Why Viasat Stock Blasted 29% Higher This Week

Over the past few trading days, Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) stock ascended like a gravity-defying spacecraft. Shares of the satellite communications specialist ballooned in price, rising by 29% this week, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Nabbing a new NASA gig

Much of that pop was due to Viasat's news, released on Tuesday, that it earned some work from a well-funded arm of the federal government.

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Specifically, this is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has included the company in its $4.8 billion Near Space Network (NSN) contract. This five-year, multi-award, indefinite delivery and quantity project aims to establish ground and space relay services from low Earth orbit to 2 million kilometers away from our planet.

Viasat will be one of four companies participating in the NSN initiative. It will help supply direct-to-earth connection services for current and future NASA missions. Through its own technology and that of some of its business partners, the company is to "provide NASA with a modern, highly capable, and geographically diverse satellite ground network."

C-suite shuffle

The following day, Viasat announced it was restructuring its C-suite in order to "better position the company for long-term growth."

President Guru Gowrappan is stepping down, and the role will essentially be mothballed as management has no plans for a replacement. Current president of global space networks Craig Miller is to become the company's senior vice president of strategic initiatives. Taking up Miller's position is CTO Girish Chandran, who will retain his CTO title. Last August, Viasat announced the hiring of a new CFO, ex-Delta Air Lines executive Gary Chase.

It feels like an exciting time for a company on the move, although in my view Viasat still needs to prove it can be a long-term, viable business -- it has consistently booked bottom-line losses of late, after all.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.