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When Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) went public on June 12, a particular wealth advisor recieved a call from a client who simply asked: Did you buy any shares?

He had not… yet.

Like most analysts and advisors tracking SpaceX, the IPO was blowing through every valuation and screener condition imaginable. So, the client asked if they could just buy 10 shares anyway.

The advisor did as asked, later likening the trade to buying a lottery ticket after the jackpot already hit a billion dollars. The odds are not in your favor, but you buy anyway for the buzz and the hope.

But the space trade is much, much bigger than any single stock.

Space stocks spent the six weeks after the SpaceX IPO in a brutal drawdown. The sector ran hot into the listing, then was crushed once the hype passed. But now we’re staring down the barrel of a major turnaround, and I want to walk you through why this setup is one of my favorite trades in the market currently.

In short, we’re seeing long-term winners that have worked through short-term corrections, which have flipped into short-term rebounds. When that happens in a sector this early in its growth curve, you want to be positioned before the move, not after it.

There are two reasons for the turnaround in space stocks. First, the entire space basket reported earnings, and the reports were good almost across the board. Second, SpaceX cleared its first major post-IPO share lockup without triggering the wave of insider selling that bears (me included) worried about. Both were clearing events. And both point toward a sector that’s ready to surge.

Here are five stocks I recommend buying on this rebound:

5 Space Stocks to Buy Now

Redwire Corporation (RDW) is a space infrastructure company built through a mix of internal engineering and an aggressive M&A strategy: eleven acquisitions to date, most recently Edge Autonomy. The result is a business split across two segments. Space covers next-generation spacecraft, large space infrastructure such as solar arrays and power systems, and microgravity manufacturing. Defense Tech covers combat-proven unmanned aircraft systems (the Stalker and Penguin platforms) and sensor and payload systems (Octopus ISR). Redwire is less a single-product company than a rollup of critical, often single-source components and capabilities that other space and defense programs depend on. The numbers back up the story. In the second quarter, Redwire delivered record revenue of $117.1 million, up 89.6% year over year, with record gross margins of 27.8%. Backlog hit a record $542.1 million, up 64.5% year over year (the fifth consecutive quarter of backlog growth) on a book-to-bill ratio of 1.42. Management reaffirmed full-year revenue guidance of $450 million to $500 million, roughly 42% growth at the midpoint, and the company ended the quarter with $557.8 million in cash after a $487.9 million capital raise. That gives Redwire real firepower to keep pursuing accretive M&A and to fund expansion projects like the new Microgravity Center of Excellence in Georgetown, Indiana, and a 164,000-square-foot Defense Tech production expansion in Huntsville, Alabama.

BlackSky Technology Inc. (BKSY) operates a constellation of high-resolution imaging satellites paired with real-time analytics through its Spectra software platform. Its core intelligence and AI subscription business hit a $100 million annualized revenue run rate in the second quarter, up 50% sequentially. Management says that revenue level unlocks real operating leverage, meaning incremental subscription dollars now drop to the bottom line at a far higher rate. Adjusted EBITDA turned solidly positive at roughly $5 million, a 14.2% margin and a $7.5 million improvement from a year earlier. BlackSky raised $150 million in fresh capital during the quarter and now holds liquidity north of $300 million. The chart shows the stock reclaiming its 200-day and 50-day moving averages with a bullish MACD crossover. I expect a new high above the prior peak of $51.63, potentially reaching $60 to $70 in the coming weeks to months.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (RKLB) is following the same playbook SpaceX wrote: evolving from a rocket launch company into a vertically integrated space and AI business through its pending Iridium Communications acquisition, its push into spectrum, and talk of orbital data centers. Second-quarter revenue reached $234 million, up 62% year over year and above estimates, with a backlog of $2.36 billion and more than $1 billion in new contracts signed across the quarter and the week after. The adjusted loss came in at $8.8 million, far better than management’s guided range of $20 million to $26 million. Rocket Lab lost its 200-day moving average in mid-July for the first time since 2024, but it has since reclaimed that level, and I want to see $78 hold as support. If it does, this stock could put in its biggest rebound yet, potentially reaching $200 from around $150 to $160.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) is building a satellite network that connects directly to ordinary, unmodified smartphones, a real technological edge over Starlink’s hardware-dependent approach. Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone and 21 of Europe’s top 25 carriers have expressed interest in the technology. Backlog grew to $1.3 billion, and the company landed more than $100 million in new U.S. government contracts tied to national security priorities, including the Golden Dome missile defense initiative. A new $1.15 billion convertible note priced at the company’s lowest-ever coupon, near 1.6%, pushed pro forma cash to nearly $4 billion. The chart lags the rest of the group because it has not reclaimed its 200-day moving average, but the bounce off the roughly $53 low looks legitimate, with a bullish MACD crossover pushing above the zero line. I recommend buying the rebound here even without full technical confirmation.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) is the head of the snake for this entire trade. Second-quarter revenue hit $7.8 billion, up 92% year over year, and EBITDA reached $3.5 billion, up 191%. All three segments grew: Space up 29%, connectivity up 66%, and the AI segment up 247%. That AI unit turned EBITDA-positive for the first time, at $1.1 billion. Management guided toward more than $100 billion in annualized revenue by December, backed by roughly $100 billion in cash following the IPO and a $25 billion bond offering. When the SpaceX rally cooled after the IPO, this entire sector fell with it. Now that SpaceX is rebounding, the rest of the group is rebounding, too. You cannot separate the two stories.

The Bottom Line on Space Stocks

One name notably absent from this list is Planet Labs (PL). I recommend the stock long-term, but it still trades below its 200-day moving average and its earnings report remains roughly a month out. Four of the five stocks above have earnings confirmation, and all five show technical confirmation. Planet Labs has neither yet.

The lottery-ticket logic from that SpaceX buyer applies to this whole sector. You are not betting the farm here. You are making a calibrated bet on businesses with growing backlogs, improving margins, and balance sheets now flush with fresh capital, at exactly the moment their charts are turning higher.

That is the setup, and I think space stocks are ready to rocket over the next few weeks to months.