put me off investing. Firstly, the portfolio is dominated by Action, the low-priced European retailer which makes up roughly 73% of assets. So there’s significant concentration risk here.

Back in August, I wrote: “If anything negative happened to the discount retailer, then 3i shareholders would immediately feel it“. This happened in November when the share price crashed 18% in a day after Action’s like-for-like sales growth slowed.

In August, 3i was trading at a risky 50% premium to net asset value (NAV). However, while this has narrowed to 11%, I would prefer it to be more in line with NAV.

Perhaps I’m asking for too much, though, as 3i has a tremendous track record of value creation. Recently, for example, it exited two positions, delivering impressive 220% and 180% returns in just a few years.

If this high-quality stock falls further during a sell-off, I’ll start buying aggressively. But for now, I’m looking elsewhere.

The post If the stock market crashes in 2026, I’ll buy these 2 shares like there’s no tomorrow appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

For evidence, just look at April’s meltdown. In a matter of days, many high-quality stocks lost 20%-40% of their value, before surging to new highs once markets recovered.

Indeed, the recovery has been so swift and dramatic that some are predicting another crash could be on the horizon!

Ultimately, nobody knows whether a crash will happen soon. After all, if this was suddenly known in advance, the crash would happen now. But in my experience, it pays to have a list of stocks ready to buy when markets go south.

Here’s one that’s on mine right now.

A mini-SpaceX

Everyone has probably heard of SpaceX (short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp), the reusable rocket pioneer founded by Elon Musk. It absolutely dominates the launch market, successfully completing more than half of all global launches in 2024.

Unfortunately, humble ISA investors like myself can’t buy shares of SpaceX because it’s still a private company. That’s a shame, as the company’s valuation has rocketed — for want of a better word — over the past decade. A roughly 35 times increase in value!

But here’s a quick quiz question: who is America’s number-two rocket launcher behind SpaceX? Not as many people know this. 

The company in question is Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB). Its small-lift Electron rocket has delivered more than 200 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organisations.

Electron has gone from six launches in 2021 to 16 last year. And it’s on course to beat that figure this year, with further missions booked with a Japan-based Earth imaging company next month. 

As well as rockets, the firm designs and manufactures satellites and spacecraft components. Indeed, its spacecraft have been selected to support NASA missions to both the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus.

Before the end of 2025, it plans to test a larger, partially reusable rocket called Neutron, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. 

Why wait?

Rocket Lab is growing rapidly. Last year, revenue jumped 78% to $436m, and Wall Street sees revenue increasing to more than $2bn by 2030. The company is forming a new payloads division, strengthening its position for future defence satellite contracts.

This all sounds great. So, why don’t I just buy the stock right now? Well, the main problem I have is the valuation after a 460% share price surge in the past year.

Currently, the stock is trading at 52.5 times sales. That’s a very steep multiple.

Moreover, space is highly capital-intensive, meaning that Rocket Lab isn’t yet profitable (a loss of around $220m is forecast for this year). Supply chain issues also add risk in the near term, while a major Neutron test flop might dent investor confidence. 

Despite these risks, I’m keen to add the stock to my portfolio at some point. If Neutron is successful, it would enable the company to compete for satellite mega-constellation launches, dramatically expanding its total addressable market (and profit potential).

Also, the US government is looking to reduce reliance on SpaceX for launch services, which should directly benefit Rocket Lab.

Now, I just have to wait patiently for a better price to buy the stock…

The post 1 rocket firm I’ll buy for my Stocks and Shares ISA in a market crash appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Here, I want to revisit two shares on my watchlist that have trodden very different paths this year. One has lost half its value, while the other has surged by over 80%.

Which one looks more attractive to me right now? Let’s find out.

Robotic kitchens

Let’s start with the underperformer, which is Sweetgreen (NYSE: SG). The stock is down 53% year to date and around 72% since its 2021 IPO.

Sweetgreen is a salad restaurant chain, with over 251 locations across the US. It sources the best quality ingredients from farmers and local suppliers, prioritising organic produce where possible.

One thing I find interesting about the company is its Infinite Kitchens, which are restaurants where machines assemble salad bowls. Sweetgreen says these can produce 500 bowls per hour, about 50% faster than traditional human preparation.

However, the stock plunged 31% in May after the firm released its Q1 earnings. In this, it reported slowing sales growth (a 5.4% rise to $166.3m). Same-store sales growth declined 3.1% year on year.

For context, quarterly revenue and same-store sales growth was 26% and 5%, respectively, the year before.

The problem here is that Sweetgreen isn’t yet profitable (it lost $25m in Q1), so this sudden slowdown has spooked investors.

In some ways, slowing sales isn’t that unexpected. There’s a lot of economic uncertainty and many consumers are eating out less due to budget constraints. Things might get worse, especially if food inflation takes hold.

Still, management is aiming for 40 net new restaurant openings this year, with 20 featuring an Infinite Kitchen.

High as a kite 

In contrast to Sweetgreen, Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) shares have skyrocketed 84% year to date, and 1,150% since April 2024!

Two developments have been pushing the rocket company’s shares higher. First, there’s growing excitement about its Neutron rocket, which is due for its debut launch later this year. This is a medium‑lift, partially reusable rocket that may compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Second, investors are betting that Rocket Lab will benefit from the spectacular fallout between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Trump. It could be a direct beneficiary if SpaceX misses out on new contract awards.

My Foolish takeaway

Stepping back, there’s a lot of daft valuations around right now, which reminds me of 2021. With a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 51, Rocket Lab stock is clearly partaking in this speculation.

It could fall back to earth spectacularly if the Neutron launch fails or the global economy enters a recession. If so, I’ll take another look.

Meanwhile, Sweetgreen stock has fallen from $44 in November to $14 today, giving it a P/S multiple of 2.4. I think it could be a big winner from its current level, assuming the disruptive company can kickstart growth and use its robotic automation to become profitable.

On this basis, it might be worth considering. But with declining comparable sales, I personally need a bit more convincing before I add it to my portfolio. Sweetgreen reports Q2 on 7 August.

The post Up 84% and down 53%! 2 innovative growth stocks on my ISA watchlist appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Here’s the strategy

She’s now aged 18 months and we’ve already built a £14,000 nest egg. Her portfolio’s performance has been very strong so far, but over the long run, I’m aiming for an average annual return of 10%. It’s ambitious, but not unrealistic given the long-term performance of global stock markets.

So let’s run the maths. Taking a 30-year time horizon and £700 of monthly contributions, this Junior ISA could be worth almost £2m by the time she’s 31. It’s all about compounding.

With each year, not only does the money I invest grow, but the returns themselves also start to generate returns. In the early years, the growth feels slow — after one year, the balance is just over £24,000, and after five years, it’s around £77,000.

But as the years roll on, the effect snowballs. By year 15, the pot’s grown to over £350,000. By year 30, it’s projected to reach a staggering £1.86m. That’ll be enough to buy a house outright in most parts of the UK in 30 years, although I have to remember that none of this is guaranteed and the investment may lose money as well as making it.

Pound cost averaging is just as important. By investing the same amount each month, I smooth out the highs and lows of the market. Sometimes I’ll buy when prices are high — although I try not to — and sometimes when they’re low. But over time, this approach reduces the risk of investing a lump sum at the wrong moment.

What’s more, all this is done inside a Stocks and Shares ISA, so every penny of growth is protected from income tax and capital gains tax.

Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.

Don’t lose money

Many novice investors lose money. And it’s actually very important to avoid loss-making investments because if you lose 50%, you’ve got to go 100% to get back to where you were.

So where’s my daughter’s ISA being invested? One recent addition to her portfolio was Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB). She’s already up 36% on it, but that wasn’t the plan. Having already built something of a diversified (albeit tech-focused) portfolio, I picked Rocket Lab as a bet on the long-term development of the space economy.

However, the investment case isn’t without significant risks. Rocket Lab’s valuation has soared to reflect enormous future expectations. Its market-cap now stands at $16bn, and the shares trade at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 28. That’s many times the S&P 500 average. But the company remains unprofitable, burning through $177m in cash annually.

Despite this, the stock’s trading around 800 times expected earnings for 2027 and 125 times for 2028. It’s easy to see how this figure could fall dramatically in the following years as it moves through breakeven.

For all its promise, Rocket Lab’s a classic example of why growth investing demands patience and a strong stomach for volatility. While I’m happy to hold it as a part of my daughter’s portfolio (and my own), even the most exciting themes come with real risks. Nonetheless, I think it’s a great pureplay space stock, and certainly worth considering by all investors.

The post Here’s how I use an ISA so my daughter can buy a house at 31 with £1.8m appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Rocket Lab delivers launch services, builds small and medium-class rockets, and manufactures spacecraft components for a range of commercial, government, and defense customers.

With rapid revenue growth, an impressive order book, and expansion into new markets, Rocket Lab offers public market investors a way to participate in the booming space economy. It targets many of the same opportunities as its more famous, privately held peer.

A fraction of the market cap

Rocket Lab and SpaceX operate in the same commercial space sector but differ significantly in scale, maturity, and valuation. Rocket Lab’s market cap is currently $12.85bn, with trailing 12 months (TTM) revenue of approximately $460m. Despite strong growth — revenue nearly doubled from $240m in 2023 — Rocket Lab remains a smaller, earlier-stage player focused on small to medium launch vehicles and spacecraft manufacturing. Its valuation multiples are extremely high, with a forward price-to-sales ratio of 22.3 times, reflecting investor optimism.

SpaceX, by contrast, is a far more mature private company valued at about $350bn. It’s projected to generate $15.5bn in revenue in 2025. This is driven by its dominant Falcon 9 launch services and rapidly growing Starlink satellite internet business. SpaceX’s valuation implies roughly a 22.5 times multiple on forward revenue. This is broadly in line with Rocket Lab.

Focusing on Rocket Lab, the company is projected to deliver rapid revenue growth over the next several years, with estimates rising from $573m in 2025 to $889 in 2026, $1.2bn in 2027, and $1.69bn in 2028. This represents annual growth rates consistently above 30%, and even a jump of nearly 77% in 2030.

However, the number of analysts providing forecasts declines sharply after 2027, dropping from 11–14 analysts in the near term to just two or one by 2028 and 2030. The one analyst projecting as far as 2030 sees $4bn in revenue for the year.

Future planning and risks

I had the chance to buy Rocket Lab shares at $15 just two months ago. I missed out as unfortunately my attention had been diverted elsewhere. However, I found another entry point. And personally, I see this as an investment to hold for a very long period.

The space industry is still in its early innings, with enormous potential as satellite launches, lunar missions, and in-orbit services become increasingly mainstream. And like any investment, there are risks. Rocket Lab remains loss-making. It’s expected to turn a profit in 2026, when it will trade at 620 times earnings. And while this moderates to 140 times in 2027, it’s still expensive and introduces plenty of execution risk.

However, I certainly believe UK investors should consider this one. It could be a real winner going forward.

The post Investors should consider this growth stock… it’s SpaceX’s competition appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Here’s one Nasdaq stock that’s caught my eye.

Investing in space

Rocket Lab USA‘s (NASDAQ: RKLB) a vertically integrated rocket and satellite company that went public in 2021.

Since then, the share price has risen by around 160%. However, the stock’s really taken to the heavens in the past year, surging from $4 to $26. That’s a gain of more than 500%!

I’ve been wanting to invest in the global space economy since I read Christian Davenport’s 2018 book The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos.

Unfortunately, Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin remain private companies, meaning everyday investors like myself can’t buy shares in them. That’s a shame because SpaceX’s value has increased 10-fold since 2018!

Anyway, Rocket Lab stock does offer a way to invest in the booming space economy.

Rocket Lab vs SpaceX

Unlike SpaceX, which focuses on larger payloads and wants to eventually colonise Mars, Rocket Lab currently specialises in the small satellite launch market. Governments and commercial customers pay it to get their technology into space.

Of course, SpaceX is a beast, as it accounted for over half of all orbital launches globally last year. And its Falcon 9 rockets are fully reusable, whereas Rocket Lab’s existing rocket (Electron) isn’t. SpaceX also has its fast-growing Starlink satellite internet service.

Still, Electron did 16 successful launches in 2024, which was 60% more than the year before. This helped lift the company’s revenue 78% to $436m. Revenue in Q4 2024 reached $132.4m, a 382% increase compared to Q4 2021 (its first full quarter after going public).  

Later this year, Rocket Lab’s aiming to launch its new Neutron rocket. Its larger size and increased payload capacity should open up opportunities in the medium-lift launch market. 

Challenges

Now, the main risk here is that the company still isn’t profitable. In Q1, it reported a $61m net loss, and is expected to lose money for the rest of the year.

Also, Rocket Lab’s aiming for partial reusability with Neutron. But this is notoriously difficult to master (most experts said, wrongly, that SpaceX would never achieve it). Explosions and setbacks are inevitable for all players, including SpaceX.

After all, it’s not called rocket science because it’s easy!

On my list

Encouragingly though, analysts expect the firm to turn profitable in 2026, with revenue nearly tripling from last year’s levels to reach $1.2bn by 2027.

Looking ahead, McKinsey estimates the global space economy will be worth $1.8trn by 2035, up from $630bn in 2023. And Rocket Lab’s one of only five providers selected by the US Space Force as eligible to launch the nation’s highest priority national security missions.

So growth opportunities shouldn’t be an issue here, especially as the firm recently expanded into Europe via an acquisition.

Right now, the stock’s very pricey, trading at 14 times next year’s forecast sales. I’m hoping for a better entry price, but this is definitely one I’m eyeing up for my ISA at some point this year.

The post I’m eyeing up this Nasdaq growth stock for my ISA appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

SpaceX’s competition

SpaceX may have made a lot of headline in recent months given Elon Musk’s alliance with Trump, with the company likely to gain from the new US government’s space ambitions. However, Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) is a listed and much cheaper alternative to SpaceX and should also benefit from increased activity in the space realm.

Rocket Lab might not be Mars-ready, but it has some distinct advantages over SpaceX. This includes cost-effectiveness for dedicated launches in payload class up to 13 tons with its upcoming Neutron ‘launch vehicle’. Its dedicated launch capabilities and reputation for precise orbital insertions also suggest it doesn’t deserve the massive discount to SpaceX (that unlisted company recently bought shares back from employees suggesting a value of $350bn compared to Rocket Lab’s $13.7bn).

As trading opened on Tuesday (21 January), Rocket Lab stock surged 30%. This followed Trump’s most recent remarks about prioritising space exploration at his inauguration. This is actually rather gutting for me as I touted the stock on Friday, noting its $1.8trn addressable market by 2035, but wasn’t able to purchase the stock before the market opened on Tuesday.

Are there any risks? Well, some are related to SpaceX. While there’s probably room for multiple players in this sector, there’s the risk that SpaceX, given its likely strong balance sheet, fast-paced innovation, and links to Trump, could hoover up a large proportion of government contracts. I’m not convinced by this argument, but time will tell.

Obviously, I wish I’d bought this stock last week. But I could also say that for other companies in my watchlist, including Opfi and Innovative Solutions and Support. At this higher price, I’ll have to re-evaluate my interest in Rocket Lab.

AI offers efficiencies

I’m not particularly bullish on Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) but I know a lot of people think this software company will go far. That’s because this firm, which embeds AI into its platforms to assist with data integration, decision-making, and operations at scale, was founded by Peter Thiel — a Trump backer and co-founder of PayPal (with which Elon Musk was also involved).

However, it would be wrong of me to suggest Thiel’s closeness to Trump is the only reason this business could succeed. The company has a long track record of working with US defence and intelligence agencies and its Starlab consortium for a commercial space station aligns with Trump’s ambition in space. Moreover, its platforms also deliver the all-important efficiency that could help reduce government bloat.

The risks of investing in Palantir lie in the valuation. It’s extraordinarily expensive At 173 times forward earnings — very similar to Musk’s Tesla valuation. While the expected growth rate is very strong, the price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio stands around seven times. As such, I don’t expect to add this stock to my portfolio.

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