Key Highlights

● SPCX shares rose 0.52% to $163.42 in Monday’s session on 67.12 million shares, about $10.97 billion in dollar turnover and fifth among US stocks.

● Pivotal Research Group raised its price target to $230 from $220 after SpaceX’s October 8 announcement that it would acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum portfolio.

● Second-quarter revenue rose 92% to $7.81 billion, with a net loss of $541 million and capital expenditures of $18.37 billion.

● SpaceX went public on Nasdaq at $135 a share on June 11, 2026, in the largest IPO on record.

What kept Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) near the top of the market’s activity rankings on Monday was not a big price move but the aftermath of one of the most talked-about deals of the fall. SpaceX shares rose 0.52% to $163.42 on volume of 67.12 million shares, enough for roughly $10.97 billion in dollar turnover and fifth place on the list of the most active US stocks by price times volume. The day’s main catalyst was an analyst upgrade to a price target. Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak, who rates the stock Buy, raised his target to $230 from $220, and the shares were up about 1% in morning trading.

The upgrade followed the company’s late-Thursday announcement on October 8 that it would acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum portfolio, a move that would let Starlink operate as a standalone U.S. cellular network rather than only as a direct-to-cell add-on for existing carriers. The seller was reported as Grain Management and the price at about $8 billion, subject to Federal Communications Commission approval, though the parties had not confirmed that figure. Starlink said on October 9 that it was adding up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band, and Elon Musk called it “the final piece for complete U.S. phone coverage.”

Context matters for reading Monday’s tape. Relative volume was 0.73, meaning turnover was below the stock’s recent average. SpaceX ranks high on dollar-volume lists partly because it is so large; at a $2.22 trillion market capitalization, even an ordinary session moves billions of dollars. Monday looked like consolidation after Friday’s sharper reaction.

A Telecom Shock, Then a Partial Rebound

The bigger fireworks came on Friday, October 9. SpaceX was up 4% at $166.89 in morning trading, while Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) each fell about 7%. SpaceX closed Friday at $162.57, up 1.25%, so much of the early gain faded by the bell. T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) fell 13.27%, a drop tied to the spectrum deal. Telecom stocks abroad, including BT Group, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom, also declined.

By Monday afternoon, some of that fear had eased. T-Mobile was up 3% at $152.65, recovering part of a record single-day drop, Verizon up 2% at $42.43 and AT&T up 0.8% at $22.36. SpaceX was up 0.7% at $163.73 while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF slipped 0.1%. The rebound points to the open question of when Starlink actually launches a consumer phone plan. Regulatory filings for a consumer wireless service are the key item to watch.

What the Company Does

SpaceX runs three businesses. Its Space segment includes launch services and the Starship program. Its Connectivity segment is Starlink, the satellite internet service that has become the company’s financial engine. Its AI segment, which includes xAI, sells computing capacity and runs large data-center operations. According to the IPO filing, Starlink was the only profitable segment in 2025, with $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in profit.

SpaceX went public on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, pricing at $135 a share on June 11, 2026, and trading began on June 12. The offering sold 638.9 million Class A shares including the overallotment, for $85.7 billion in net proceeds, the largest IPO on record. The valuation was $1.77 trillion at the offering price. Musk controls about 82% of the voting power through Class B shares carrying ten votes each. American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) recently expanded Starlink to its mainline fleet of more than 1,000 aircraft.

Latest Results and Balance Sheet

The most recent quarterly report, for the second quarter, showed revenue of $7.81 billion, up 92% from a year earlier and above the $6.8 billion consensus. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.54 billion, but the company still posted a net loss of $541 million. Starlink connectivity revenue rose 66% to $4.29 billion, with 12 million users, up from 10.3 million at the end of the first quarter. AI revenue was $2.56 billion.

Spending is the other side of the ledger. Capital expenditures were $18.37 billion in the quarter, including $15.83 billion for AI, and the company ended June with about $100 billion in cash and securities and a $47.5 billion backlog. SpaceX sold $25 billion of investment-grade bonds in June. Press reports say it is now seeking about $40 billion more to buy Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips. As of October 11, SpaceX had not set a date for third-quarter results.

Valuation and Index Status

At the IPO price, the valuation was about 67 times trailing sales. The stock shows no P/E ratio, consistent with the company’s net losses. Analyst targets vary widely. Pivotal now sits at $230. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)’s Adam Jonas holds a $300 target, Barclays (NYSE:BCS) has $254 and William Blair reiterated an Outperform rating. Among the underwriting banks’ initial targets, Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) was highest at $800, Stifel (NYSE:SF) lowest at $190 and the median was $225.

On indexes, Nasdaq confirmed SpaceX would join the Nasdaq-100 on July 7, and the stock joined the Russell 1000 in late June after FTSE Russell relaxed its rules for large new listings. It is not in the S&P 500, which requires positive earnings and a longer trading history. It is also not in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Bull Case versus Bear Case

Bulls argue that Starlink is building a wireless business at a fraction of the usual cost. Pivotal estimates a nationwide network built this way could cost about $10 billion excluding spectrum, compared with $50 billion to $100 billion for a conventional tower-based system. It also expects Starlink Mobile to start signing up subscribers in late 2027 or 2028, turn EBITDA positive in 2030 and reach 13% of the U.S. wireless market by 2036. Bears point to the price already paid for that future, the continuing net losses, heavy AI capital spending financed partly with debt, and the argument that the selloff priced in a competitor that has not yet launched a consumer plan. A large supply of shares also remains, with staggered lock-up expirations since August, while Musk’s shares stay locked until June 2027.

SpaceX’s Next Milestones: FCC Review and Financing

The next milestones are FCC review of the spectrum purchase, any filing for a consumer wireless service, the financing terms of the reported $40 billion chip purchase and the date of third-quarter results. Jonas pointed to Starship Flight 15, scheduled for November 8, which will attempt to catch the returning spacecraft with mechanical arms. The stock remains below its October 6 intraday high near $176.