SpaceX D2C Aggression Triggers Piper Sandler Downgrade and Target Cut for AST SpaceMobile

Piper Sandler downgraded AST SpaceMobile from Overweight to Neutral and slashed its price target from $98.00 to $54.00, citing mounting competitive pressure from SpaceX's direct-to-cell initiatives. The downgrade was catalyzed by SpaceX committing approximately $8 billion to acquire mobile spectrum, raising concerns over potential launch bottlenecks and diminished pricing power for AST SpaceMobile across 2026 and 2027. AST SpaceMobile shares declined over 6.6% after dropping roughly 5% in premarket trading, while SpaceX traded down 2.31% amid sector-wide attention.