SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell and executives ring the Opening Bell on Nasdaq on June 12, 2026.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
SpaceX Shares jumped in retail trading on Monday following their record debut last week on the Nasdaq, which marked the first-ever large public offering.
SpaceX shares were up 6% in early market trading, hovering around the $170 mark.
SpaceX jumped 19% on Friday and the stock closed at $161 after being priced at $135 per share. That puts the company’s market capitalization at more than $2 trillion.
Elon Musk’s space company operates the Starlink satellite internet service and an array of reusable rockets. In February, Musk merged the company with his artificial intelligence startup xAI. SpaceX is set to lose nearly $5 billion by 2025 and its blockbuster IPO has sparked debate about whether the company’s huge valuation is worth it.
Measurement is an important factor
CFRA on Friday initiated coverage of the stock with a “sell” rating and a 12-month price target of $115, a downside of about 29% from Friday’s closing price. CFRA said its view is “due to the company’s ambitious growth strategy, high valuation expectations, and strong cash flow.”
SpaceX’s capital expenditures in the three months ended March reached $10.1 billion compared to $4.1 billion in the same period last year. Most of that focused on artificial intelligence.
Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens issued a note on June 8, in which he said the company valued SpaceX at $63 per share, and described the stock as “overvalued.”
Paulina Roszkowska, who teaches finance at Bayes Business School, told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” that SpaceX has made “a lot of promises,” but at some point that will need to turn into money.
“Outside [from] those phrases about data centers in orbit, which are high promises, if you ask for a donation of 70, 80 billion, I think you owe investors a little more than poetry, “says Roszkowska.
The IPO prospectus does not contain information about governance or execution risk, he said. “So I wonder where these promises are based,” said Roszkowska.
However, some analysts are more bullish on the stock. NewStreet Research initiated coverage on SpaceX with a $165 target price.
“You can look [at] this business, let’s say, longer than you could do over multiple shares to account for yourself to get to the current ratio? We think you can,” James Ratzer, partner and senior analyst at NewStreet Research, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.
“But we think you have to look at a 20- to 25-year time frame. I think a lot of the building blocks are there for it to be successful, but the equity issue is more long-term.”
Ratzer said SpaceX has “at least a 10-year lead” on its competitors when it comes to its rocket launch capabilities.
“If you look at SpaceX and drive what it takes to succeed in Starlink in direct-to-cell…
Starship is SpaceX’s latest generation launch vehicle. Orbital data centers refer to SpaceX’s plans to build AI space data centers.
“We think, for example, in the next four to five years, he [Musk] we’ll still have 90 to 95% of all the power to launch what’s going on in space,” Ratzer said.
