Spacex rose by 7.6%, reaching a new high since June, helping Musk "restore" his trillion-dollar billionaire title

Author: Baoyi Long, Wall Street Journal

SpaceX's stock price surged nearly 8% on Monday, pushing Elon Musk's net worth back above the trillion-dollar mark. Morgan Stanley analysts released a bullish report the previous day, stating that the stock is "undervalued," combined with the company's recent milestone flight missions, which collectively drove this round of gains.

At the close on Monday, SpaceX's stock price was $171.09, reaching a new high since mid-June. According to Forbes' real-time billionaire list, Musk's net worth increased by approximately $30.6 billion that day, bringing his total wealth to about $1.03 trillion, ranking him at the top of the billionaire list.

This marks Musk's return to the trillion-dollar level since SpaceX's initial public offering in June this year.

Since hitting a low in early August, SpaceX's stock price has rebounded by about 58%. Morgan Stanley set a target price of $300 for the stock, indicating about 75% upside potential from Monday's closing price, and recommended that investors position themselves before the company's next Starship test flight and third-quarter earnings report.

Morgan Stanley Bullish, Multiple Catalysts Resonating

Morgan Stanley analysts released a research report on Sunday, pointing out that SpaceX's value is significantly undervalued at the current stock price.

The report emphasized potential catalysts such as "future artificial intelligence product releases, Starship R&D progress, and new cloud service contracts," maintaining a buy rating.

Last week, SpaceX completed several historic flight missions in a single day, including executing a crewed mission for NASA, sending astronauts to the International Space Station, and launching Google AI chips into orbit.

Analysts noted that if SpaceX attempts to recover the upper stage of the Starship in the next test flight, it could become "the most significant positive catalyst since the IPO." In previous tests, the upper stage of the Starship has splashed down in the ocean, and its reusability has yet to be verified.

The Starship is the largest rocket ever built by humanity, designed with the goal of safely recovering and reusing both the upper stage and the booster. SpaceX plans to use the Starship to send Starlink satellites into orbit and undertake cargo and crew missions for other commercial and government entities.

AI Business Expansion, Defense Contracts Supporting Revenue

In addition to its aerospace core business, SpaceX's artificial intelligence business has also become an important support for the rising stock price.

The company entered the AI field through the acquisition of Musk's xAI and further expanded its business landscape by acquiring the code editing tool Cursor. Although its self-developed Grok large model still lags behind OpenAI and Anthropic in market influence, SpaceX is generating substantial revenue by renting computing power to clients such as Google and Anthropic.

On the government contract front, according to FedScout data, SpaceX has accumulated over $12.7 billion in contract revenue from the U.S. Department of Defense, with the defense business's share continuing to increase.

On Wednesday, September 30, the Pentagon appointed Musk as a co-leader of the "Project Meridian," which aims to identify the weapons, technologies, and military capabilities needed for future U.S. warfare.

On the branding front, Musk announced last weekend that his AI subsidiary SpaceXAI would be renamed SpaceXSI, in line with the executive order signed by President Trump on September 29 this year.

The order requires government agencies to replace the term "artificial intelligence" with "super intelligence" and the abbreviation "SI." However, as of Monday, no formal renaming steps have been implemented.

Record IPO, Financial Data Shows Rapid Growth and Concurrent Losses

SpaceX went public on June 12 on NASDAQ, with an IPO price of $135, issuing a total of 555.6 million shares and raising $75 billion, surpassing the record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

In the first week of trading, the stock price hit a closing high of $201.80 on June 16, then gradually declined, hitting a low in early August. After this rebound, SpaceX's stock price has increased by about 27% from the IPO price, with Musk holding approximately 82.4% of the company's voting rights.

On the financial front, SpaceX is projected to achieve revenue of $18.67 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 33%; however, due to high investment costs, net profit shifted from a profit of $791 million the previous year to a loss of $4.94 billion.

According to Forbes' estimates, Musk's current net worth exceeds that of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by over $628 billion, with Bezos's estimated net worth around $371.5 billion.