{"id":579431,"date":"2026-08-25T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T03:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579431\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T03:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T03:00:16","slug":"analyst-to-spacex-investors-youre-valuing-spacex-like-ai-is-almost-worthless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579431\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst to SpaceX Investors: You&#8217;re Valuing SpaceX Like AI Is Almost Worthless"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">A funny thing happened when Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) reported earnings this month. First, SpaceX declined 13.6% despite beats on both earnings per share and sales for the company. SpaceX lost only $0.09 per share in the quarter, where Wall Street had predicted a $0.29-per-share loss. Sales of $7.8 billion eclipsed forecasts by $1 billion.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again.\u00a0In 2009, a &#8220;Double Down&#8221; signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia.\u00a0For the first time in years, that same &#8220;Total Conviction&#8221; signal is flashing for a company 1\/100th the size of Nvidia.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/api.fool.com\/infotron\/infotrack\/click?apikey=35527423-a535-4519-a07f-20014582e03e&amp;impression=b6b73c7e-d2b1-4472-bdd4-1b4187cc55f5&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fa-sa-dd-total-conviction%3Faid%3D11123%26source%3Disaediica0000074%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-dd-4%26ftm_veh%3Dtop_incontent_pitch_feed_yahoo%26ftm_pit%3D19375&amp;utm_source=yahoo-host-full&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;referring_guid=e9a53bf7-a050-4f1e-841d-104a4556e3bc\" data-ylk=\"slk:Continue%20%C2%BB;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Continue \u00bb&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Continue \u00bb<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Potentially worse news for investors, the earnings announcement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/2026\/07\/11\/spacex-ipo-lock-up-buying-opportunity-or-trap\/?utm_source=yahoo-host-full&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;referring_guid=e9a53bf7-a050-4f1e-841d-104a4556e3bc\" data-ylk=\"slk:triggered%20a%20%22lock-up%22%20expiration;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;triggered a \\&quot;lock-up\\&quot; expiration&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">triggered a &#8220;lock-up&#8221; expiration<\/a>, permitting SpaceX insiders to sell 20% of their stock. A second lock-up expires later this week, when SpaceX passes the 70-days-after-IPO mark, allowing another 7% of the stock to be sold.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">But instead of continuing to fall, SpaceX stock did a U-turn. It recovered all its losses and by Wednesday&#8217;s close was back above its IPO price and trading for $140 a share.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">And one Wall Street analyst thinks this is only the beginning of the rally for SpaceX stock.  <\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/54ED9D4A9B52CE5FDF294C61224ECA7ED564696F1F1B66AEAAF94EFDB699B680\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fmotleyfool.com%2Fd18b7446d07b36438938ba4b7b7a23bd.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" alt=\"SpaceX logo.\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-1f8hkhu loader\"\/><\/a> Image source: The Motley Fool.           Morgan Stanley loves SpaceX stock          <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">SpaceX today carries a market capitalization of $1.9 trillion. It has no profit to back up that valuation, granted, thanks to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/stock-market\/market-sectors\/information-technology\/ai-stocks\/?utm_source=yahoo-host-full&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;referring_guid=e9a53bf7-a050-4f1e-841d-104a4556e3bc\" data-ylk=\"slk:artificial%20intelligence%20division;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;artificial intelligence division&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">artificial intelligence division<\/a> that&#8217;s losing more than $1 billion per quarter &#8212; and burning through tens of billions of dollars per year.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">But that doesn&#8217;t scare Morgan Stanley one bit.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">In a note released last week, MS analyst Adam Jonas argues that SpaceX&#8217;s non-AI businesses alone support nearly all of the present value of SpaceX stock, based on a combination of forecast sales and &#8220;earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization&#8221; (EBITDA). To hear Jonas tell it, SpaceX AI comes basically free of charge on top of what investors are already paying for the rest of SpaceX.  <\/p>\n<p>        Valuing SpaceX as a sum of its parts          <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Here&#8217;s how the math works.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Over the past 12 months, the Space and Connectivity divisions of SpaceX &#8212; essentially, everything not AI &#8212; generated a combined $17.9 billion in sales and $8.6 billion in EBITDA, according to data from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/market-intelligence\/en\" data-ylk=\"slk:S%26P%20Global%20Market%20Intelligence;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence<\/a>. AI generated $5.1 billion in sales, but negative EBITDA of $313 million.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Jonas, however, foresees incredible growth for SpaceX over the next couple of years, in Space and Connectivity, and especially in AI.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">The analyst calculates that earnings from Space and Connectivity justify the first $127 of SpaceX&#8217;s current $140 share price &#8212; so 91% of the stock&#8217;s total market cap. Valuing the stock at 52 times 2028 EBITDA, and reverse-engineering Jonas&#8217; math, implies a forecast of $31.5 billion in EBITDA for Space and Connectivity in 2028 &#8212; a 266% increase in just two years.  <\/p>\n<p>    Story Continues  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Meanwhile, consensus estimates on Wall Street have SpaceX as a whole generating $126.8 billion in EBITDA in 2028. Backing out the $31.5 billion contribution from Space and Connectivity, the AI division flips from a loss today to a $95.3 billion EBITDA profit just two years from now.  <\/p>\n<p>       How to value SpaceXAI         <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">This is a bold prediction. Assuming these estimates are correct, investors are valuing Space and Connectivity EBITDA at a 52 multiple. But they&#8217;re valuing EBITDA from AI at an ultralow 1.7, giving this division a standalone market capitalization of just $162 billion.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">What&#8217;s more, they&#8217;re doing this even though &#8212; again, assuming Jonas&#8217; numbers are right &#8212; SpaceX&#8217;s AI division will be growing not just sales but profit many times faster than its Space and Connectivity divisions are growing.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Is that fair? Are investors assigning the &#8220;right&#8221; price to SpaceX AI?  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Well, $162 billion might seem like a fair price to pay for an AI business currently generating negative EBITDA. It might even seem generous. But if two years of hypergrowth grow SpaceX&#8217;s AI division to the point that it&#8217;s generating 75% of SpaceX&#8217;s profit, you&#8217;d expect investors would happily pay a much higher price for it. Accordingly, Jonas argues that SpaceX stock, which costs $140 today, could easily reach $300 per share within one year &#8212; and potentially hit $600 in a bull-case scenario.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">I remain skeptical. With all due respect to Jonas, I&#8217;m going to wait and see SpaceX&#8217;s AI division prove that it can earn any profit at all before engaging in speculation about how fast it can grow its profit. Still, the possibility is intriguing.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">If Jonas&#8217; estimates bear fruit, SpaceX stock could be a screaming buy.  <\/p>\n<p>       Should you buy stock in Space Exploration Technologies right now?         <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Before you buy stock in\u00a0Space Exploration Technologies, consider this:  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">The Motley Fool\u00a0Stock Advisor\u00a0analyst team just identified what they believe are the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/api.fool.com\/infotron\/infotrack\/click?apikey=35527423-a535-4519-a07f-20014582e03e&amp;impression=542f34ca-0fba-4181-907d-98f3dc82a928&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-sa-bbn-bn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0001213%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch_feed_yahoo%26ftm_pit%3D19383&amp;utm_source=yahoo-host-full&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;referring_guid=e9a53bf7-a050-4f1e-841d-104a4556e3bc\" data-ylk=\"slk:10%20best%20stocks;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;10 best stocks&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">10 best stocks<\/a>\u00a0for investors to buy now\u2026 and\u00a0Space Exploration Technologies\u00a0wasn&#8217;t one of them.\u00a0The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Consider when\u00a0Netflix\u00a0made this list on December 17, 2004&#8230; if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you&#8217;d have $429,223!*\u00a0Or\u00a0when\u00a0Nvidia\u00a0made this list on April 15, 2005&#8230; if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you&#8217;d have $1,317,883!*  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">That performance is why people listen. With a track record of\u00a0beating the S&amp;P 500 by nearly 5x,\u00a0Stock Advisor\u00a0offers a distinct advantage. Don&#8217;t miss the latest top 10 list, available with\u00a0Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/api.fool.com\/infotron\/infotrack\/click?apikey=35527423-a535-4519-a07f-20014582e03e&amp;impression=542f34ca-0fba-4181-907d-98f3dc82a928&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-sa-bbn-bn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0001213%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D19383%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch_feed_yahoo%26company%3DSpace%2520Exploration%2520Technologies&amp;utm_source=yahoo-host-full&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;referring_guid=e9a53bf7-a050-4f1e-841d-104a4556e3bc\" data-ylk=\"slk:See%20the%2010%20stocks%20%C2%BB;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;See the 10 stocks \u00bb&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"ticker_pitch\">See the 10 stocks \u00bb<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">*Stock Advisor returns as of August 24, 2026.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/author\/1297\/\" data-ylk=\"slk:Rich%20Smith;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Rich Smith&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Rich Smith<\/a> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/legal\/fool-disclosure-policy\/\" data-ylk=\"slk:disclosure%20policy;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;disclosure policy&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">disclosure policy<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/2026\/08\/24\/analyst-to-investors-spacex-ai-is-not-worthless\/\" data-ylk=\"slk:Analyst%20to%20SpaceX%20Investors%3A%20You&#039;re%20Valuing%20SpaceX%20Like%20AI%20Is%20Almost%20Worthless;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;source:content-canvas%20default\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Analyst to SpaceX Investors: You&#039;re Valuing SpaceX Like AI Is Almost Worthless&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yTrafficOrigin&quot;:&quot;content-canvas default&quot;}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Analyst to SpaceX Investors: You&#8217;re Valuing SpaceX Like AI Is Almost Worthless<\/a> was originally published by The Motley Fool  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A funny thing happened when Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) reported earnings this month. First, SpaceX declined 13.6%&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,72928,111,139,69,241088,145],"class_list":["post-579431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-earnings-per-share","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-space-exploration-technologies","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}