Intuitive Machines price target raised to $12 from $8 at B. Riley

B. Riley raised the firm’s price target on Intuitive Machines to $12 from $8 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Intuitive Machines is the sole winner of an initial $500M ID/IQ contract for NASA’s Near Space Network Services program, a program which could rise to $4.8B in value, and an award that the firm has previously called out as an imminent potential catalyst for the shares, the analyst tells investors in a research note. While the value of this initial communications contract is consistent with the firm’s expectations, B. Riley was under the impression that NASA would initially select two or three awardees before down-selecting a long-term program winner, and believes the agency’s decision to sole-source this contract through Intuitive not only highlights the company’s enviable position as the leading beneficiary of NASA’s lunar commercialization efforts but also de-risks the investment thesis that Intuitive is quickly establishing itself as a full-service space exploration company on the cusp of layering in hundreds of millions of dollars of high-margin services revenue.