SpaceX Stock Rises 19% On First Nasdaq Trading Day After Record IPO
SpaceX shares closed up 19% on their first day of Nasdaq trading on Friday, June 12, 2026.[1] They began trading after a record IPO that sold more than 555 million shares at $135 and raised about $75 billion, implying a company valuation above $1.75 trillion.[2]
Shares opened roughly 11% above the $135 IPO price at the session start.[3] The stock trades under the ticker SPCX.[2] Elon Musk marked the offering by ringing a ceremonial Nasdaq opening bell from SpaceX's Starbase and reiterated the firm's goal to make life multi-planetary.[4] Analysts flagged wide disagreement over value; Morningstar's discounted cash flow put fair value near $780 billion and warned of execution and key-person risks.[2]
In December 2025, Elon Musk confirmed plans for a SpaceX IPO expected in mid-2026. The company selected banks in January and confidentially filed draft registration documents with the SEC in April. SpaceX publicly filed its S-1 on May 20 and accelerated a timetable that led to the June 12 listing.
Early coverage stressed valuation and loss concerns.[2] Reports noted SpaceX had accumulated $8.7 billion in losses between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026 and described the IPO as significantly overvalued.[4] Later pieces emphasized the market reception and the debut's nearly one-fifth gain as a major win for Musk and investors.[1] On Tuesday, June 16, SpaceX said it will buy AI coding assistant Cursor for $60 billion in stock, a deal expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.[5] Cursor had reached over $2 billion in annualized recurring revenue by February 2026 and was valued at about $29.3 billion after a November 2025 funding round.
The mainstream summary emphasizes the immediate market reaction to SpaceX's IPO, focusing on the 19% rise in stock price and the substantial capital raised. However, it downplays the concerns raised by analysts regarding the IPO's valuation, which Morningstar described as 'significantly overvalued' based on traditional discounted cash flow models. In contrast, Shawn Regan from City-Journal argues that the IPO should be viewed as a long-term investment in technological progress and human ingenuity rather than a short-term profit play. He contends that the strategic assets and future growth potential of SpaceX justify a higher valuation, despite current losses and governance risks. This perspective highlights a fundamental divergence in how the IPO is framed: as a speculative venture versus a calculated bet on future innovation and infrastructure development.
Additionally, while the mainstream account notes the significant losses SpaceX has incurred, it does not mention the strategic use of IPO proceeds aimed at expanding into AI and enhancing existing infrastructure, which Regan argues is crucial for understanding the true value proposition of the company. Furthermore, the mainstream summary omits the broader implications of the IPO for the space economy, as discussed by social media commentators who noted that it signals a maturation of the sector and provides retail investors with a stake in SpaceX's ambitious projects, including Starlink and Mars colonization. These insights suggest a more complex narrative surrounding the IPO than what is presented in the mainstream coverage.
Show source details & analysis (6 sources)
📊 Relevant Data
Cursor reached over $2 billion in annualized recurring revenue by February 2026 and was projected to exceed $6 billion by the end of 2026.
Sources: Cursor in talks to raise $2B+ at $50B valuation as enterprise growth surges — TechCrunch
Cursor was valued at $29.3 billion post-money after raising $2.3 billion in November 2025.
AI startup Cursor raises $2.3 billion funding round at $29.3 billion valuation — CNBC
📌 Key Facts
- On Friday, June 12, 2026, SpaceX’s newly listed stock began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX after a record IPO that sold more than 555 million shares at $135 and raised about $75 billion, implying a company valuation of over $1.75 trillion.
- On Friday, June 12, 2026, SpaceX shares opened roughly 11% above the $135 IPO price and closed their first Nasdaq session up 19% from the IPO price.
- Morningstar’s discounted cash flow valuation put SpaceX at about $780 billion — far below the IPO valuation — and analysts warned of very high uncertainty, unproven technology, and key‑person and execution risks.
- SpaceX reported accumulated losses of $8.7 billion between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026, underscoring the company's capital needs.
- Elon Musk holds roughly 85% of shareholder voting power and remains chairman and CEO, retaining an "iron grip" on the company.
- In its SEC filings, SpaceX said it plans to use IPO proceeds to expand its rocket and satellite businesses while aggressively pivoting into AI — including terrestrial data centers, AI microchips and "orbital AI compute infrastructure" — and those plans were highlighted in coverage of the offering (SEC filings).
- In a securities filing on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, SpaceX said it will acquire AI coding assistant Cursor for $60 billion in stock; Cursor, developed by Anysphere and launched in 2022, will become a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary when the deal closes, expected in the third quarter of 2026.
- To mark the offering, Elon Musk rang a ceremonial Nasdaq opening bell from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas and reiterated the company's long-term goal "to make life multi-planetary" and to take ordinary people to the moon and Mars.
📊 Analysis & Commentary (2)
"The City Journal piece is a pro‑IPO opinion on the SpaceX listing (matching the 'SpaceX Stock Begins Trading...' story): the author defends the record‑setting offering as a forward‑looking bet on human ingenuity and infrastructure—arguing that short‑term profitability metrics and headlines about Musk’s paper wealth miss the strategic, long‑term case—while noting governance and float‑related risks that investors should weigh."
"The corrupted City Journal newsletter item titled 'The SpaceX IPO' appears to be an opinion/commentary on the SpaceX IPO story (SpaceX stock up 19% on debut), but the article body is unreadable so the author's actual position, arguments, and quoted views cannot be determined from the supplied text — please provide an intact copy to enable a full analysis."
📰 Source Timeline (6)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- On Tuesday, June 16, 2026, SpaceX said in a securities filing it will acquire AI coding assistant Cursor for $60 billion in stock.
- Cursor, developed by San Francisco startup Anysphere and launched in 2022, will become a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary when the deal closes.
- SpaceX said it expects the Cursor acquisition to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending customary conditions.
- On Friday, June 12, 2026, SpaceX stock closed its first Nasdaq trading session up 19% from the $135 IPO price.
- CBS framed the debut day performance in a MoneyWatch segment as SpaceX 'launching onto Wall Street' with the largest IPO in history and then closing with a nearly one-fifth gain.
- The CBS piece time-stamped at 4:47 p.m. Central focuses on end-of-day trading results rather than only the opening pop.
- On Friday, June 12, 2026, SpaceX shares opened trading on Nasdaq about 11% above the $135 IPO price, according to Axios.
- The Axios piece characterizes the first trades as a strong early reception following what it calls the biggest U.S. IPO in history.
- Article publication time of 10:50 a.m. Central on June 12, 2026 indicates these price moves occurred within the first hours of the debut session.
- On Friday, June 12, 2026, Elon Musk participated in a ceremonial Nasdaq opening bell from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas to mark the IPO.
- Musk reiterated SpaceX's long-term goal "to make life multi-planetary" and said the company aims to take ordinary people, not just astronauts, to the moon and Mars.
- Forbes estimated Musk's net worth at $982.6 billion ahead of the first SpaceX trade, implying he would cross the $1 trillion mark based on the IPO pricing.
- The article reports that between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026, SpaceX accumulated losses of $8.7 billion, underscoring the scale of its capital needs.
- Morningstar analysts described the SpaceX IPO as "significantly overvalued" due to unproven technology and large capital requirements, estimating a fair value of about $780 billion, less than half the implied IPO valuation.
- On Friday, June 12, 2026, SpaceX’s newly listed stock was expected to start trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX after its record IPO.
- NPR reiterates that the IPO raised about $75 billion by selling more than 555 million shares at $135, valuing SpaceX at over $1.75 trillion and likely making Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire on paper.
- The article details SpaceX’s stated plans from its SEC filings to use proceeds to expand rocket and satellite businesses while aggressively pivoting into AI, including building terrestrial data centers, AI microchips, and "orbital AI compute infrastructure" (data centers in space).
- The piece highlights governance structure, noting Musk holds roughly 85% of shareholder voting power and retains an "iron grip" as chairman and CEO.
- It reports Morningstar’s discounted cash flow valuation of about $780 billion, far below the IPO valuation, and quotes its analysts flagging very high uncertainty and key-person and execution risks.
- NPR situates the SpaceX offering as the first of three massive AI‑linked IPOs expected in 2026, alongside planned listings by OpenAI and Anthropic, and notes all three are currently unprofitable and burning cash.