NEW YORK (Realist English). On June 16, shares of SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, surged more than 8%, pushing the company’s market capitalization above that of Amazon and making it the world’s fifth most valuable public company.
The rally came less than a week after SpaceX’s record-breaking initial public offering (IPO), the largest in history. Since the offering price of $135 per share, the stock has soared more than 54% to $209.30.
SpaceX’s market capitalization is now estimated at approximately $2.75 trillion, surpassing Amazon’s $2.65 trillion.
Briefly overtakes Microsoft
At Tuesday’s peak, SpaceX’s market cap reached approximately $2.94 trillion, briefly overtaking Microsoft ($2.92 trillion) to become the world’s fourth most valuable company. However, shares then corrected, and SpaceX settled into fifth place, behind Microsoft.
Ahead of SpaceX are Nvidia (market cap exceeding $5 trillion), Alphabet ($4.51 trillion), Apple ($4.37 trillion), and Microsoft.
Cursor for $60 billion: bet on artificial intelligence
The catalyst for the rally was SpaceX’s announcement that it would acquire Anysphere, the developer of the popular AI coding tool Cursor. The all-stock deal is valued at $60 billion. Cursor is used by 64% of Fortune 500 companies.
Earlier this year, SpaceX had already merged with Musk’s AI company xAI. The acquisition of Cursor strengthens xAI’s position, which had lagged behind OpenAI and Anthropic in the AI coding market.
Notably, SpaceX itself posted revenue of $18.67 billion last year with a net loss of $4.94 billion following the merger with money-losing xAI.
Record demand and index inclusion
Trading activity around SpaceX shares reached unprecedented levels: by the morning of June 16, trading volume exceeded $9.1 billion, several times the combined volume of Nvidia, Microsoft, Tesla and Apple. According to Vanda Research, on Monday, SpaceX accounted for nearly three-quarters of all retail purchases of individual stocks.
SpaceX shares (ticker: SPCX) will be added to the FTSE Russell and MSCI indices on June 26 and 29, respectively, as well as to the Nasdaq 100. This will create additional demand from passive funds.
Analyst ratings: from ‘buy’ to ‘sell’
Expert opinions are divided. Broker Zephirin Group initiated coverage with a “buy” rating, citing a combination of passive flows, momentum, and a limited free float.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives believes investors are looking beyond short-term profits and see SpaceX as “the next phase of the industrial and AI revolution.”
However, Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said: “This valuation makes absolutely no sense today. People are buying SpaceX in the hope that others will buy and push the price higher — that’s speculation.” CFRA initiated a “sell” rating with a $115 price target, citing ambitious growth assumptions and a capital-intensive business model.
Musk becomes a trillionaire
The surge in SpaceX shares added $119.1 billion to Musk’s net worth, which is now estimated at approximately $1.4 trillion. This makes him the world’s first trillionaire.
Musk himself said over the weekend that SpaceX “could potentially achieve” roughly $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030.
