Virgin Galactic stock is one of the most sought-after stocks for obvious reasons. The company shares have continued to perform overwhelmingly well, attracting the attention of many retail investors looking for profitable stocks to invest their money in.
Even though the company has had its fair share of ups and downs, no thanks to the covid pandemic, it has recovered sharply, proving once again just how valuable it is.
Today’s guide will feature everything you need to know about Virgin Galactic shares and whether or not it is a good investment option for anyone looking to add stocks to their investment portfolio.
Overview of Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic Holdings is a leading aerospace company providing human space flight for private individuals and researchers. Formerly known as Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp, Virgin Galactic has metamorphosed into one of the most successful companies in the aerospace industry.
Since its inception, the company has focused on building a spaceflight system where ordinary customers can enjoy a multi-day experience culminating in spaceflight, which includes several minutes of weightlessness and views of the earth directly from space.
The company even has a subsidiary, The Spaceship Company, LLC, responsible for building its space vehicles.
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Virgin Galactic was founded by one of the world’s wealthiest men, Sir Richard Branson, a serial entrepreneur known for his many exploits across different industries. Though the company had a shaky start as it delayed its first-ever space flight following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, it has managed to shake that off and has continued to build on its vision.
The company has its headquarters in Mojave, CA and a testing facility in Spaceport America, New Mexico. As a publicly traded company, Virgin Galactic Holdings launched its IPO in 2019, with its share going for $19.50 per share.
Some of the company’s fierce competitors include heavyweights like SpaceX, Rocket Lab and Blue Origin.
How has Virgin Galactic performed?
While investing in Virgin Galactic (SPCE) sounds like a good idea, given the company’s potential, the company has had its fair share of ups and downs, which has seen the value of its share drop by a whopping 53%.
But despite the value of its share taking a hit, the company is working assiduously behind the scenes to turn its fortunes around.
Just so you know, Virgin Galactic operates in an industry with so much potential. According to Citigroup, the space industry has the potential to increase its revenue from $424 billion, quoted in 2020, to around $1 trillion by 2040.
While the current growth in the space industry is buoyed by existing industries such as satellite manufacturing and launch services, experts expect combined revenue in new industries like space tourism, where Virgin Galactic plans to invest heavily in, to rise from zero to about $101 billion over the period.
With Virgin Galactic focused on space tourism, its suborbital flight technology is generating a lot of buzz, strategically placing the company as an early leader in hypersonic point-to-point travel. This technology is one of a kind and will deliver incredible speeds that one could only imagine. The technology will reportedly generate up to $800 billion in annual sales by 2040.
Although this paints a very bright future for Virgin Galactic, as an investor, you should only take projections with a grain of salt. Even so, focusing on a company’s potential is a good thing to do as an investor.
As of writing this guide, the company’s stock is trading for $5.01 across different brokerages.
How to buy Virgin Galactic stock
After reading an overview of Virgin Galactic and how the company has performed recently, it’s time to give you the juicy details: how to add Virgin Galactic shares to your stock portfolio. Read on as we take you through all the critical steps.
Step 1: Choose a Brokerage
Before buying or trading Virgin Galactic stock, you must register with a brokerage. Brokers are the middlemen between yourself and the stock market. Without these guys, no one will be able to buy or trade in stocks. The job of a brokerage firm includes executing investors’ orders, whether buy or well.
Thanks to brokers, investing in stocks, whether for the short term or long term, is now possible. Unfortunately, choosing a broker can be pretty challenging, and that’s because of the wide selection of brokers out there. But not to worry, we have you covered.
When choosing a broker, we always recommend focusing on brokers such as eToro, Plus500, Admiral Markets, Robinhood and others who offer low fees and investment minimums.
Step 2: Open an account
Once you have chosen a broker, the next thing you need to do is sign up for an account, which typically takes a few minutes. When signing up for an account, you’ll need to choose an account type, so make sure you know what you want.
On a broker like eToro, it takes only a few minutes to sign up for an account. So if you’re looking for ease, a broker like eToro isn’t a bad option.
Speaking of account types, here are two popular options retail investors should consider.
- Retirement account: If you’re interested in enjoying tax benefits, opening an individual retirement account wouldn’t be a bad idea. Nevertheless, it has a few limitations you should know. To start with, if you decide to withdraw your money before you are 59½, you’ll be charged a 10% penalty fee along with income taxes.
- Taxable account: Even though taxable brokerage accounts don’t come with the many tax benefits you get with a retirement account, it has it’s own advantage. With a taxable account, you can withdraw your money anytime you like. Plus, doing so doesn’t come with any penalty fees. So if your goal is to have a flexible trading account, you won’t go wrong to set up a taxable account.
Step 3: Fund your trading account
With your account now registered and approved, you’ll need to fund it before you can buy or trade Virgin Galactic shares. Most brokers support different deposit options, including wire transfers and debit or credit card payments. Other payment options for funding your account include PayPal, Netteller, Skrill and more.
Since most brokers process deposits on time, it would only take a few hours or days for your account to be funded and ready to trade.
Step 4: Decide how much you want to invest in Virgin Galactic stocks (SPCE)
Most of the brokers we have come across allow users to make a minimum deposit of $300. But before you invest any of your funds in Virgin Galactic, make sure you decide on the level of risk you can afford. And as we would always say, never trade with money you can’t afford to lose. The reality is even the most experienced traders suffer losses, so you aren’t immune to losses.
In essence, what we are simply trying to say is only put in money you won’t need for a long time. This way, you can maximize your opportunities without freaking out at the slightest market change.
Step 4: Choose between a share of stock or ETFs
While you can add SPCE stock to your portfolio from any broker, keep in mind that you can also add Virgin Galactic shares to your portfolio through an exchange-traded find (ETF). For those new to ETFs, it will interest you to know that an ETF is a collection of stocks in the same sector or geography. An excellent example of an ETF that features Virgin Galactic stock is the Procure Space ETF.
What’s cool about an ETF is that it gives you exposure to the price action of Virgin Galactic shares while diversifying your risks across different stocks. Compared to investing in a single stock, investing in ETFs is less risky and highly recommended for anyone just getting started.
Step 5: Place your order
Placing an order for Virgin Galactic stock is among the easiest things to do. Start by logging into your trading account. On your dashboard, enter the Virgin Galactic ticker symbol, SPCE. After that, select the number of shares you want to buy.
If you’re dealing with a broker that supports fractional share investment, you can enter the dollar amount you want to invest.
When placing your order, remember that you have different order types you can choose from. If you select the market order option, your broker will automatically execute the trade at the prevailing market price for Virgin Galactic shares.
On the other hand, if you think the share price will go down a bit, you can set a limit order. So once the price gets to that region, your broker will automatically activate the trade.
Step 6: Monitor performance
Investing in SPCE is a brilliant idea. But after adding this stock to your portfolio, you still have to monitor how the company’s share is performing. We always encourage users to pay attention to news and announcements relating to the aerospace and spacecraft industry. Whether positive or negative, events within this industry play a significant role in Virgin Galactic’s stock value,
How to buy Virgin Galactic stock on eToro
Now that you know how to invest in Virgin Galactic stock, we want to use this opportunity to show you how you can buy Virgin Galactic shares on an exchange like eToro. And just so you know, the process is pretty straightforward and only takes a couple of minutes. Here, check out how anyone can buy Virgin Galactic stock on eToro.
Create an eToro account
If you don’t already have an account with eToro, you’d have to open one to be able to buy Virgin Galactic stock. As we reiterated earlier, the process is simple. If you already have an account with eToro, you can simply log in.
During the signup process, you’ll be required to provide basic information like name, email address, and phone number. Nonetheless, to fund your eToro trading account, you’ll need to provide additional info so the broker can verify your identity.
Complete your eToro profile
If you’re opening your account for the first time on eToro, you’d be required to complete your profile. For customers who have an existing account, you can skip this process. Completing your profile only takes a couple of minutes and is a requirement by most brokers as per AML and CTF regulations. With your profile now complete, you can proceed to other aspects.
Fund your trading account
After completing your eToro profile, you’ll need to fund your trading account to be able to buy some Virgin Galactic Stocks. We love eToro because they have a low minimum deposit requirement. To start trading on the eToro platform, you’ll need to make a minimum deposit of $200 or its equivalent in other currencies.
And just to add, eToro supports up to 8 popular deposit methods, including PayPal, wire transfer, UnionPay, credit or debit cards, Neteller, Skrill, and WebMoney. So, funding your account is super easy.
Tip: If you’re not fully convinced or you don’t feel ready to invest real money, you can test the waters with eToro’s virtual portfolio feature. This option lets you trade your favorite stocks without putting in real money. And as you gain experience and feel more comfortable, you can switch to a real portfolio.
Buy Virgin Galactic Stock
With your eToro account now funded, you can proceed to buy Virgin Galactic stocks. While eToro lets you buy Virgin Galactic shares seamlessly, you can also decide to short it. Keep in mind that the direction you decide to take is based on current market sentiments or direction. Here is how you can buy Virgin Galactic stock on eToro.
Navigate to eToro’s unique search bar, which sits at the top of the screen. Enter the ticker name associated with Virgin Galactic stocks: SPCE. Hit the trade now button to place your order. A new window should pop up, allowing you to make changes to different parameters. It’s that easy.
