--- title: "SpaceX Market Capitalization Has Evaporated by $1 Trillion" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/293084912.md" description: "Just weeks after its listing, SpaceX's market capitalization has evaporated by over $1 trillion from its peak, with its share price falling below the $135 issue price. Engine failures in its flagship Starship rocket triggered a sell-off, accelerating the fade of optimistic sentiment. Although more than 80% of Wall Street analysts maintain a buy rating, with an average target price 90% higher than current levels, pressure from the end of lock-up periods and controversies over high valuations continue to intensify" datetime: "2026-07-18T02:25:55.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/293084912.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293084912.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/293084912.md) --- # SpaceX Market Capitalization Has Evaporated by $1 Trillion SpaceX shares have continued to decline, erasing over $1 trillion in market capitalization from their post-listing peak. The rocket and artificial intelligence giant founded by Elon Musk is now facing its most severe valuation test since going public. On Friday, SpaceX shares fell 5.4% to close at $123.99 per share, bringing its total market capitalization down to $1.63 trillion. On June 16, the company’s third trading day, its market cap had briefly reached as high as $2.64 trillion. **The direct trigger for this decline was the aborted launch mission of the company’s flagship Starship rocket due to engine failure.** The sustained drop in share price has pushed SpaceX below its IPO issue price of $135. Joe Gilbert, portfolio manager at Integrity Asset Management, stated, "**The timing of the launch failure is not ideal for the company’s narrative, but failure is an inherent risk within that narrative.** Investors are reducing positions and reassessing valuations; optimistic sentiment is slowly fading, simultaneously compressing previously elevated valuation multiples." ## Starship Engine Failure Triggers Sell-Off On Thursday, SpaceX aborted the launch mission after some engines on the Starship rocket failed to ignite. Musk subsequently stated on the X platform that the company would replace two Raptor engines, with the next launch attempt potentially delayed until early next week. SpaceX indicated it would attempt another launch. In a report to clients on Friday, Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale noted that even with delays, if the launch succeeds next week, the interval between the two Starship flights would shrink from the previous 221 days to less than 60 days. Gesuale initiated coverage of SpaceX on July 7 with a "Strong Buy" rating and a target price of $800—the highest on Wall Street—representing approximately 545% upside from Friday’s closing price. Gesuale also emphasized that "such anomalies will persist alongside Starship’s aggressive R&D process—this is the inevitable cost of breaking through barriers in reusability, payload capacity, and accelerating deployments for Starlink V3 and future NASA Artemis missions." ## Starship Is the Core Pillar of SpaceX’s Business Empire The strategic significance of Starship to SpaceX cannot be underestimated. According to the IPO prospectus released by the company in June, SpaceX has invested over $15 billion in Starship development. The rocket is the core vehicle for the company’s advancement of space data center construction, expansion of the Starlink satellite communication network, and ultimately achieving manned moon landings and Mars missions. Clear Street analyst Greg Pendy pointed out, "**Any substantial progress delays will directly impact the scale expansion of Starlink and direct-to-cell services, as lower launch costs are crucial for accelerating satellite deployment.**" RBC analysts Ken Herbert and Jonathan Atkin believe that the cost savings brought by Starship will be a key catalyst for unlocking SpaceX’s ambitions—including the so-called "orbital computing" business—but they also warned that the pace of reusable launches is "critical." The two analysts wrote in their report, "We understand that the path to de-risking is non-linear, and we believe investors may also be forced to accept this non-linear pace." ## Wall Street Generally Maintains a Bullish Stance Despite the recent sell-off, Wall Street’s overall attitude toward SpaceX remains bullish. According to Bloomberg tracking, over 80% of analysts have assigned a buy or equivalent rating to the stock, with an average target price of $235.34, implying approximately 90% upside from current levels. However, structural pressures exist in the market. SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100 index earlier this month, and lock-up periods for insider holdings will expire sequentially over the coming months, gradually releasing shares into the market. Mark Malek, Chief Investment Officer at Siebert Financial, stated, "Considering the upcoming expiration of lock-up periods, many investors may have already reassessed their initial investment thesis, while potential buyers who were previously on the sidelines are waiting for a lower entry point—as valuations gradually return to reasonable ranges, the probability of such opportunities emerging is quite high." According to The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX is negotiating the sale of computing power to the U.S. Department of Defense, news which caused a brief rebound in the stock price. The company has signed similar agreements with Alphabet’s Google and Anthropic PBC. The continued decline in SpaceX’s share price poses a potential threat to the current IPO boom related to artificial intelligence. AI is a significant component of the core narrative of SpaceX’s IPO—the company positions space data centers as a strategic fulcrum to capture a potential market valued at approximately $26.5 trillion. This record-breaking IPO once generated substantial profits for major Wall Street investment banks, pushing equity underwriting revenues to their highest quarterly level since 2021. Now, as SpaceX’s share price falls below its issue price, market doubts about whether high-valuation technology companies can sustain strong performance after listing are deepening. ### Related Stocks - [SPCX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCX.US.md) - [SPCH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCH.US.md) - [SPCF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCF.US.md) - [SPAL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPAL.US.md) - [SNK.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SNK.US.md) - [SSPC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SSPC.US.md) - [SPCU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCU.US.md) - [LOFF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/LOFF.US.md) - [.NDX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/.NDX.US.md) - [GOOGL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GOOGL.US.md) - [GOOG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GOOG.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [SpaceX Stock Falls To Record Low, But One Analyst Sees it Hitting $800](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293150803.md) - ['Buy' SpaceX Stock as Its AI Opportunity Is 'Virtually for Free,' Says Top Analyst](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293480358.md) - [Douglas Harned Reaffirms Outperform on SPCX, Sets $239 Target on Starship’s Transformative Long-Term Growth Potential](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293053533.md) - [SpaceX pauses Starship launch after engine failure](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293058245.md) - [EchoStar's stock has fallen alongside SpaceX's - but it may now be worth another look](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293059035.md)