SpaceX shares rose nearly 8 per cent on Monday to their highest level since mid-June, extending a sharp rebound in the stock and pushing Elon Musk’s net worth back above the $1 trillion mark.
The rally came shortly after Morgan Stanley analysts issued a bullish note on Sunday, describing SpaceX shares as “cheap” at their current valuation, according to Forbes.
The analysts pointed to several potential catalysts for the company, including future artificial intelligence product launches, progress on its Starship rocket programme and additional contracts for its neocloud business.
Morgan Stanley recommends buying SpaceX shares and has set a price target of $300. That target represents an increase of roughly 75 per cent from the stock’s Monday closing price of $171.09.
The analysts’ assessment followed a particularly busy period for SpaceX. Late last week, the company carried out several notable missions in a single day, including a crewed NASA mission to the International Space Station and a separate launch that placed Google AI chips into orbit.
Morgan Stanley urged investors to consider buying SpaceX shares ahead of the company’s next planned test flight of Starship, as well as its third-quarter earnings report, which is expected in late October.
Starship is SpaceX’s next-generation spacecraft and the largest rocket ever built. The system is designed to be fully reusable, with both its upper stage and booster intended to return safely to Earth after flight. SpaceX expects Starship to significantly expand its business by enabling the company to deploy Starlink satellites at scale and carry cargo and crew for other companies and government agencies.
The next Starship test could provide a major boost to SpaceX’s valuation if the company attempts to catch the upper-stage spacecraft. Such a manoeuvre would be “the biggest positive catalyst since the IPO,” the Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.
In previous test flights, the Starship upper stage has completed ocean splashdowns, but SpaceX has yet to demonstrate that the vehicle can be recovered and reused after reaching orbit.
SpaceX is also benefiting from the expansion of its artificial intelligence business, which it gained through the acquisition of Musk’s xAI last year and expanded further through its recent acquisition of Cursor. Although SpaceX’s in-house Grok AI model has not gained the same traction as leading models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic, the company is generating significant revenue by renting computing capacity to customers including Google and Anthropic.
Musk also has close ties to the Trump administration, providing another potential advantage for SpaceX as its government and defence businesses expand.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon appointed Musk as co-lead of Project Meridian, an initiative focused on identifying weapons, technologies and military capabilities the United States may need in future conflicts. SpaceX already derives a significant portion of its revenue from the US government and has been expanding its defence business. According to FedScout, the company has earned more than $12.7 billion to date from contracts with the Department of Defense.
Musk said over the weekend that SpaceX would rename its AI division, currently known as SpaceXAI, as SpaceXSI, adopting President Donald Trump’s new branding.
As SpaceX shares surged on Monday, Musk was notably absent from a New York City Council hearing where officials questioned AI executives and researchers about how the technology should be regulated. Representatives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta attended the hearing to testify.
New York City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan said at the hearing that AI had “taken over our economy,” driven up valuations, increased demand for public land for data centres and boosted the wealth of AI executives such as Musk, whom he described as the first person to become a trillionaire.
According to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list, Musk’s net worth currently stands at about $1.03 trillion, taking into account his holdings in Tesla and SpaceX.
SpaceX went public on June 12, with its shares reaching a record closing price of $201.80 on June 16. The stock subsequently entered a decline, reaching its lowest point in early August. Since then, the shares have gained roughly 58 per cent, with Monday’s rally bringing them back to their highest level since mid-June.
