SpaceX shows strong growth in its first earnings report since IPO

SpaceX on Tuesday reported a second-quarter loss of $541 million on revenue of $7.8 billion in its first earnings report as a publicly traded company, offering a window into its performance after executing the biggest ever initial public offering in June. 

Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI provider was forecast to report revenue of $6.8 billion and a loss of 23 cents per share, according to the average estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet. 

“All three of the main business units reported revenue ahead of the consensus, including Space, Connectivity and AI,”  market analyst Adam Crisafulli, head of Vital Knowledge, said in a research note.

Analysts were closely watching subscriber growth for Starlink, given that the satellite division is the company’s largest revenue segment. Total revenues in the connectivity unit were $4.3 billion for the quarter, surpassing FactSet analysts’ estimate of $3.8 billion as Starlink’s subscribers doubled to 12 million, from 6 million in the year-ago quarter.

Musk touted Starlink’s rapid growth in a call with Wall Street analysts to discuss SpaceX’s financial results. 

“It’s not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver the majority of the world’s internet,” he said.

The company’s Starship division reported $962 million in revenue for the quarter, while its AI unit booked $2.6 billion.

SpaceX’s IPO made Musk, the company’s founder and CEO, into the world’s first trillionaire on paper. 

SpaceX shares have slumped since the company’s blockbuster IPO, with the stock losing almost 50% of its value after hitting an intraday high of $225.64 on June 16. 

Wall Street analysts and retail investors were looking to the quarterly earnings report for clues on whether SpaceX can deliver on Musk’s vision for the company, which includes putting solar-powered data centers in space and eventually sending spaceships to Mars.

“In many ways, SpaceX presents a track record of building toward solutions which many industry experts had previously viewed to be implausible,” noted Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan in a July research report. 

Investors are focused on the pace of SpaceX’s revenue growth. The company booked $18.7 billion in revenue last year, but reported a net loss of more than $4.9 billion, according to a regulatory filing. 

Musk is also likely to be asked about the timeline for testing SpaceX’s Starship rockets, which NASA hopes to use to put astronauts on the moon again, and the prospects of putting data centers in orbit. SpaceX, which launched its 13th Starship rocket in late July, is targeting a landing on the moon in 2028. However, for now, no Starship has been put into Earth orbit.