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Just For You Pentagon Deal Sends AST SpaceMobile Soaring—Is This the Next Leg Up?Author: Jordan Chussler. Posted: 1/16/2026. 
In Brief - After surging 452% over the past year, shares of ASTS jumped 15% on Friday on the news of being awarded a contract by the Pentagon.
- The news comes after AST SpaceMobile’s successful launch of its BlueBird 6 satellite in December 2025.
- Earlier in the week, the stock—which was downgraded from Buy to Neutral by B. Riley Securities—sold off but has more than recovered those losses since.
Shares of AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) jumped 15% on Friday as the company announced that it was awarded a government contract for the Missile Defense Agency Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract. The jump follows an earlier slide in the communication services sector after AST SpaceMobile was downgraded from a Buy rating to a Neutral rating by B. Riley Securities on Jan. 13. The former CEO of Google calls it the most important thing to happen in 500, maybe 1,000 years of human society. A former U.S. Treasury Secretary says when your great-grandchildren write the history of this period, the political headlines will be the second or third story. The first story is something none of us have seen before. The dot-com collapse, global financial crisis, and COVID-19 pandemic don't compare to what's coming next. We may be entering a period of dramatic, almost unimaginable change. See the full warning and how to prepare now. The announcement underscores the company's capabilities beyond commercial space-based cellular services and serves as an additional tailwind as AST SpaceMobile readies the next iteration of its BlueBird satellite. The SHIELD Initiative and America's Golden Dome Project While AST SpaceMobile builds out the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by smartphones, it is also bolstering its government contract revenue. AST SpaceMobile's selection demonstrates growing government interest in the company's low-Earth orbit (LEO) capabilities—specifically, its applications for national defense. The SHIELD program is part of the larger Golden Dome project, which focuses on building layered protection against air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats to the United States. "Being selected as a prime contract awardee for the MDA's SHIELD program is a major validation of our unique, on-orbit, dual-use technology and our growing capabilities within the defense sector," said Chris Ivory, chief commercial officer and head of government business at AST SpaceMobile. Ivory noted that the company's LEO satellite architecture "is inherently scalable and resilient," and said the SHIELD "contract establishes AST SpaceMobile as an eligible provider to bid directly on future task orders, enabling us to rapidly align our cutting-edge space technology with the critical needs of the Department of Defense and other U.S. government entities." After BlueBird 6 Success, AST SpaceMobile Eyes BlueBird 7 Another near-term catalyst for the stock is the company's BlueBird 7 satellite. Following the successful launch of BlueBird 6—the largest commercial communications array ever deployed into LEO—on Dec. 23, 2025, the company now has its sights set on BlueBird 7. BlueBird 6 is 3.5x the size of its predecessors and supports roughly 10x their data capacity after launching from India's Satish Dhawan Space Center in December 2025. BlueBird 7 has arrived in Florida and is being integrated with its launch vehicle. AST SpaceMobile plans to deploy between 45 and 60 of these satellites by the end of 2026, including five potential deployments in March. After a Big Year, Wall Street Is Cautiously Optimistic About AST SpaceMobile As a company that is about 95% vertically integrated, AST SpaceMobile has pricing power and supply-chain control that have helped bolster its standing on Wall Street. It holds more than 3,800 patents and patent-pending claims, and the space-based cellular firm has secured partnerships with Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T), and Vodafone Group (NASDAQ: VOD). That's in addition to commercial pacts with Japanese tech conglomerate Rakuten (OTCMKTS: RKUNY), real estate investment trust American Tower (NYSE: AMT), and BCE (NYSE: BCE), formerly Bell Canada Enterprises and one of Canada's largest telecommunications and media companies. After a run-up that resulted in shares of ASTS gaining more than 452% over the past year, Wall Street is maintaining a cautiously optimistic outlook for the stock. The company will be looking for its first earnings beat in four quarters when it reports FY 2025 full-year and Q4 results on March 2. Of the 11 analysts covering AST SpaceMobile, two assign it a Buy rating, five assign it a Hold rating, and four assign it a Sell rating. However, analysts' average 12-month price target of $45.66 implies nearly 61% potential downside from today's share price. On the other hand, according to TradeSmith, ASTS's financial health has been in the Green Zone for more than eight months, suggesting that the company's fundamentals could support an ongoing uptrend with normal pullbacks. Despite institutional ownership being below average at nearly 61%, inflows of $1.91 billion over the past 12 months have easily outpaced outflows of $320.68 million. However, short interest—currently about 15%, or roughly 55 million shares out of AST SpaceMobile's approximately 367 million shares outstanding—suggests that Wall Street's bears are expecting a possible near-term pullback or correction.
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