Here's What a $5,000 Investment in SpaceX Could Be Worth by 2028

A fresh batch of analysts, 15 in total, have recently issued new ratings for Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX). One among them was particularly notable for its optimism, as it forecasts the company's share price will climb to $800 over the next 12 to 18 months.

That, however, was mostly an outlier view. Based on the bulk of those new ratings, the price range where SpaceX stock is likely to trade a year from now is significantly lower.

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How high could the SpaceX stock price climb by 2028?

The time frame for analysts' price target forecasts is generally between 12 and 18 months. In this case, let's view them through the 18-month lens. That gives SpaceX more time to potentially reach them, making them more achievable and more useful for investors to consider.

On July 7, Barron's reported 15 new analyst ratings for SpaceX stock. Among those new ratings, the average price target was around $250.

What a $5,000 investment in SpaceX could be worth

SpaceX has traded in a wide range since its initial public offering on June 12, from as low as $145.20 to as high as $225.64. So for investors who have already bought the stock, their potential 18-month returns on a $5,000 investment will look drastically different depending on what price they paid. But as a starting point, we'll use the July 8 closing price to estimate the value of a $5,000 investment.

On July 8, SpaceX closed at $148.30 per share; a $5,000 investment at that price would buy more than 33 shares.

If SpaceX were to reach $250 per share by January 2028, roughly 18 months from now, that $5,000 investment would be worth $8,427. That would be a percentage gain of 68.5%.

The caveat with price targets

An analyst's price target offers an estimate of where a stock could trade in the future, providing an indication of the potential upside an investor might expect. That said, it is just an estimate: There's no guarantee that the stock will ever reach that price.

SpaceX as a business has so many moving pieces with its rockets, satellites, and artificial intelligence (AI) division that it's a particularly challenging company to calculate a price target for. So, rather than focusing on those price targets, a more useful approach for investors may be to focus on the opportunities that could lie ahead for it.

The management team at SpaceX believes it has a total addressable market (TAM) of $28.5 trillion, of which $26.5 trillion is connected to AI. To capture as much of that TAM as possible, SpaceX is planning to deploy a vast constellation of satellites housing data center servers. That could be the company's first step toward becoming the leader in a new wave of AI infrastructure. It will, however, be a costly venture, and it will take years to bring the project to life. Meanwhile, the company's AI capital expenditures alone in 2025 totaled $12.7 billion, and it reported a net loss of $4.9 billion for that year.

Ultimately, there's plenty of upside potential for SpaceX shareholders, but there's also a lot of risk that will need to be tolerated and challenges that will need to be navigated to get to any potential rewards.

Jack Delaney has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.