Why this is on the tape
Berenberg published a new space-sector launch on 2 September 2026. Analyst Michael Filatov initiated coverage on three U.S.-listed names — AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS), Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), and Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) — and assigned buy ratings to each, with published price targets of $92, $83, and $25. Those are the firm’s ratings and targets. They are not MarketNeon’s, and they are not a print.
The tape treated the note as a session headline, especially in ASTS. Separate MarketNeon notes already cover AST’s launch log and named operator seats, Rocket Lab’s Electron-versus-Neutron split, and Planet’s Pelican seats and backlog. This article is the initiation map: what Filatov cited, which clock each target sits on, and what has not printed. It is not a ranking of the three names and not a trade instruction.
What Berenberg actually published
Filatov framed the sector around falling launch costs. He said those costs helped push the space economy past $500 billion in 2025, and that the market is on a path toward more than $1 trillion by 2030. He cited about $74 billion of defense space spending in 2025 and a U.S. Space Force fiscal 2027 budget request that more than doubled from the prior year. A budget request is not an appropriation. Congress still has to pass the money.
The brokerage’s screen, as recapped in the initiation coverage, favors companies with vertically integrated launch and satellite technology that is hard to copy. That is a sell-side filter. It is not a completed constellation, a flown Neutron, or a billed Planet quarter.
- ASTS — $92 target. Filatov called AST “the only company to have demonstrated true cellular broadband from space to unmodified smartphones,” and pointed at more than 60 mobile-network-operator partnerships covering roughly 3 billion subscribers.
- RKLB — $83 target. Filatov called Rocket Lab “the only end-to-end public pure-play in space.” Electron is the live small-lift. Neutron is still a pad-delivery target.
- PL — $25 target. Filatov called Planet “the only company imaging the entire Earth daily,” and pointed at a backlog up 72% year over year to about $906 million.
Three different clocks under the same note
AST SpaceMobile is a connectivity build. After the 5 August 2026 Falcon 9 launch of BlueBirds 11–13, the company said 13 spacecraft were in orbit. BlueBird 7 did not stay useful. Company materials have talked about on the order of 45 satellites to open commercial-scale service, and about 90 for global coverage. Those are targets. Q2 2026 billed $31.5 million from government milestones and gateway deliveries — not a subscriber bill. Commercial broadband is still described as a 2027 clock. A $92 target does not put 45 birds on station.
Rocket Lab is a launch-plus-space-systems book. The last print was $234 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2026, mostly space systems. Electron and HASTE had flown 13 times in 2026 through that update. Neutron’s public clock is delivery to the pad in the fourth quarter of 2026, not a flown medium-lift. An $83 target does not launch Neutron.
Planet Labs is an imagery and satellite-services book. Fiscal Q1 2027, ended 30 April, printed $94.2 million. Backlog at that date was more than $906 million, which still includes cancelable government seats. Pelican-11 launched 7 July as a Gen-2 pathfinder that Planet said is not anticipated to produce commercially available data. Fiscal Q2 2027 ended 31 July. Planet reported that quarter after the close on 3 September 2026. A $25 target is not the print.
What moved, and what did not
Press recaps of the 2 September session said ASTS and PL ran hard in the morning while the Procure Space ETF (NYSEARCA: UFO) barely moved. That pattern is an initiation bid in two names, not proof that capital rotated through the whole space book. Session prices go stale. This note does not keep them.
Filatov’s three “only company” lines are marketing frames on different products: a sky cellular array, a small-lift plus unflown medium-lift, and a daily optical archive. Mixing them into one aerospace ranking is how a research note becomes a buy list. The named seats, the live rockets, and the billed imagery sit on separate calendars.
What this does not tell you
Berenberg assigning buy ratings and publishing $92, $83, and $25 targets is evidence that one European firm started coverage. It is not proof that AST reaches 45 operational BlueBirds, that Neutron reaches the pad in Q4, that Planet’s fiscal Q2 lands inside the $102–$107 million company target, or that the Space Force fiscal 2027 request becomes law at the headline size. A sell-side initiation is not a customer, a launch, or a 10-Q.
On MarketNeon, ASTS is the chart on this page because the $92 target was the loudest line in the note. RKLB and PL can print on the same headline while Electron, Pelican, and BlueBird sit on different clocks. This article is context for those prints. It does not rank the names, and it does not tell anyone to buy or sell.