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Drone stocks rallied on Monday as retail interest in the sector increased following a Palantir partnership with Red Cat Holdings and amid a spate of mysterious sightings in New Jersey and other Northeast states that Wall Street believes is boosting funding for the industry could boost.
Red cat Shares rose 27% after news that the company was working with it Palantir to integrate visual navigation software into its drones. According to data tracking firm Quiver, the ticker RCAT was the sixth most popular mention on Reddit's famous WallStreetBets page in the last 24 hours, behind only crypto firms MicroStrategy, Nvidia, Tesla, Palantir and SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust). Quantitatively. RCAT's popularity on WSB has increased by more than 1,625% in the last 24 hours, the company said.
Donald Trump Jr.-related Unusual machines was another big winner on Monday, rising about 16%. Kratos defense and security solutions about 5% added. Air environment increased by 8%.
News of the partnership comes as recent sightings across the North East have reignited interest in the sector while stoking national security concerns. FBI officials said Thursday there is “no evidence” that the drones threaten “national security and public safety.” Officials also said Saturday that many of the sightings involved “manned aircraft that were misidentified as drones.”
Many on Wall Street view the new White House administration as a potential boon that could boost funding for the sector and U.S.-made drones. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spoken positively about drone technology and is poised to play an influential role in President-elect Donald Trump's White House.
“On the drone protection side, federal government drone defense technologies are increasingly being used by local and state law enforcement to protect stadiums, airports, prisons and other public facilities,” William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma said in a note to clients. “This will likely lead to an increase in local and state government investment in drone defense over the next decade.”
Investors are now also seeing ties to the sector through Trump Jr.'s connection to Unusual Machines as another potential tailwind for the industry. The president-elect's eldest son joined the company's advisory board in November.
Congress has also shown interest in this sector. The National Defense Act recently passed in the House of Representatives is also attracting interest. If the bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law, China-based DJI would be banned from selling new drones to the United States
—CNBC's Yun Li contributed reporting.