Why Are Viasat Shares Trading Higher On Thursday?

Viasat Inc (NASDAQ:VSAT) shares are climbing Thursday. The stock is participating in a massive sector-wide rally.

The Nasdaq is down 0.29% while the S&P 500 has shed 0.23%.

SpaceX IPO Buzz Lifts Sentiment

The move follows reports that SpaceX filed for a confidential initial public offering. The company may target a June debut at a $1.75 trillion valuation. This news sparked expectations of fresh capital inflows across the space economy.

M&A Chatter Adds Momentum

Additional upside stems from deal speculation involving Globalstar Inc (NYSE:GSAT). Reports suggest the company is in acquisition talks with Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), according to Benzinga Pro.

Analysts Raise Price Forecast

Viasat also benefits from recent positive analyst coverage. On March 27, Needham analyst Ryan Koontz maintained a Buy rating. Koontz raised the price target from $45 to $58.

Short Interest Declines

Short interest in Viasat recently fell from 11.45 million to 10.62 million shares. This represents 10.38% of the company’s float.

Technical Analysis

At $43.62, VSAT is trading 9.2% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA), the stock's average price over the last 20 sessions. It's trading 25% above its 100-day SMA.

Moving average structure still favors bulls after the golden cross in June (June 25), when the 50-day SMA moved above the 200-day SMA.

At the same time, the moving average convergence divergence (MACD), a trend/momentum measure, is bearish with MACD at 0.1102 below the 0.6363 signal line.

• Key Resistance: $52.50
• Key Support: $41.50

VSAT Stock Price Activity: Viasat shares were up 12.58% at $50.92 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Viasat-Photo by Michael Vi via Shutterstock