Why AST SpaceMobile Stock Sank Almost 20% This Week

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) announced plans to raise money this week, and some shareholders decided to dump the stock. The financial engineering it announced was the focus for investors who may see more volatility next week.

Shares plunged 18.9% for the week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »

In a series of announcements this week, AST SpaceMobile said it plans to repurchase about $300 million of its existing convertible senior notes due in 2032, while concurrently offering about $1 billion of new notes due in 2036. The transactions were viewed negatively by existing shareholders for several reasons. Both offerings are expected to occur next week.

While the move will remove $300 million of debt — and save over $50 million in interest payments — it will result in approximately 1.15 million additional shares being issued by the company. It’s also a reminder that AST SpaceMobile still needs to spend much more capital to finish building out its satellite array to offer broadband directly to smartphone users.

The company said it will use some of the additional capital for “accelerating the deployment of AST SpaceMobile’s controlled spectrum bands on a global basis,” as well as to pursue other future business growth opportunities.

Existing shareholders will take a hit, though, potentially from more than just direct dilution. With shares already about 32.5% off 2026 highs, the company warned that the common stock could see “substantial” volume impacts as note holders may need to buy or sell AST stock to cover derivative transactions or other positions related to the notes.

Before you buy stock in AST SpaceMobile, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and AST SpaceMobile wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $414,554!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,120,663!*