00:00If you think of satellites in space, you often think about Elon Musk and SpaceX,
00:04and yet there are a few other players in the space, among them AST Space Mobile.
00:09You've probably never heard of them, but on any given day, AST Space Mobile is worth more than
00:14half the companies in the S&P 500. In fact, earlier this year, the stock spiked at $122 a
00:20share, jumping nearly 6,000% from a low of $2 in 2024. That's in part thanks to thousands of
00:27retail investors who have poured their life savings into the company, pumping up its value
00:32since it went public in 2021. They call themselves the Space Mob. If you feel like this consumer rally
00:38around a retail stock sounds a bit familiar, that's because it probably feels a lot like
00:43what happened a few years ago with meme stocks. $335, $340, $350 a share in GameStop, which was
00:50trading $60 a share a mere week and a half ago. Like meme stock investors, Space Mobbers are active
00:55on platforms like Reddit and X, sharing trading information, and of course memes.
01:00The difference is that the Space Mob actually appears to believe in the stock.
01:05They comb through FCC filings, track lanes that ship the company's satellites from production
01:10sites to the launch pad, and have even created websites dedicated to monitoring AST satellites
01:16in space. All that information is discussed at length in comments and used to create detailed
01:20documents of the company. So unlike meme stock investors, Space Mobbers are holding onto shares
01:25for the long term, betting that AST will become the next trillion dollar company. This could
01:31be the year their massive gamble pays off. Or...
01:34AST has suffered a major setback as the satellite Bluebird 7 had been placed in the wrong orbit.
01:41It's a long-term bet, which like any stock has its risks. The fact is that AST's competition are giants
01:48like Amazon and SpaceX, which are building their own satellite networks to provide internet directly
01:53to your phone. But as we've learned through meme stocks, retail investors hold power through numbers.
01:59AST plans to launch enough satellites this year to begin rolling out service with partners like AT&T
02:05and Verizon. And more Space Mobbers are investing every day. Some are just along for the ride, but many
02:12see this as a real opportunity to invest early and hopefully see huge returns.
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