8 Red Days In A Row: Rocket Lab Stock Is Down 32%
Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock is on an 8-day losing streak, down 32.3% since the run began. That erased about $15.3 billion from the company’s market value, which now stands at about $32.0 billion. The stock closed at $50.84 on Friday, October 16, 66.2% below its 52-week high of $150.23 and 28.8% above its low of $39.48.
The Streak Next To The S&P 500
Returns for RKLB and the S&P 500 over the streak and the periods around it, all ending Friday, October 16 and including dividends:
| Return Period | RKLB | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Day | -8.0% | -1.1% |
| 8 Days (Current Streak) | -32.3% | -2.0% |
| 1 Month (21 Trading Days) | -25.0% | 0.4% |
| 3 Months (63 Trading Days) | -22.7% | 3.2% |
| Year To Date | -27.1% | 12.9% |
| 1 Year (252 Trading Days) | -26.6% | 16.2% |
How The Streak Compares With The Market
Over the same 8 trading days, the S&P 500 returned -2.0% including dividends, so the slide is mostly Rocket Lab’s own story rather than the market’s. Over the past three months the stock is down 22.7%, a window that includes the streak; over the other 55 sessions of that window it was up 14.2%.
What The Numbers Say About The Slide
On the fundamentals, revenue grew 52.5% over the last twelve months, against a median of 7.3% for S&P 500 Industrials stocks; and its operating margin is -29.1%, versus a median of 17.6%. Rocket Lab does not have positive trailing earnings, so there is no meaningful price-to-earnings multiple to compare. The fundamentals give the sellers some support: an operating loss.
If the drop has you weighing an entry, resist buying on price alone. Our Buy the Dip screen ranks the marked-down names where growth and cash generation still hold up.
For anyone who would rather back the theme than one company, an aerospace & defense ETF like MISL holds the whole group, not just this stock. It is still a concentrated bet on one theme, which is the gap the portfolio below is built to close.
Weakness In One Name Should Be Noise, Not News
For a diversified holder, a streak like this is a data point. For a concentrated one, it is a hole in the plan. The difference is never the stock; it is the portfolio built around it.
Building that portfolio is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio does: roughly 30 businesses with the cash generation and balance-sheet strength to absorb a bad month, selected and rebalanced by rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Make the next streak, in either direction, someone else’s drama.