Wall Street banks have high hopes for SpaceX but at the moment shares of Elon Musk's rocket market appear to be earthbound. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Many of the investment firms that underwrote SpaceX's initial public offering issued their first research notes about the company Tuesday, and almost all recommended that investors buy the stock and forecast it to trade above $200 in the next 12 to 18 months.
But after topping $200 in its first week of trading, the stock is trading around $152 per share, just above where it opened on June 12, its IPO day. Investors may be looking cautiously at the same factors that have Wall Street so enthusiastic about the stock.
Analysts are focused on SpaceX's potential to lead the market for space transportation and infrastructure. The company's reusable rockets allow it to transport people and cargo into Earth's orbit and it is aiming for deeper exploration of the solar system. Most of the company's revenue currently comes from its Starlink satellites, and AI innovations are expected to advance that technology.
"SpaceX's ambitions, and potential impact on humanity, are bigger than any company's we've ever seen," said analysts from J.P. Morgan, in a research report.
The bank expects the stock price to reach $225 by the end of 2027. It cited the company's competitive advantage in space transportation, with about 670 orbital launches and a nearly 99% success rate with its Falcon rockets. Most payloads launched into orbit since 2023 were through SpaceX.
The company has dominated the reusable space rocket market with its Falcon 9, but its gigantic Starship rocket is the key to launching bigger pieces of cargo, including data centers.
Investment bank Raymond James is by far the most optimistic. Its analysts expect the stock to eventually reach $800 per share and consider SpaceX a key industrial company for the 21st century.
"Just as railroads, electric grids, and the Internet reshaped prior economic eras, we believe SpaceX is building the foundational platform for the next generation of industrial capacity," the analysts wrote in a research report.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk decided to take the company public because it needs money to fund its ambitions, including putting more satellites and eventually data centers into space. Its more ambitious goals include establishing a colony on Mars.
For now, Starship is still in the test phase and no technology is ready.
