Shares of SpaceX jumped in pre-market trading on Monday, following its record-breaking debut last week on the Nasdaq stock exchange, in an initial public offering described as the largest in history.

The company's shares rose by about 6 percent in early trading, trading near the $170 level.

SpaceX shares jumped 19 percent on Friday to close at $161 after being priced at $135 a share, raising the company's market capitalization to more than $2 trillion.

Company activity and investments

Elon Musk's space company operates the Starlink satellite internet service, as well as a fleet of reusable rockets.

In February, Musk merged the company with his artificial intelligence startup, xAI.

Despite this momentum, SpaceX incurred losses of nearly $5 billion in 2025, sparking widespread debate about whether the company deserved its huge post-IPO valuation.

Concerns about the high rating

CFRA launched its coverage of the stock with a sell recommendation, setting a 12-month price target of $115, which is about 29 percent lower than the last closing price, according to CNBC.

The company attributed its position to:

  • Exaggerated growth ambitions
  • High valuation expectations
  • Large capital investment volume

Increased capital spending

SpaceX's capital expenditures for the three months ending in March totaled approximately $10.1 billion, compared to $4.1 billion in the same period last year.

The majority of these investments went into the field of artificial intelligence.

Negative opinions from analysts

Morningstar analyst Nicholas Owens valued SpaceX stock at just $63, describing the stock as overvalued, according to CNBC.

For her part, Polina Roszkowska, a finance lecturer at Bayes Business School, told CNBC that the company had made many promises, but at some point it would need to turn them into actual cash flows.

She added: “Aside from talking about data centers in orbit, which are big promises, if you are asking for billions of dollars in contributions, you owe investors more than just empty rhetoric.”

She also pointed out that the prospectus lacked sufficient details about governance or implementation risks, questioning the basis on which these promises were made.

Optimistic long-term views

In contrast, other analysts adopted a more positive outlook, with NewStreet Research initiating coverage of the stock with a target price of $165.

James Ratzer, partner and senior analyst at the firm, said the stock's valuation could be justified if viewed in light of:

  • very long time range
  • Between 20 and 25 years old

He added: We believe many of the building blocks for success are in place, but this is more of a long-term investment story than most stocks.

Significant technological advantage

Ratzer noted that SpaceX has at least a 10-year advantage over its competitors in rocket launch capabilities.

He explained that the success of projects such as:

  • Starlink
  • Direct satellite communications
  • Orbital Data Centers

It depends to a large extent on superiority in launch operations.

Starship and the future of space dominance

The Starship is SpaceX's latest generation of launch vehicles, offering tremendous capability to transport larger masses into orbit.

Ratzer predicted that SpaceX would control between 90 percent and 95 percent of global rocket launch capacity within the next 4 to 5 years.

This gives it a huge competitive advantage in the space sector.

Summary

Despite the great enthusiasm surrounding SpaceX's launch and its strong stock rise, concerns remain about the high valuation and spending intensity, versus investors' bets on a long-term superiority that could reshape the global space economy.