A view of the Nasdaq MarketSite after SpaceX company executives rang the opening bell to celebrate the launch of SpaceX’s initial public offering (IPO) in New York on June 12, 2026.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
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TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has released its first quarterly report since going public, highlighting significant revenue growth and reduced losses, though it has not yet achieved profitability.
On Tuesday, the aerospace and artificial intelligence company reported revenues nearly doubling from the previous year to $7.8 billion, surpassing expectations. However, it reported a $541 million loss as it heavily invested in its Starlink satellite communication network, spacecraft development, and artificial intelligence.
The company invested $18.4 billion in capital expenditures during the quarter. On an earnings call, founder Elon Musk described the company as undertaking “very big things.”
Musk stated that SpaceX is launching more satellites into orbit than any other entity worldwide. The company’s satellite communications network is rapidly expanding its user base and could provide “a majority of the world’s internet” within a decade. Additionally, SpaceX is on the verge of deploying a heavy-lift rocket expected to transform space launches. Next year, the company plans to launch orbiting AI data centers.
“This is not some far future, distant thing,” Musk said regarding the space data centers. “The SpaceX team is solving some of the hardest engineering problems in the history of humanity, and I think the team is succeeding.”
Despite these advances, SpaceX’s share price has experienced volatility over the summer, with analysts suggesting it may worsen.
Initially, SpaceX’s shares soared following the launch of the world’s largest initial public offering. The company raised approximately $75 billion in an early June IPO. The shares started at $150 and reached a peak of $225.64 in mid-June, but closed at $125.33 on Tuesday, below the original offering price.
More than $1 trillion in market capitalization has vanished since the stock’s mid-June high. On Tuesday, SpaceX’s shares surged over 9% ahead of the earnings report but lost much of that gain in after-hours trading.
The stock’s fluctuations reflect a market both enthusiastic and apprehensive about companies with substantial artificial intelligence investments, and uncertain about valuing SpaceX, which could be the first of up to three AI giants considering “mega-IPOs” this year.
Further selling pressure may arise this week as the supply of publicly tradable shares is set to more than double with the expiration of a “lockup” on Thursday, which has restricted SpaceX employees and insiders from selling shares after the IPO.
This comes amid growing concerns about SpaceX’s valuation, given its ambitious plans but continued lack of profitability. In the first quarter, the company reported a net loss of nearly $4.3 billion.
SpaceX has ambitious future plans. Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire through the IPO, has aspirations to send people to the moon and Mars. Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk’s startup, to bolster its focus on artificial intelligence. The company is also developing a reusable heavy-lift rocket called Starship, although it faces development delays.
Cory Johnson, chief market strategist at Epistrophy Capital Research, remarked, “Maybe more than any IPO ever, the SpaceX IPO was about hopes and dreams and not the nuts and bolts of the business.”
Johnson noted that some of SpaceX’s revenue stems from renting out computing data centers, a move driven by the underperformance of its AI product, Grok, in a competitive AI market. While this revenue stream is helpful in the short term, he cautioned, “In the long term, that’s not as good a business as having a great large language model.”
Johnson attributed the initial rise in SpaceX’s stock price to retail investors excited about Musk’s vision and eager to own a part of the company.
“At a certain point, you have to decide whether you’re going to do business analysis or you’re going to break out the pompoms and root for companies. And I think that for Elon Musk, more than any CEO in recent memory, people pretend to do business analysis when what they’re doing is cheerleading,” Johnson said.
The post-IPO share price increase was also fueled by the fact that only about 5% of the total shares were “floated,” leading to a demand-supply imbalance. Additionally, several stock indexes, including the NASDAQ 100, relaxed rules on how soon new issues could be included, further boosting demand. (Other indexes require a waiting period of at least a year and profitability before inclusion.)
“I think this could be a period of market adjustment, of finding what is actually the right price for a share of SpaceX,” said Kathleen Curlee, senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
This could be challenging, however, as SpaceX’s AI efforts are “basically eating up” any profits generated by its satellite communications arm, Starlink, she added.
Curlee also expressed uncertainty about the viability of SpaceX’s AI products and whether data centers in space will prove functional or worthwhile, calling it “a risky bet.”
According to analysts, the performance of SpaceX following its IPO will likely be observed by other major AI companies contemplating their own public offerings, such as Anthropic and OpenAI.
Johnson observed that a small float can increase demand, but eventually, overvalued shares will decline, even for companies with ambitious plans in the AI sector.
