What occurred

It is normally excellent news when an bold, upstart firm companions with a high identify in its business. Not less than, that is how Virgin Galactic (SPCE 1.25%) traders reacted to the information of their firm partnering with a enterprise on the high of the aerospace meals chain earlier this week.

Consequently, in accordance with information offered by S&P World Market Intelligence, Virgin Galactic’s shares rocketed almost 17% increased throughout this holiday-shortened buying and selling week.

So what

Thursday morning, Virgin Galactic introduced that it had reached a cope with Aurora Flight Sciences to associate within the design and building of its upcoming technology of motherships. Aurora, which has been in enterprise for over 30 years, is a subsidiary of mighty Boeing (BA -0.64%). The association covers the design and manufacturing of two motherships.

Virgin and Aurora had already been collaborating. In its press launch trumpeting information of the deal, Virgin revealed that the pair had been working collectively just lately to plot design specs and different features of the mission.

The primary of the 2 new motherships is predicted to formally be a part of the Virgin fleet in 2025, the corporate mentioned. 

Now what

It wasn’t solely traders getting in contact with their inside bull on Virgin following the information.

Afterward Thursday, Cowen analyst Oliver Chen took pains to reiterate his outperform (i.e., purchase) advice on the corporate’s inventory at a $12 per-share value goal. Though he acknowledged that the mission will face some “hurdles and take a look at,” he identified that sure features of the contract — corresponding to risk-sharing and expense administration measures — are helpful for Virgin, along with its associate’s scale.