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Investing.com — Shares of Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) rallied after the company announced the successful launch of Flock 4x, consisting of 44 SuperDove satellites.
The company announced Thursday after the closing bell that 4x was successfully launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with SpaceX, which has now brought to orbit 127 Planet satellites. It was the first launch with SpaceX under the companies’ new multi-year agreement signed in August.
The satellites will join the company’s existing fleet of roughly 200 satellites in orbit. Planet Labs said it was able to make contact with all of the SuperDove satellites.
The company’s shares have risen 12% to $6.30 on the news. Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs initiated the stock with a buy rating and an $11 price target, telling clients in a research note that the company is the market leader in commercial Earth observation.
“The opportunity to sell data analytics into many industries is massive. PL has first mover advantage in the strategy of scanning the entire globe daily with its own low cost satellites,” Goldman said in the note.
