SpaceX (SPCX) Stock Jumps 5% as AI Demand and Starship Fuel Back-to-Back Gains

TLDR

• SpaceX stock rose 1.5% in premarket Thursday to $153.08, following a 5.2% jump on Wednesday
• Starship’s 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, targeting its first orbital attempt
• Wall Street now expects $67 billion in AI revenue for 2027, up from a June estimate of $38 billion
• HBK Investments purchased 237,500 SpaceX shares worth roughly $40.6 million in Q2
• Analyst consensus is “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $221.42

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SpaceX stock added another 1.5% in premarket trading Thursday, putting the price at $153.08. That came on the heels of a 5.2% gain Wednesday, when the stock hit $150.88 during midday trading on volume of over 108 million shares.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SPCX

The back-to-back gains come as several catalysts converge at once.

SpaceX announced it is targeting September 22 for Starship’s 14th test flight. This would be the rocket’s first attempt to place its upper stage into orbit and deploy Starlink V3 satellites. Elon Musk has claimed Starlink V3 could deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current network.

The company is also building a chip-making facility with Tesla in Austin, Texas. SpaceX believes semiconductor availability will become a bottleneck to AI growth and is positioning itself ahead of that.

Reports that SK Hynix was in talks with Intel to manufacture memory chips in the U.S. also gave the stock a lift. Citi analyst Atif Malik said the discussions could expand Intel’s partnership with SpaceX, complementing its advanced packaging capabilities.

AI Revenue Forecasts Jump Sharply

Wall Street’s AI revenue estimates for SpaceX have been revised upward at a rapid pace. The 2027 AI revenue estimate now stands at $67 billion, up from $38 billion back in June. The 2030 estimate has moved to $275 billion from roughly $110 billion over the same period.

Hyperscaler backlog, a broad proxy for AI demand, ended Q2 at roughly $2.5 trillion, up about 100% year over year. Cloud revenues topped $100 billion for the first time in Q2, and data center capital spending crossed that same threshold.

SpaceX ended Q2 with 1.4 gigawatts of AI compute capacity and is targeting up to 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027.

The company reported Q2 revenue of $7.81 billion, up 91.9% year over year, beating EPS estimates by $0.17.

Institutional Buying and Analyst Targets

HBK Investments initiated a new position in SpaceX during Q2, picking up 237,500 shares valued at approximately $40.6 million. That represents about 0.4% of HBK’s total portfolio.

Several other funds also initiated new positions in the quarter, including Syntax Research, Atwood and Palmer, and PayPay Securities Corp.

Analyst coverage remains broadly positive. Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating and a $255 price target. Evercore rates it Outperform with a $230 target. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an Outperform rating with a $175 target.

The consensus across 43 analysts sits at “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $221.42.

Risks remain. SpaceX trades at a negative PE of -1,676.44, and roughly 328 million additional shares are expected to become eligible for sale on September 24, which could add supply and volatility.

Since the June IPO, the stock has swung between a high of $225.64 and a low of $104.83.