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Morgan Stanley updated its view on the company this week, setting a price target of $300. This is the highest forecast among major analysts and sits well above the current trading price of about $155.
While other analysts have also nudged their targets higher this month, this call is a significant show of confidence in the company's ability to grow its Starlink satellite internet business. It suggests the firm sees a path for the company to nearly double its value as it moves toward using its larger Starship rocket to expand its network.
Valor Equity Partners, a venture capital firm led by board member Antonio Gracias, is giving a chunk of its SpaceX stock directly to its investors. This is a common move for private investment firms that have held a stake for a long time and want to give their partners a way to either hold the shares themselves or sell them.
While this does not change how the company is run, it can sometimes lead to more shares being sold if those investors decide to cash out. Since SpaceX is still a private company, these transfers are often a way to provide some liquidity to early backers who have seen the value of their investment grow over many years.
SpaceX announced it will attempt the 14th test flight of its Starship mega-rocket on September 22. This mission marks the first time the company will try to reach Earth's orbit with the upper stage of the vehicle, a critical step toward making the rocket fully operational.
Starship is central to the company's future because it is designed to carry much larger loads at a lower cost than any current rocket. Reaching orbit is the final major technical hurdle before the company can use the rocket to launch its next generation of Starlink satellites, which are necessary to grow its high-margin internet business.
SpaceX has secured its first customer for Starfall, a new business line focused on bringing cargo and manufactured goods back from orbit. Space Cargo, a European mission integrator, signed on to use the service to return payloads to Earth.
While SpaceX is already the leader in launching things into space, the ability to reliably bring them back opens a new market for space-based manufacturing. This deal shows that the company is successfully finding ways to earn more revenue from its existing rocket flights by selling the return trip, which was previously an untapped part of its business model.
Source: Reuters
Pivotal Research set its price target for SpaceX at $220. This is higher than the average analyst target of $208 and suggests the firm sees significant room for the stock to rise from its current level of about $148. While Oppenheimer also raised its target recently, the broader group of analysts remains optimistic about the company's ability to grow its satellite internet business. These targets reflect a belief that the company can successfully transition from a rocket launcher to a high-margin service provider.
Source: Pivotal Research
The company has only reported once since its debut, but that single beat suggests management is setting a bar they can comfortably clear while the business is still scaling up.