WASHINGTON — In-space transportation company Momentus is in danger of having its stock delisted from Nasdaq within days because of its low share price and other problems.
The company filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Sept. 26 stating that it had been informed by Nasdaq that the exchange would suspend trading of shares at the opening of business Oct. 3 and delist the company unless Momentus appeals that decision no later than Oct. 1.
The company had been warned in March that it had 180 days to raise its share price to a minimum of $1 per share in order to remain on the Nasdaq Capital Market. While shares in the company briefly closed above $1 in late August, the shares did not remain above $1 long enough to meet Nasdaq’s requirements. Shares in Momentus closed Sept. 30 at $0.44.
While companies can usually seek a 180-day extension, Nasdaq said that Momentus did not qualify because it did not meet the exchange’s minimum stockholders’ equity initial listing requirements. The company’s failure to file annual and quarterly reports with the SEC “have individually become additional and separate basis for delisting,” Momentus added.
Momentus said in its filing that it intends to appeal the decision and seek a hearing with a Nasdaq panel, a move that would delay any delisting until at least after that panel renders a decision. The company added it “intends to provide a plan to regain compliance” but did not provide any details about the plan other it would include a reverse stock split, reducing the number of shares and increasing their price to reach the $1 threshold.
The company has faced financial problems for some time. In January, the company announced it was delaying the next mission of its Vigoride tug indefinitely and laid off 20% of its staff to reduce its cash burn. That came after a larger layoff in mid-2023. The company has not launched a mission since that January announcement.
The company has announced a few contracts since January, including one with DARPA of undisclosed value to study large-scale space structures for the agency’s Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program. That contract includes potentially flying experiments on future Vigoride missions.
Momentus was also one of three companies added to NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract Aug. 22, allowing it to compete for future task orders of launches of smallsat missions.
Momentus announced Sept. 16 it raised $2.75 million in a private placement with an unidentified institutional investor. The funding, the company said in a statement, would be used for “general corporate purposes.”
“We continue to raise money incrementally,” John Rood, chief executive of Momentus, said during a panel at World Space Business Week Sept. 18 when asked about that latest funding. He didn’t disclose specific plans for the funding other than to “continue to grow the business.”
He acknowledged, though, that the original plans by Momentus to provide orbital transfer vehicles to deliver satellites to specific orbits had not panned out. “The in-space mobility, logistics and transportation market has not developed quite to the extent that I think will by 2030.”
Momentus has pivoted to some extent, now offering satellite buses based on Vigoride. The company has not announced any major contracts for those buses, though, after losing out on a Space Development Agency competition late last year. The company noted in one recent SEC filing that it may convert its Vigoride-7 tug, whose launch was indefinitely postponed in January, into a satellite bus.
He added, though, that he did expect in-space transportation markets to eventually emerge. “If we snapped a snapshot three years ago or four years ago and today, the predictions have not materialized” about the size of the market, he said. “In the 2030s, I think you will see growth in that,” citing applications like debris removal or mass deployment of satellites from large launch vehicles like SpaceX’s Starship.
“I feel like we’ve gone through a lot of the growing pains that tech companies traditionally do,” he concluded. “It is a great experience, but it is not for the meek or the faint of heart.”
