SpaceX Stock Is up 32% Since Aug. 1. Is it Too Late to Buy?

Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) stock hasn't been the massive success investors might have been hoping for thus far. While it had a strong run-up in its first few days of trading, it's fallen 29% from its high. However, it's on the rise again, and recently was up 32% since Aug. 1.

Is it too late to buy the stock?

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SpaceX is more than hype and more than rockets

Elon Musk has generated a massive following for pretty much everything he does, and SpaceX is a sort of culmination of that. He has roped together several of his businesses under the SpaceX banner, starting with the SpaceX rocket launching business and including Starlink, which it calls the connectivity business, and xAI.

While fans may be more excited about Musk that anything else, the AI business is where most of the opportunity is. Management has identified a $28.5 trillion total addressable market over the next few years, with $26.5 trillion going to AI.

The company as a whole isn't profitable yet, but in the 2026 second quarter, it reported outstanding growth, mostly coming from AI. The AI business grew 247% year over year, although the company posted a $1.3 billon loss. Total revenue was up 92%, beating Wall Street estimates, and the Starlink business reported $1.7 billion in net income.

All of the businesses are gaining momentum. SpaceX is the largest rocket launcher in the world, and has launched 78 rockets so far this year. It's getting closer to its goals of totally reusable rockets, and its launch in late July, subsequent to the second quarter, was its softest splashdown ever.

Most of the rocket launches were bringing more satellites into space for Starlink, which has 12 million subscribers as of the end of the second quarter, double from last year. It signed agreements with several global air carriers including American Airlines as well as with international mobile carriers such as SoftBank, and it doesn't have any real competitors at this time.

The AI business is thriving as well, and it recently cemented several important new deals. It landed $14.1 billion in cloud contract revenue in the second quarter with companies including Anthropic and Alphabet, and it announced the acquisition of coding company Cursor, which it closed last week. Cursor already has a $4 billion run rate, according to reports, and that could add significant revenue, and opportunity, to SpaceX's total.

Wall Street says buy?

It's not hard to see why many SpaceX is generating hype. It has three businesses that either dominate or are major players in their categories, and these are all future-oriented areas.

About 75% of the Wall Street analysts covering SpaceX stock call it a buy right now, but that's actually less of a consensus than you might think. Many top stocks have an almost uniform buy rating, or mostly buys with a small percentage of holds. However, three analysts are calling SpaceX stock a sell right now. The median target price is $217, or 55% higher than today, but that's partially skewed by one analyst's $800 target.

Even at the lower price, SpaceX stock is still extremely expensive, trading at 66 times trailing 12-month sales. That's cheaper than it was when SpaceX went public, but it's no bargain. So no, it doesn't look like it's too late to buy at all. I would say it's still too early, and investors who believe in Musk and his vision and want a piece of it should wait for a more attractive entry point.

Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.