SpaceX shares jumped almost 8% on Monday to their highest level since mid-June, pushing Elon Musk back past the trillion-dollar net worth mark. The move followed a Morgan Stanley note that set a $300 price target on the stock, about 75% above Monday's close.
SpaceX shares rose almost 8% on Monday, reaching their highest level since mid-June. The rally put Musk back in trillionaire territory, just months after his company's record initial public offering.
Morgan Stanley calls the stock cheap
The jump followed a Sunday note from Morgan Stanley analysts, who called SpaceX "cheap" at current prices. They pointed to future AI product releases, Starship progress, and additional neocloud contracts as reasons to buy, and set a $300 price target, representing an increase of about 75% from Monday's $171.09 close.
The analysts suggested investors buy shares before SpaceX's next planned Starship test flight and ahead of its third-quarter earnings report, expected in late October. Should SpaceX attempt a Starship upper stage ship catch on that next flight, the analysts wrote it could be "the biggest positive catalyst since the IPO". In prior test flights, the upper stage has splashed down in the ocean but hasn't been proven reusable.
A busy week of launches and AI deals
Late last week, SpaceX conducted multiple historic flights in a single day, including a crewed NASA mission to the International Space Station, and a separate launch carrying Google AI chips into orbit. SpaceX is also getting a lift from its AI business, gained through last year's acquisition of Musk's xAI and expanded through the recent acquisition of Cursor. Its homegrown Grok model hasn't caught up with leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic, but SpaceX is generating hefty revenue by renting out capacity to the likes of Google and Anthropic.
Defense ties and political backing
Musk has close ties to the Trump administration. On Wednesday, the Pentagon appointed Musk as co-lead of Project Meridian, an initiative identifying weapons, technologies, and military capabilities the U.S. may need in future wars. SpaceX earns a large share of its revenue from the U.S. government, having earned over $12.7 billion to date from its work with the Defense Department, according to FedScout. Musk also said over the weekend he will rename SpaceX's AI division from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI.
According to Forbes' real-time billionaires list, Musk is currently worth $1.03 trillion, factoring in his holdings in Tesla and SpaceX. SpaceX went public on June 12 and jumped to a record close of $201.80 on June 16, before trending lower and bottoming in early August. Shares have since climbed about 58%.
Source: US Top News and Analysis
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