Wall Street banks are sky-high about SpaceX, but investors remain
cautious
[July 08, 2026] By
DAMIAN J. TROISE
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street banks have high hopes for SpaceX but at the
moment shares of Elon Musk's rocket market appear to be earthbound.
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 $150 per share, 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 a 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.
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 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. It's more ambitious goals include establishing a colony on
Mars.
For now, Starship is still in the test phase and no technology
exists to put data centers in space or send people to Mars. Wall
Street analysts acknowledge that a delay or failure to establish a
steady schedule of launches for Starship is a risk that could
torpedo their forecasts.
SpaceX ended its first day on Wall Street in June with a market
value of more than $2 trillion and is still sitting around that
level. That made Musk the world's first trillionaire, though his net
worth has since fallen back below $1 trillion, according to Forbes.
A few banks on Wall Street are more cautious about the company's
prospects. Equity research firm MoffettNathanson said it sees the
potential, but has given the company a more “neutral” rating and
sees the stock eventually sitting at $131 per share. The concerns
are over many of the unknowns related to regulatory issues,
technology and demand.
“It is, in short, a bet on any and all things made possible by a
virtual lock on rocket manufacturing and launch," MoffettNathanson
said in a report.
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