Space — the final frontier, represents a wealth of possibilities, but efforts at commercialization have been relatively sparse.
However, progress is afoot — whether through Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink, rival Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, or sympathy plays like BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY), for-profit ventures are increasingly turning to the cosmos, attempting to secure a foothold and first-mover advantage in an as-of-yet untapped sphere.
There’s a crucial issue at play, however — a vast majority of those businesses are private. While it is possible to invest in them, mostly through specialized platforms, those are generally limited to accredited investors.
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That’s not to say that you’re completely out of options — for example, Globalstar Inc (NYSE American: GSAT) is one such publicly traded company — with a constellation of 24 satellites in low-Earth orbit used to provide satellite communications.
The business recently got a $1.5 billion investment from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which includes a 20% equity stake. At press time, GSAT stock was trading at $1.94, with year-to-date (YTD) returns of 3.48%.
Such a large influx of capital from one of the world’s leading tech companies is certainly positive — but even more encouragingly, in a rare instance when it comes to insider transactions, one of the company’s largest shareholders recently doubled down — and purchased more GSAT stock.
Board member loads up on GSAT stock
Per data retrieved by Finbold’s insider trading radar from a recently publicized SEC filing, James Monroe, a member of Globalstar’s board, who owns at least 10% of the company, bought 500,000 GSAT shares on December 12.
Executed at an average price of $1.97 apiece, the total value of the trade is approximately $985,000. Interestingly enough, unlike most insider transactions, this one was not prearranged — as a closer look at the filing in question reveals that it was not executed according to a 10b5-1 plan.
The Apple deal could prove to be a crucial tailwind for the business — at present, the average price forecast for the stock set by Wall Street analysts sits at $3.00 — a figure that equates to a 56.66% upside. Of the three analysts who track the company, two rate it a ‘Buy’ and one rates it a ‘Hold’.
This latest purchase, however, was just a drop in the bucket — even before the sale, the director was holding well over a billion GSAT shares.
Still, it’s hard to argue that even such a relatively small acquisition does not represent a bullish signal — after all, why would Monroe increase his stake, even a little, if he didn’t see the move as beneficial?
Featured image via Shutterstock
