Orbital Sciences, the company behind the Antares rocket that exploded Tuesday, is crashing in afterhours trading. Shares of the Dulles, Va.-based maker of rockets and space systems are down $4.37, or 14%, to $26 in afterhours trading. Shares closed up 86 cents, or 2.9%, to $30.37 in regular trading Tuesday prior to the blast.
Based on the afterhours trading, the company just lost $266 million in market value. Analysts have been somewhat muted on the company’s prospects this year but more bullish for 2015. Analysts are calling for the company’s adjusted profit to rise 7.8% this year, but revenue to be flat at $1.4 billion, says S&P Capital IQ. But the company’s fortunes were expected to pick up in 2015, with revenue rising 12% to $1.5 billion and profit gaining 9.7%.
Shares have been very volatile — but have been mostly headed higher. The stock is up nearly 30% over the past year, topping the broad market’s roughly 13% gain during that time.