Stifel Highlights This ‘Important’ Factor For Intuitive Machines Despite Q2 Earnings Miss – LUNR Stock Heads For Fourth Straight Session Of Gains

Stifel upgraded Intuitive Machines to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold,’ highlighting the importance of the company’s backlog growth.

• The brokerage lowered its price target to $26 from $32, with the new level representing around 42% upside from current levels.
• Intuitive Machines ended the quarter ended June 30 with a record backlog of about $1.8 billion.
• According to Koyfin data, the stock has a consensus 12-month price target of $31.67.

Intuitive Machines (LUNR) was in the spotlight on Friday after the space infrastructure company received an upgrade from Stifel following its surging backlog despite second-quarter earnings that came in below Wall Street’s estimates.

LUNR stock gained around 5% in pre-market trading and is on track to gain for a fourth straight session.

LUNR’s Backlog Takes Center Stage

Stifel upgraded Intuitive Machines to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold,’ according to The Fly, adding that the company’s “backlog surge” is important, after the company reported a second-quarter (Q2) revenue and earnings miss.  

Despite posting a record quarterly revenue of $206.2 million, more than four times the $50.3 million reported a year earlier, it missed Wall Street’s estimate of about $221.1 million, according to Fiscal.ai. The company’s loss widened to $0.29 per share from $0.22 a year earlier and missed the expected $0.10 per share loss.

However, Intuitive Machines ended the quarter with a record backlog of about $1.8 billion, up $1.5 billion from the end of 2025. It has also secured $300 million in awards so far this quarter from commercial, civil, and national-security customers.

Stifel cited the upgrade to the company’s order acceleration and the stock’s attractive valuation.

Stifel Sees 42% Upside Potential

The brokerage lowered the price target to $26 from $32, but it still represents around 42% upside from current levels. According to Koyfin, the stock has a consensus 12-month price target of $31.67. Seven of nine analysts covering the stock have a ‘Buy’ rating, one ‘Hold’ rating, and one ‘Sell’ rating.

Intuitive Machines maintained its full-year 2026 revenue outlook of $900 million to $1 billion and expects positive adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and tax. It ended the quarter with $367 million in cash.

Retail Bullish Eye $50

Retail sentiment surrounding LUNR on Stocktwits remained ‘extremely bullish’ over the past 24 hours, amid a 320% jump in message volumes.

One user said the stock could climb to $50.

View this Stocktwits post

Another user said a revaluation of the stock “could be on the horizon,” given the backlog growth.

View this Stocktwits post

LUNR shares have gained around 13% so far in 2026.

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