Cheap space stocks used to sell under 4 times sales.
Today, the cheapest space stocks cost more than 10x sales.
Redwire, Spire Global, and Arxis are among the few remaining cheap space stocks.
How much should you pay for a space stock?
Examining the history of this newest of investment sectors, and crunching the numbers on valuation, I concluded a few years back that the "right" price to pay for a space stock -- assuming it has some sales but not yet profits and is growing quickly -- generally ranges from 2 to 4 times trailing sales.
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But that particular space train has totally left the station.
Thanks to the attention the space sector has been attracting since the recent Artemis II mission landed and after SpaceX filed its IPO prospectus, most space stocks have soared well past these conservative numbers. Rocket company Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ: FLY), for example, currently costs 19 times trailing sales, and the even more famous Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) sports a 75 P/S ratio. Forget about low; these days, you have to look long and hard to find a space stock trading at even high single-digit multiples to sales.
And yet there are still a handful of these.
Image source: Getty Images.
I wrote about Redwire (NYSE: RDW) earlier this week, so I won't go into great detail about it again here.
Suffice it to say that at a price-to-sales ratio of only 5.8x, Redwire is currently the cheapest way to invest in space stocks. Redwire lacks a single, defining product to capture investor imaginations the way Firefly's Alpha rocket or Rocket Lab's Electron (or Neutron) do. What it does have is a whole portfolio of space technology that's essential for building infrastructure in space: roll-out solar arrays to provide power, space station docks to connect spacecraft to the places they're visiting, and space-rated camera systems for research and navigation.
Redwire also has an ambitious defense business following its acquisition of Edge Autonomy last year. It's no longer a "pure play" on space, but thanks to the extra revenue from its new military drones division, it's now a more diversified business -- and arguably safer to invest in.
Financial stability is a selling point for the second stock on our list as well: Earth observation satellite stock Spire Global (NYSE: SPIR).
Spire finally succeeded in selling its maritime satellite data business to Kpler last year, bringing in $241 million in cash, paying down its debt, and replenishing its bank account -- at the cost of shrinking revenue by 40%.
Post-sale, Spire comprises three main businesses: space services, aviation, and weather and climate. These are projected to bring in nearly $79 million in revenue this year (down from $110 million in 2024, before the maritime sale). The business is not going to be profitable and will probably burn about $46 million in cash. On the plus side, however, that's half the cash Spire burned in 2025 -- and cash burn is projected to fall by half again in 2027, to $21 million.
With $82 million in the bank, Spire's probably got enough cash left to keep its business going through 2028. With revenue rising once again (analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast 2028 sales growth of 22%), Spire's got a fighting chance of breaking even in 2029, turning profitable, and generating positive free cash flow.
It's not a sure thing, but at a market capitalization of just $700 million and a valuation below 9x sales, Spire's still one of the cheapest ways to bet on space stocks today.
Our final space stock today is a bit of a wild card and a very recent IPO: Arxis (NASDAQ: ARXS).
Bloomfield, Connecticut-based Arxis went public last week, selling 40.5 million shares at $28 a share, raising $1.1 billion. Much like Redwire, it's a lower-profile "space stock" in that Arxis manufactures electronic and mechanical components used in space, such as lubricating bearings, seals, springs, gaskets, and ducting (all of which help a spacecraft keep the space out and the air in). Most of the company's revenue comes from the space and defense industries, but Arxis also has industrial, medical, and semiconductor customers.
Shares that started at $28 quickly advanced to $38, giving Arxis a $15.2 billion market capitalization. With $1.6 billion in annual revenue, that works out to a price-to-sales ratio of about 9.5x.
According to the company's IPO prospectus, no single customer accounts for more than 7% of Arxis's revenue, and its top 10 customers combined account for only 36% of sales. So the company's broadly diversified. Even if Arxis lacks a single "marquee" product to draw investors' attention, demand for its products is likely to grow broadly and generally track the growth rate of the space economy as a whole.
Simply put: The more "stuff" goes to space, the bigger I expect Arxis's market to grow.
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Rich Smith has positions in Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Redwire and Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.