SpaceX stock has soared above its IPO price. Here's why

SpaceX stock has soared since the Elon Musk-led company’s initial public offering (IPO) price issued late last week. The buying spree has launched SpaceX into orbit among the world’s five-largest companies by market capitalization, putting its value beyond Amazon and Meta.

The stock traded at about $202 per share as of Tuesday afternoon, an increase of nearly 50% above its IPO share price of $135.

Some analysts who spoke to ABC News attributed the jump in price to optimism among some investors about the company’s sky-high ambitions, alongside a fear of missing out on the largest IPO of all time.

Plus, they added, a fast-track path toward 401(k) accounts has bolstered demand for the company’s stock, putting upward pressure on the price.

The Texas-based firm currently boasts a valuation of about $2.8 trillion, putting it more than $1 trillion higher than the target put forward by the company in advance of the IPO.

“As is the case with many large IPOs, the demand is often driven by the media frenzy as well as the allure of being in a company early,” Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist at Morningstar Wealth, told ABC News. “That seems to be holding true in this case.”

Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at investment firm Wedbush, said the successful IPO indicated optimism among investors regarding the potentially lucrative AI industry.

“SpaceX going public is an important watershed moment for the broader tech sector in our view as this AI Revolution and data take this next step forward,” Ives said in a memo to clients on Saturday.

SpaceX will almost certainly soon become a part of individuals’ 401(k) accounts. Those accounts often hold index funds, which are pegged to major indexes like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Until recently, newly listed companies were barred from major indexes until after an extended waiting period, but the Nasdaq issued a rule change last month permitting "fast entry" to the Nasdaq-100 for some major IPOs.

The anticipated inclusion in 401(k) accounts is already boosting demand for SpaceX shares and pushing up the stock price, Pappalardo said. Some fund managers, he added, will be required to hold the company in their portfolios as part of their index-pegged offerings, meaning they must snap up shares in an effort to establish such positions.

“That demand supports the stock price,” Pappalardo said.

SpaceX builds and operates spacecraft, as well as thousands of satellites deployed in support of its Starlink satellite internet service. In February, the company merged with xAI, a Musk-led AI company that offers a chatbot in competition with the likes of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude.

SpaceX touted the merger with xAI as a key step in its plan to launch what it calls "orbital data centers" – satellites designed to deliver computing power, much like their terrestrial counterparts.

The company’s revenue jumped to $18.7 billion in 2025, 33% higher than the previous year, a financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed. Nearly a quarter of that revenue came from Starlink, which counted millions of subscribers. Still, SpaceX failed to turn a profit, registering a loss of $4.9 billion last year.

To be sure, the SpaceX IPO has divided stock analysts, some of whom tout its earnings potential, even as others bemoan what they view as pie-in-the-sky initiatives like the orbital data centers.

Pappalardo said the staying power of the gains will ultimately be tested as the company releases quarterly earnings reports, beginning with an initial disclosure in six to eight weeks.

“That will get a lot of attention from investors,” Pappalardo said.