SpaceX Prepares for First Post-IPO Earnings as Stock Slumps 50% Ahead of Lockup Expiration
Wall Street targets Q2 loss metrics and Starship progress as over 900,000 insider shares hit the market.
SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk faces an intense grilling from Wall Street on Tuesday during the company’s first quarterly earnings call since its public stock listing, coming as the space vehicle and satellite maker battles a 50% stock collapse and an impending insider share dump.
According to FactSet estimates, the company is projected to report a net loss of $1.9 billion, or 23 cents per share, for the second quarter ended June. The slump puts SpaceX on track for first-half net losses exceeding the $5 billion recorded in all of last year, driven by intensive capital expenditure across its rocket development and satellite operations.
Shares of SpaceX closed Monday at $114.46, sitting well below both their $135 initial public offering price and the peak of $225 reached in June. The stock pressure comes ahead of a crucial milestone on Thursday, when a lockup provision expires, releasing more than 900,000 shares to public markets and more than doubling the current tradable float.
The Thursday release marks the first of several tranches of insider stock set to unlock over the coming months. Market lockup expirations frequently induce volatility as early employees, venture backers, and company insiders gain their first opportunity to cash out holdings following an IPO.
Key among investor inquiries on Tuesday will be the execution timeline for SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket system. Following a successful satellite deployment test last month after an earlier aborted attempt, upcoming flight tests at Starbase in Texas aim to demonstrate landing recovery using giant tower-mounted mechanical arms—a critical capability for the NASA Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon.
Beyond rocket hardware, investors are seeking clarity on capital allocation across SpaceX’s business units. While its Starlink satellite communication business generates steady global cash flow through contracts, the company continues to sink funds into its money-losing Grok AI division and the social media platform X. Musk is also expected to address ambitions for placing football-field sized datacenters into orbit, alongside speculation regarding a potential merger with Tesla, though federal securities regulations bar him from discussing unconfirmed tie-ups.
