Why Virgin Orbit Stock Ripped Higher Today

What happened

Shares of beleaguered small rocket launch company Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB), which plunged on reports of furloughs and an operational pause last week, are bouncing back in a big way Wednesday, and are up an enormous 55.7% as of 1:40 p.m. ET today.

So what

That doesn't get the stock quite back up to where it was after the bad news about its financial position was first reported -- so don't get too excited about Virgin Orbit just yet. That being said, the news does sound tentatively good.

As Reuters and CNBC reported this morning, Virgin Orbit is "in final talks" to secure a $200 million investment from Texan investor Matthew Brown. And if that falls through, Virgin apparently also has a different unnamed potential investor waiting in line who might be prepared to give the company some cash.

Now what

Neither deal is certain, and Virgin Orbit isn't commenting. Nevertheless, the company has apparently recalled at least some of its staff to prepare for an "incremental resumption of operations," reports said, which suggests cautious optimism on management's part.

CNBC thinks Virgin Orbit is negotiating at least the sale of a controlling stake in the company, and I don't think we can rule out a complete takeover, either -- $200 million is about 40% more than the entire company was worth just 24 hours ago.

For the time being, one thing is certain: Even just the rumor of a white knight has given investors a second chance to get out of this stock before its share price moves any lower.

Unless you think someone is prepared to pay a whole lot more than what Virgin Orbit was worth just yesterday to own it, now might be a good time to exit.

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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.