AST SpaceMobile Shares Slide on $1B Convertible Notes Offering

AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) shares tumbled in premarket trading on Thursday, February 12, 2026, after the satellite broadband company unveiled an ambitious multi-layered financing package late Wednesday. The plan involves raising $1 billion through a new convertible notes offering while simultaneously repurchasing up to $300 million of existing debt, moves that, while strategically sound for the long term, immediately spooked investors with dilution concerns.

The stock, which had briefly climbed earlier on Wednesday following a successful satellite deployment milestone, reversed sharply after the financing announcements hit, highlighting the tension between AST’s aggressive growth ambitions and the near-term market reaction to share dilution risk.

AST Targets $1B Raise While Retiring $300M of 2032 Notes

At the heart of the selloff is AST SpaceMobile’s plan to raise $1 billion through a private offering of convertible senior notes due April 15, 2036, targeted at qualified institutional buyers. Initial purchasers also hold an option to buy up to an additional $150 million in notes, with that window closing by February 20, 2026.

The 2036 notes will be senior unsecured obligations, paying semiannual interest, and will be convertible into cash, Class A common shares, or a combination, at the company’s election.

Proceeds from the offering are earmarked for a broad range of strategic purposes, including accelerating AST’s global satellite deployment, investing in U.S. government space opportunities, funding AI-related commercial initiatives, and reducing higher-interest existing debt.

In a separate but concurrent announcement, AST said it intends to repurchase up to $300 million of its existing convertible senior notes due 2032 – specifically up to $50 million of its 4.25% notes and up to $250 million of its 2.375% notes. Critically, these buybacks are to be funded through concurrent registered direct offerings of Class A common stock, meaning new shares will be issued to retire the older debt.

That combination of new convertible notes and fresh equity issuances is what rattled markets. Convertible note investors typically hedge their exposure by shorting the underlying stock, and when large deals like this are being priced, those hedge-related flows can amplify downward pressure on trading.

While retiring the 2032 notes reduces near-term maturity overhang and extends the company’s debt runway, the market’s immediate read was straightforward: more shares outstanding equals dilution, and that concern dominated sentiment in the hours following the announcement.

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ASTS Stock Brief: Premarket Performance and Key Metrics

As of premarket trading on Thursday, February 12, 2026, ASTS shares were quoted at $88.36, down $8.56 or approximately 8.83% from Wednesday’s closing price of $96.27. The stock had opened Wednesday’s session at $100.38 and traded in a range of $93.20 to $102.85 during the regular session before the afterhours news sent it sharply lower.

Volume on Wednesday came in at roughly 13.57 million shares against an average daily volume of about 15 million, reflecting an active but not extraordinary trading session before the late-day news catalyst.

Despite the premarket drop, ASTS has been a standout performer over multiple timeframes. Year-to-date through February 11, the stock was up over 33%, compared to just 1.4% for the S&P 500. Over the past year, ASTS has surged more than 241%, and its three-year return stands at an extraordinary 1,551% against the S&P 500’s 69.7% gain over the same period.

The company carries a market cap of approximately $26.94 billion with an enterprise value of $26.46 billion, and holds $1.2 billion in total cash. Its levered free cash flow over the trailing twelve months stands at negative $836 million, reflecting the capital-intensive nature of building out a global satellite broadband network.

Analyst sentiment heading into this announcement was already cautiously mixed. The stock carries a consensus Hold rating from seven analysts, split between 2 Buys, 4 Holds, and 1 Sell, with an average 12-month price target of around $93.50, slightly below Wednesday’s close.

The most recent rating action came from B. Riley Securities on January 13, 2026, which downgraded the stock to Neutral while raising its price target from $95 to $105. The top-ranked analyst covering the name, per Yahoo Finance, is UBS with a Neutral rating, while price targets across the Street range from a low of $43 to a high of $137, underscoring the wide divergence of opinion on AST’s long-term value proposition.

Disclaimer: The author does not hold or have a position in any securities discussed in the article. All stock prices were quoted at the time of writing.