SpaceX Targets $1.77 Trillion IPO Valuation Amid Profitability Concerns
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 1 hour ago
0mins
Source: Fool
- Valuation Target: SpaceX is aiming for an IPO valuation of $1.77 trillion, exceeding earlier estimates of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, despite remaining unprofitable, which raises concerns among experts.
- Market Potential: According to SpaceX's disclosed prospectus, the company believes it has a total addressable market of $28.5 trillion, but much of this potential remains unrealized, making the valuation largely speculative based on future possibilities rather than current performance.
- Profitable Business: The only profitable segment for SpaceX is Starlink, which generated approximately $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in operating profit last year, demonstrating strong performance in the satellite internet market.
- AI Business Challenges: While SpaceX's AI division is seen as a key growth driver, it is still in its early stages, facing high competition and capital-intensive challenges, and remains unprofitable, adding risk to the IPO valuation.
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Analyst Views on MORN
Wall Street analysts forecast MORN stock price to rise
2 Analyst Rating
2 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 183.910
Low
250.00
Averages
285.00
High
320.00
Current: 183.910
Low
250.00
Averages
285.00
High
320.00
About MORN
Morningstar, Inc. is a provider of independent investment insights. The Company's segments include Morningstar Direct Platform, PitchBook, Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Wealth, and Morningstar Retirement. The Morningstar Direct Platform provides investors with data, research and insights, and investment analysis to empower investment decision-making. The PitchBook provides investors with access to data, research, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled software across private capital markets, including venture capital, private equity, private credit, bank loans, and mergers & acquisitions (M&A). Morningstar Credit provides investors with credit ratings, research, data, and credit analytics solutions. Morningstar Wealth provides investment products, investor tools, and an advisor platform powered by research and data. The Morningstar Retirement offers products designed to help individuals reach retirement goals.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- IPO Valuation Controversy: SpaceX is targeting an IPO this month with a valuation of $1.77 trillion, yet Morningstar analysts argue the company's actual worth is only $780 billion, suggesting investors may face greater risks post-IPO due to inflated expectations.
- Market Potential Analysis: SpaceX claims a total addressable market (TAM) exceeding $28.5 trillion, with $26.5 trillion linked to artificial intelligence; however, Morningstar expresses skepticism about the profitability of its AI business, which is still operating at a loss, potentially undermining overall valuation.
- Investment Recommendation: Morningstar advises investors to wait for more attractive buying opportunities after the IPO, emphasizing that long-term investors should focus on safer entry points rather than participating at inflated initial valuations to mitigate risk.
- Business Outlook and Risks: While SpaceX excels in its rocket and communication sectors and has the potential to accelerate its AI division's growth with $75 billion in new capital, Morningstar cautions that a great business does not guarantee strong stock performance, urging investors to assess risks carefully.
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- Valuation Target: SpaceX is aiming for an IPO valuation of $1.77 trillion, exceeding earlier estimates of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, despite remaining unprofitable, which raises concerns among experts.
- Market Potential: According to SpaceX's disclosed prospectus, the company believes it has a total addressable market of $28.5 trillion, but much of this potential remains unrealized, making the valuation largely speculative based on future possibilities rather than current performance.
- Profitable Business: The only profitable segment for SpaceX is Starlink, which generated approximately $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in operating profit last year, demonstrating strong performance in the satellite internet market.
- AI Business Challenges: While SpaceX's AI division is seen as a key growth driver, it is still in its early stages, facing high competition and capital-intensive challenges, and remains unprofitable, adding risk to the IPO valuation.
See More
- Valuation Target: SpaceX is aiming for a valuation of $1.77 trillion, exceeding earlier estimates of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion; however, many experts express concerns about this lofty valuation, especially given the company's ongoing unprofitability.
- Market Potential: While Morningstar values SpaceX at around $780 billion, the company believes it is targeting a total addressable market of $28.5 trillion, reflecting strong confidence in future growth prospects.
- Profitable Business: Currently, SpaceX's only profitable segment is Starlink, which generated approximately $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in operating profit last year, yet the full potential of its rocket business remains unrealized, with successful commercialization expected to significantly lower launch costs.
- AI Business Challenges: SpaceX's AI division is still unprofitable and faces challenges in a highly competitive and capital-intensive industry; despite believing in a massive $26.5 trillion market potential, substantial capital expenditures are required to support infrastructure and product development.
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- IPO Timeline: SpaceX is set to go public this month, aiming to raise up to $75 billion in fresh capital, although there is market skepticism regarding its valuation target of $1.77 trillion.
- Massive Market Potential: The company claims its total addressable market exceeds $28 trillion, including $370 billion in space-enabled solutions and $26.5 trillion in AI, indicating a strategic focus across multiple sectors.
- Profitability and Growth Potential: While SpaceX's rocket division excels in reducing launch costs and its connectivity business (mainly Starlink) is already profitable, analysts express doubts about its AI ventures, which are still operating at a loss.
- Investor Caution Advised: Morningstar analysts recommend that investors wait until after the IPO to consider buying SpaceX stock, arguing that the current valuation is inflated and that better buying opportunities may arise in the future, emphasizing the need for long-term investors to seek safer entry points.
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- Valuation Discrepancy: Morningstar estimates SpaceX's value at $780 billion, significantly lower than the $1.75 trillion target the company seeks for its upcoming IPO, which may impact investor confidence and market reactions.
- Market Risk Factors: Analysts highlight uncertainties surrounding SpaceX's artificial intelligence, orbital data centers, and Starlink broadband as key risks, which could lead to volatility in how the market values these projects and affect post-IPO stock performance.
- Liquidity and Trading Volatility: The low float and concentrated demand around the IPO may result in high illiquidity for SpaceX shares, potentially leading to sharp price swings, which could attract momentum-focused investors in the short term.
- Long-Term Growth Potential: Despite the risks, SpaceX has seen a 27.3% revenue growth over the past year, providing fundamental support for long-term investors, with future market focus likely on Starlink's network performance and profitability to assess the IPO valuation's validity.
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- Data Integration Innovation: PitchBook's partnership with Harvey introduces the PitchBook Premium Connector, embedding private market data directly into legal and deal workflows, allowing users to retrieve data using natural language prompts within the same workspace, thereby enhancing efficiency and data accessibility.
- Efficiency Enhancement: This integration enables deal teams and legal advisors to quickly generate investment committee memos, sector and fund analyses, and conduct due diligence by combining PitchBook data, significantly reducing document preparation time and improving decision-making accuracy.
- Secure Access Assurance: With Single Sign-On (SSO) functionality, mutual customers of PitchBook and Harvey can securely access the integrated tools, ensuring data security and compliance, which further enhances customer trust in data quality.
- Market Leadership: As a leading provider of private market intelligence, PitchBook continues to solidify its market position with over 100,000 clients and a global workforce of 3,000 employees, while its collaboration with Harvey further extends its influence in the legal and professional services sector.
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