Virgin Galactic Stock Soars. How $461,000 in Sales Translated Into a 43% Jump.

Virgin Galactic stock soared after the company reported first-quarter results. It isn’t ferrying people to space and back yet—but it’s getting closer to reaching that goal.

Thursday evening, Virgin Galactic announced first-quarter sales of $461,000. Wall Street was looking for about $300,000, according to FactSet.

The company, and space tourism, are relatively new, and sales aren’t what investors are reacting to. Virgin Galactic added in its release that “future astronaut” sales—think airline tickets, but to space—will open in the first quarter of 2026. The first flight with the company’s updated spaceships is slated for Fall 2026.

Virgin Galactic halted commercial operations in 2024 and shifted its focus to prepping its next-generation spaceship—the so-called Delta fleet. Delta class ships can hold six passengers. The prior generation held four. The new ships are also designed to be flown more frequently.

It is progress, and investors look pleased. Shares rose 43% on Friday, closing at $4.80, while the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8%.

Virgin Galactic ended the quarter with $567 million in cash and securities. According to estimates aggregated by FactSet, Wall Street expects the company to use about $650 million in 2025 and 2026 combined before generating positive free cash flow in 2027 when sales hit $415 million.

The company’s goal is to essentially build a “spaceline” business—think airline, but for space—with multiple Delta class ships operating at multiple spaceports around the world.

It’s a bold vision that has been difficult to achieve. Sales in 2025 are expected to be less than $2 million. In 2019, when the company became publicly traded by merging with a SPAC, Virgin Galactic projected 2022 sales of about $400 million. Revenue came in just over $2 million that year.

Coming into Friday trading, Virgin Galactic stock was down 43% year to date and about 87% over the past 12 months. The company completed a 1-for-20 reverse stock split in June 2024.