Why Rocket Lab Skyrocketed 65.5% Last Month and Has Kept Soaring in 2026

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) closed retired 2025's trading with different period of immense gains. The company's stock terms surged 65.5% crossed the stretch. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 scale was astir flat, and the Nasdaq Composite scale declined 0.5%.

Rocket Lab investors saw a ton of applicable quality successful December. The banal started climbing aboriginal successful the period successful conjunction with quality that SpaceX is gearing up for an archetypal nationalist offering (IPO) precocious successful 2026. News of a imaginable IPO for SpaceX helped assistance valuations for galore different space-tech stocks, and Rocket Lab benefited from the trend.

On the heels of the SpaceX news, Rocket Lab banal got a boost from quality that the institution had been awarded a caller backing woody done the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The caller declaration is aimed astatine bolstering Canada's home abstraction capabilities.

Rocket Lab followed the Canada declaration triumph with quality that it had completed its archetypal ngo for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The ngo was launched from New Zealand and represented the archetypal of 2 scheduled missions for JAXA's Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program.

On Dec. 18, Rocket Lab announced that it had successfully completed the motorboat of the STP-S30 ngo for the U.S. Space Force. Following the palmy launch, Rocket Lab announced that it had been awarded a caller declaration with Space Force worthy astatine slightest $806 million. The declaration grant besides came with enlargement options worthy astir $10.5 cardinal and the imaginable for further add-on services that could bring the full worth of the woody to astir $1 billion.

Following the Space Force wins, Stifel published caller sum connected the stock. The firm's analysts maintained a bargain standing connected Rocket Lab and accrued their one-year terms people from $75 per stock to $85 per share. Needham besides raised its standing connected Rocket Lab banal aboriginal successful the month, raising its one-year terms people from $63 per stock to $90 per stock and maintaining a bargain standing connected the stock.

Rocket Lab banal has kept surging higher successful January's trading. The banal is presently up 21.6% successful the period arsenic of this writing. While determination hasn't been immoderate large caller quality for the company, investors person continued to determination into the banal pursuing the company's large wins past month. Investors person besides been ramping up bets that the Federal Reserve could present much involvement complaint cuts this twelvemonth than antecedently expected.