Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) shares surged almost 40% after the space travel company reported significant progress in its cost-cutting efforts during the first quarter.
The company reduced its operating expenses by 21% year-over-year to $89 million, narrowing its net loss to $84 million or $2.38 per share compared to a loss of $102 million or loss per share of $5.10 in the year-ago quarter.
This was better than the loss per share of $2.55 expected by Wall Street analysts.
Revenue for the quarter was $0.5 million, down from $2 million in the year-ago period, attributed to the pause in commercial spaceflights to focus on the production of Delta Class SpaceShips. Analysts had expected revenue of about $0.3 million.
“The first quarter demonstrated strong progress advancing the build of our new SpaceShips and keeping pace with our plans to begin commercial spaceflight in 2026,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.
“The assets being built as we march through our pre-revenue phase are tremendous, and we expect them to open up a powerful and profitable business model that will benefit from an industry-leading cost structure, fixed-cost leverage as we scale, and an unparalleled customer experience."
Shares of Virgin Galactic added 39.6% at about $4.70 late morning on Friday.