5 Stocks Entering June in the Wrong Direction

2. Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB)

Rocket Lab fell by 14.70 percent on Monday to finish at $122.39 apiece, a third consecutive day, mirroring the drop in the broader space sector following news of a rocket explosion over the weekend.

The company declined alongside its counterparts, namely Planet Labs and Intuitive Machines, among others, as investors turned cautious for the overall sector following the explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket while undergoing a hot-fire engine test at its launch pad in Florida on Friday.

The explosion sent shockwaves to neighborhoods in Florida, equivalent to a 2.5 magnitude earthquake.

The drop followed last week’s flurry of positive developments across the space industry after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced the awarding of contracts to a number of space players for its ambitious lunar exploration program.

In other news, Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) late last month announced the successful acquisition of Motiv Space Systems (“Motiv”), a California-based company specializing in space robotics, motion control systems, and precision mechanisms for spacecraft.

Motiv—now rebranded as Rocket Lab Robotics—is set to bring mission-tested Mars heritage and is renowned for its advanced multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms, actuators, and drive electronics that have enabled some of the most ambitious planetary exploration missions in history, including NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover, the CADRE lunar rovers, and precision mechanisms supporting critical scientific instruments and spacecraft subsystems.

Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) said that its acquisition is expected to establish it as one of the few companies in the world capable of delivering end-to-end Mars mission solutions, including launch, spacecraft, software, and Mars-proven robotics for surface and on-orbit operations.