SpaceX Stock Dips Despite Earnings Beat on AI and Starlink Growth
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) reported its first public earnings after the market close on August 4, 2024, revealing a revenue of $7.81 billion, which surpassed expectations by 12.7%. The company's loss per share was $0.09, significantly better than the anticipated $0.23 to $0.26. Despite these positive figures, the stock dropped in after-hours trading due to higher-than-expected capital expenditures. This decline mirrored similar reactions seen with Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Amazon.
The earnings report highlighted a 92% year-over-year revenue growth for the quarter ending Q2 2024. Key contributors to this growth included the AI unit, powered by xAI’s space computing platform and its Grok chatbot, which added $818 million in revenue during Q1 2026. Starlink, SpaceX’s primary source of cash flow, showed slowing subscriber growth but remains a critical driver of financial momentum.
On August 6, the first post-IPO lockup tranche expired, releasing approximately 911.5 million shares worth an estimated $109 billion. This structural increase in supply posed an immediate price risk, although IPO expert Jay Ritter suggested that the $8 billion in short positions would start easing as new buyers absorbed the supply. Analysts also focused on the operational timeline for Starship, Tesla's potential involvement with the Artemis program, and the company’s orbital data center concept.
Technically, SPCX approached the first Fibonacci resistance at $121.40 after bouncing off the 52-week low zone of $104.42 - $104.83. The stock’s current price of $117.80 placed it just over $3 away from this resistance level. Despite the after-hours drop, analysts maintained a generally positive outlook, with a target price of $236.71, representing a 106% upside potential.