The past two years have been a rocky stretch for stocks tied to the nascent space exploration industry, but some on Wall Street still believe it will pay off down the line — and there are already funds on the market for those who want to jump in now. “The industry is still in its infancy but has tremendous potential,” Guy Russell and Irene Tunkel from BCA Research wrote in a note to clients on Aug. 28. “We believe it is one of the next big investment ideas. We will monitor the theme and take on investment exposure once it matures.” Russell and Tunkel pointed to falling launch costs, continued demand for satellites and India’s recent moon landing as reasons to be excited about the future for the space industry. Their note also took a look at three ETFs that provide exposure to the small group of stocks that make up the industry. The most successful of these funds, both by total assets and performance this year, is Cathy Wood’s Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX) . The fund is up more than 17% year to date. The ARK fund takes a broad approach to finding space stocks. Its top holding is Trimble , a provider of advanced location-based software using its expertise in GPS, laser, optical and inertial technologies. The Ark fund even has some stocks that are only tangentially related to space, at least for now, like Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet . For investors looking for a more narrow approach, BCA described the Procure Space ETF (UFO) as the “purest play on space exploration.” The fund’s top holdings include Luxembourg satellite company SES and Rocket Lab . To be sure, the Ark and Procure funds are both well below their highs from 2021. The SPDR S & P Kensho Final Frontier ETF (ROKT) has performed better over that time, but it is the smallest fund of the three by assets, and is thinly traded. “We would like to emphasize that ETFs listed above are risky investments that are bound to experience significant short-term volatility, and will benefit investors only as part of a diversified portfolio over a long investment horizon,” the BCA note said. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
