SpaceX Is Already One of the World's 10 Most Valuable Companies. Here's Where the Stock Could Go From Here.

SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) completed the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history on June 12, initially raising about $75 billion, with proceeds later reaching $85.7 billion after underwriters exercised the greenshoe option. Shares priced at $135, opened higher, and closed their first day near $161 -- a gain of about 19%. And they've kept climbing. As of this writing, the stock trades near $188, up about 17% Monday.

That run has handed Elon Musk's rocket and satellite-internet company a market value of about $2.5 trillion -- enough to rank it among the 10 most valuable companies in the world, ahead of Tesla and behind only a handful of larger technology companies. For a business that lost money last year, that is an extraordinary price.

Here's a closer look at the case for buying SpaceX after its record debut, as well as the reasons for caution.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

A powerful catalyst

SpaceX is still best known for landing rockets. But that stopped being the financial story some time ago. The company reported revenue of about $18.7 billion in 2025, up 33% from a year earlier, and the bulk of it came from Starlink, its satellite-internet service.

Starlink's 2025 revenue rose about 50% to $11.4 billion -- more than 60% of the company's total. Even more, it's profitable, generating about $4.4 billion in income from operations for the year.

And Starlink ended 2025 with about 9 million subscribers, about double the year before, and surpassed 10 million by the end of March.

The launch business is smaller and growing more slowly, with revenue rising about 8% in 2025, to about $4 billion. SpaceX flew well over 100 Falcon 9 missions during the year, though the bulk carried its own Starlink satellites rather than paying customers.

Then there's the company's more aspirational projects. In February, SpaceX absorbed Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, folding its Grok chatbot and a fast-growing compute business into the company. Further, SpaceX has floated an even bigger idea: putting AI data centers in orbit.

"We expect to begin deploying our orbital AI compute satellites as early as 2028," SpaceX said in its IPO prospectus.

Ultimately, though, Starlink will be the near-term driver for the business. Sure, these other ventures within SpaceX could eventually provide substantial operating cash flow for the rest of the business. But growth initiatives like these are unprecedented, and guessing their future impact on the overall business is difficult, if not impossible.

A staggering valuation

Further, justifying the stock's valuation is not easy.

SpaceX lost about $4.9 billion in 2025. The drag was the AI segment, which posted an operating loss of more than $6 billion as it spent heavily on computing power. The space and connectivity segments, by contrast, were both profitable on a segment-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) basis.

There are some key risks to consider as well.

First of all, SpaceX listed with a dual-class structure that gives Musk about 82% of the voting power while he holds something closer to 40% of the equity. This means that public investors get economic exposure to the business, but little say in how it's run.

And then there's the valuation.

SpaceX doesn't yet turn a profit, so there's no price-to-earnings ratio to anchor on. Measured against sales, the growth stock trades at a price-to-sales ratio far north of 100 -- a multiple that assumes Starlink keeps compounding and that the money-losing AI bet eventually pays off.

So, where could the stock go from here?

Over a multiyear horizon, I think the business has a real shot at growing into something far larger. Starlink is scaling quickly, already generating operating income, and the launch and orbital-compute opportunities are enormous. But at this price, the stock arguably already reflects years of flawless execution.

For now, however, I'd rather watch than chase the debut. After all, even a remarkable business can make for a poor investment if the entry price is high enough.

Daniel Sparks has clients with positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.