SpaceX Stock Cools After Three-Day Rally, Shares Decline

SpaceX (SPCX) shares experienced a decline on Wednesday, marking a reversal from the strong rally that followed its historic initial public offering. The company's stock fell by approximately 5% as investor bullishness showed signs of waning, entering a cooling period after a three-day post-IPO surge. This downturn represents a significant shift for SpaceX, which had briefly surpassed tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft in market capitalization.

Led by Elon Musk, the space and artificial intelligence company SpaceX began trading on the NASDAQ on Friday, June 12, 2026, at an IPO price of $135 per share. The stock surged over 17% on its first trading day and continued its ascent, gaining more than 40% in total within days. This rally propelled SpaceX's market capitalization past $2.5 trillion, briefly positioning it among the most valuable companies in the U.S. Retail investors, in particular, showed immense enthusiasm, pouring over $369.8 million into the stock in the first three trading days, more than four times the amount invested in Nvidia.

However, momentum shifted on Wednesday, with SpaceX shares closing down by around 5%. This pullback was attributed, in part, to a cooling of the record-setting investor demand and profit-taking activities. Additionally, hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve contributed to broader market selling pressure, accelerating the decline in SpaceX's stock. Analysts noted this volatility as typical for newly listed, retail-heavy stocks.

SpaceX's business model encompasses high-growth areas such as Starlink satellite internet services, reusable rocket technology, and the artificial intelligence venture xAI. Despite generating $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, the company reported a net loss of $4.9 billion and an additional loss of $4.28 billion in the first quarter of 2026. This significant disparity between its high market valuation and financial losses, even with Elon Musk's ambitious target of $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, has sparked market debate.

Market analysts suggest that SpaceX's current valuation is excessive, requiring extraordinary growth in the coming years to justify it. Research firms like Morningstar have set a fair value estimate of $63 per share for SpaceX, indicating a substantial overvaluation compared to current prices. Furthermore, the stock's low public float makes it susceptible to upward manipulation by limited capital flows, while the impending expiration of lock-up periods for early investors poses an additional risk of future share sales.