Business
SpaceX Stock Steadies Near $153 as $25 Billion Bond Sale Draws Record $89 Billion From Investors Worldwide
Shares of SpaceX closed essentially flat Friday at $153.23, up 0.15%, before slipping slightly to $152.77 in after-hours trading, as the newly public rocket and satellite company found a measure of stability following a punishing two-week stretch that had erased much of its post-IPO gains.
The modest move caps a volatile first month on public markets for Elon Musk’s space and artificial intelligence venture, one that has included a record-setting debut, a sharp multi-day selloff, and, this week, a massive bond offering that investors say has removed one of the central risks weighing on the stock.
A debut for the history books, followed by a steep pullback
SpaceX completed the largest initial public offering in history on June 12, pricing shares at $135 and raising roughly $75 billion at an initial valuation approaching $1.8 trillion. The stock surged 19% on its first day of trading, closing at $160.95, and continued climbing in the sessions that followed, briefly pushing the company’s market capitalization above both Amazon and Microsoft before settling back below both.
Shares reached an all-time intraday high of $225.64 on June 16, but the rally proved short-lived. SpaceX stock fell 16% the following Monday alone, extending a selloff that saw shares tumble across three full trading sessions, with the stock losing nearly 24% over that stretch before bottoming out at $147.11 on June 23 — briefly dipping below its $150 opening-day price.
What was driving the decline
Much of the pressure tracing through SpaceX’s stock in recent weeks centered on a looming debt deadline tied to the company’s financing structure. According to market analysis, the September 2027 deadline on a $20 billion bridge loan was the key hard deadline that drove most of the price decline from $225 to $147.11, as investors grew increasingly focused on how the company intended to refinance that obligation.
Beyond the bridge loan, investors have also flagged broader concerns about SpaceX’s financial profile as a newly public company. The company posted a $4.9 billion net loss in 2025, and lost an additional $4.28 billion in the first quarter of this year alone, even as its core businesses continued growing rapidly.
A bond sale that reshaped sentiment
The turning point for the stock came this week, when SpaceX moved to address the bridge loan concern directly. The company priced its first $25 billion bond offering across five separate tranches, with coupon rates ranging from 5.350% to 6.650% for maturities stretching from 2031 to 2056.
The response from institutional investors was overwhelming. The bond offering drew $89 billion in demand, representing roughly 3.5 times oversubscription and what market analysts described as one of the largest investment-grade order books in history. SpaceX confirmed it would use the proceeds of the offering, which settled June 26, to pay off the outstanding bridge loan entirely — directly eliminating the maturity risk that had been most responsible for the stock’s slide from its June 16 peak.
Market analysts framed the divergence between the bond market’s enthusiasm and the equity market’s caution as telling. One analysis described the dynamic as a divergence between bearish equity sentiment and bullish institutional credit demand, suggesting the stock’s earlier selloff was more sentiment-driven than tied to a genuine deterioration in SpaceX’s underlying creditworthiness.
A new contract win adds to the week’s headlines
SpaceX also received a boost from a previously unrelated business line this week. The company was named among the winning bidders, alongside Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, in a Federal Communications Commission wireless spectrum auction, adding another data point to the company’s expanding footprint across the broader telecommunications and connectivity landscape that includes its Starlink satellite broadband business.
Where analysts stand on the stock now
Wall Street’s outlook on SpaceX remains notably divided even after this week’s developments. The average 12-month price target across analysts covering the stock sits at $187.80, with estimates ranging from a low of $62 to a high of $310 — an unusually wide spread that reflects just how much uncertainty remains around how to value a company straddling rocket launches, satellite broadband and artificial intelligence under one roof.
Some firms have struck a cautious tone even as the bridge loan concern has been resolved. Susquehanna maintained a Neutral rating on the stock with a price target of $170, implying modest upside from Friday’s closing level, while Argus initiated coverage of the company with a Hold rating this week. Other risks cited by analysts following the stock include ongoing operating losses tied to SpaceX’s xAI artificial intelligence division, a cautious free-cash-flow outlook through 2029 from S&P, a stock lockup period set to expire in December 2026, and a notably bearish fair-value estimate from Morningstar pegged at $62 per share — far below where the stock currently trades.
The business fundamentals behind the stock
Beneath the volatility, SpaceX’s underlying revenue growth has remained robust. According to the company’s IPO prospectus, Starlink accounted for roughly 61% of total revenue in 2025, generating $11.4 billion, up about 50% from the prior year, with active customers surpassing 10.3 million across 160 countries and markets as of the end of the first quarter. Total company revenue grew to $18.67 billion in 2025, with adjusted EBITDA of $6.58 billion, even as the company posted a GAAP net loss of nearly $5 billion for the year tied to heavy investment in newer business lines, including Starship development and its AI operations.
SpaceX is scheduled to join the Nasdaq 100 index on July 7, a milestone expected to trigger an estimated $4.3 billion in passive index-fund inflows as funds tracking the benchmark are required to add the stock to their holdings. With the bridge loan risk now resolved and the stock trading well off both its post-IPO highs and its 52-week low, investors are likely to watch closely whether that added index demand, combined with continued growth in Starlink subscriptions, can stabilize a stock that has spent its first six weeks as a public company swinging between record-setting enthusiasm and sharp, sentiment-driven retreats.
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