Virgin Orbit Stock Plummets Again Amid Turbulence

A report suggested that Virgin Orbit Holdings VORB –28.97% was again going to suspend operations after talks for fresh investment broke down over the weekend, causing shares to drop in early trading Tuesday after the company announced that it will suspend operations again.

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As the S&P 500 SPX –0.42% futures rose 0.1% on Tuesday morning, and Nasdaq CompositeCOMP –0.76% futures were flat on the day, Virgin Orbit shares were down about 11% at 48 cents each in premarket trading Tuesday morning.

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Virgin Orbit did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Tuesday morning regarding the decision to pause operations after talks with potential investor Matthew Brown failed to result in a capital injection. The company didn't immediately comment on the decision to pause operations Monday afternoon.

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Virgin has been using roughly $50 million a quarter over the last few quarters. As of the end of the third quarter, the company reported having about $75 million in cash on its balance sheet. There are no numbers available for the fourth quarter.

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Throughout the past week, Virgin Orbit shares have dropped more than eight times in a row. As of Tuesday, the shares had dropped eight times in a row. The average magnitude of the move has been about 21%, each way.

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During the second half of March, the company announced that it was temporarily ceasing operations, resulting in a 30% drop in shares. The shares of the company soared 50% on Friday after the news was released that a partial operation was resuming soon. As a result of no fresh investment news on Monday, shares fell 33% on Tuesday, before falling again early on Tuesday.

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Accordingly, Virgin Orbit's market capitalization at Monday's close of 54 cents a share was about $180 million, matching Monday's closing price at 59 cents a share. At its 52-week high at $7.59, Virgin Orbit was worth roughly $1.4 billion, according to Friday's closing price at 54 cents a share.

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A total of approximately $243 million in assets was reported by the company as of the end of September, apart from about 150 million in liabilities, including convertible debt, and about 89 million in equity.