Market
SpaceX shares soar 19% in stock market debut
Yahoo2026.06.12
STORY: The world's biggest ever IPO ended with Elon Musk's SpaceX gaining 19% in its debut session Friday, as investors piled into the rocket company, betting on its now-trillionaire CEO [beat] and the prospect of putting AI in space.Friday's debut gave SpaceX a valuation of more than $2 trillion, putting it in elite company with the likes of Nvidia and Apple... and making it more valuable than Musk's Tesla.The landmark listing also made Musk the first trillionaire ever. He loomed large over Times Square from the jumbo TV screen of the Nasdaq stock exchange... while a giant and unflattering inflatable depicting Musk was also on display with messages critical of SpaceX and Grok.Musk's rocket company began trading ahead of forthcoming IPOs for AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI which will further test market appetite for new entrants.Anna Rathbun, founder and CEO of Grenadilla Advisory says the company is benefitting from its connection to AI rather than its fundamentals.“So I think it's not so much about SpaceX, but just the excitement about AI and SpaceX as much the name has space in it, it's an AI company at the end of the day, right? So I think the excitement about AI is going to drive it. Whether or not it would be successful, we have to see.”At $75 billion, the deal's proceeds were more than double those of Saudi Aramco's record-setting 2019 IPO.Although SpaceX may have to wait for entry into the S&P 500, its expected fast-track inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 will soon make it a major holding for passive funds and ETFs that track the index, creating a fresh source of demand for its shares.Retail investors on Friday snapped up shares of SpaceX despite SpaceX posting a loss of nearly $5 billion last year and generating only a fraction of the revenue brought in by similarly valued tech giants.Still, several analysts have issued positive ratings on the stock. But Morningstar analysts this month said it is more fairly valued at around $780 billion, and CFRA on Friday started coverage with a sell rating.