Here are the best stocks to buy to get in on the space race

Published Tue, Feb 18 20201:42 PM EST

Michael Sheetz @in/michaeljsheetz @thesheetztweetz

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Space is increasingly becoming a place of business – ranging from communications, data and soon even tourism – and there are a few ways you can invest right now. Investor interest in the space industry has grown rapidly and private investment in space companies is at an all-time high. But the number of publicly-traded names remains relatively low compared to other industries its size. Additionally, several of the companies that bring in the most revenue from space are aerospace and defense giants like Boeing or Northrop Grumman , with a minority of each companies' total revenue coming from its space unit. To help investors, here are three ways to get exposure to space, based on Wall Street's consensus view: The top pure-play stock, the top derivative stock and the top risky stock. Top pure play: Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic 's stock has received three ratings – Morgan Stanley , Credit Suisse and Vertical Research Partners – since its public debut late last year and all three firms recommend buying the stock. While each firm notes that Virgin Galactic shares have a biotech-like risk, where a fatality could make the stock essentially worthless, Wall Street's consensus so far is that the space tourism company is a solid addition to one's portfolio. Morgan Stanley in a note recently addressed Virgin Galactic's blistering recent rally . The stock closed at an all-time high of $28.68 on Friday, having tripled in the past three months, and well above Morgan Stanley's previously bullish $22 target. It was up another 11% on Tuesday . Despite that, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said his "core thesis has not changed." "Virgin Galactic occupies extremely scarce real estate in the publicly traded space economy," Jonas said. He sees the company as having much greater potential value in the future if it can successfully use what it learns from flying space tourists to build a hypersonic commercial travel business. Jonas estimated "that true commercialization of a hypersonic transport service would take the better part of 1 to 2 decades on our current assumptions." But even with Virgin Galactic's stock at record highs already, Jonas said the first half of this year "should feature a number of important catalysts." The company relocated its first spacecraft from its development facility in California to its spaceport in New Mexico. Now Virgin Galactic will conduct final test flights before later this year flying founder Sir Richard Branson. Relocation tweet Jonas added that, beyond certifications and milestones, Morgan Stanley believes Virgin Galactic will open its physical doors to more investors soon. "We also expect the company to begin hosting investor visits at its facilities in California and New Mexico through the second quarter of this year," Jonas said. Virgin Galactic told CNBC that it has hosted such investor visits already and plans to continue to do so. Top derivative: Lockheed Martin There are a number of large aerospace companies that have derivative exposure to space but none have had a better past year than Lockheed Martin . Shares of Lockheed are up 43% in the past year and Wall Street continues to widely recommend the stock. Lockheed Martin has 10 buy ratings and five hold ratings, with no analysts recommending investors sell the company's stock according to TipRanks. Lockheed Martin's space unit brought in $10.9 billion last year, with nearly 11% growth compared to the previous year. It has several business lines performing well, from the Orion spacecraft its building for NASA to the satellites it builds for the U.S. Air Force and others. Additionally, Lockheed Martin owns 50% of United Launch Alliance (or ULA), a rocket building joint venture alongside Boeing that competes with SpaceX for lucrative launch contracts. Before the arrival of SpaceX as a challenger, ULA was the sole provider of U.S. Air Force launches for several years. Top risky play: Intelsat Intelsat has had a volatile year, down 86% in the past 12 months, and carries with it about $14 billion of debt – many times its market value of about $500 million. The company's most valuable asset is its ownership of spectrum, a valuable telecommunications asset that the Federal Communications Commission wants to re-appropriate to use for 5G networks in the U.S. Intelsat had a market value of about $1.8 billion before Nov. 11, when FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that his agency "must free up significant spectrum" for 5G and unveiled a plan that would likely see Intelsat get much less compensation than previously expected for giving up its spectrum rights. The stock has traded wildly up and down since then, as negotiations between the FCC and satellite operators have continued. Most recently, the FCC on Feb. 6 unveiled a plan that would see satellite operators receive as much as $14.7 billion to cover the loss of spectrum. After the FCC's proposal, analysts at JP Morgan, Raymond James and New Street Research all downgraded Intesat's stock. Currently Intelsat has five hold recommendations, alongside one sell rating and one buy rating, according to TipRanks. To be sure, this name is not for the faint of heart and carries a lot of risk for individual investors. Other space names Maxar Technologies is a space stock in the middle of a turnaround strategy. After falling as low as $4 a share in March of last year, Maxar's stock has begun to turn around. It's more than tripled in the past year and has climbed to about $20 a share. Essentially four space companies in one, Maxar Technologies has businesses that include space robotics, national security satellite imagery and communications. Aerojet Rocketdyne is another space company whose stock has outperformed the market recently, climbing 40% in the past 12 months. Aerojet Rocketdyne focuses on propulsion systems for a variety of military and commercial rockets and spacecraft. The company is also set to be one of the primary beneficiaries of NASA's latest budget request , thanks to $12.37 billion being allocated for the agency's lunar campaign. Iridium Communications is often heralded as one of the space industry's best turnaround stories, as the company recovered from bankruptcy over a decade ago to complete its $3 billion Iridium NEXT network of satellites this past year. Iridium shares are up 48% in the past 12 months and has partnered with Amazon's AWS to develop a satellite-based network called CloudConnect for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. For more, read CNBC's guide to investing in space companies published in November.

Virgin Galactic's spacecraft Unity reaches space for the first time.

Source: Virgin Galactic

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Space is increasingly becoming a place of business – ranging from communications, data and soon even tourism – and there are a few ways you can invest right now.

Investor interest in the space industry has grown rapidly and private investment in space companies is at an all-time high. But the number of publicly-traded names remains relatively low compared to other industries its size. Additionally, several of the companies that bring in the most revenue from space are aerospace and defense giants like Boeing or Northrop Grumman, with a minority of each companies' total revenue coming from its space unit.

To help investors, here are three ways to get exposure to space, based on Wall Street's consensus view: The top pure-play stock, the top derivative stock and the top risky stock.