Space-related stocks reversed course in early Friday trading as investors responded to SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) beginning its long-anticipated public market debut.
The Elon Musk-led company offered 555.6 million shares at $135 each, raising $75 billion and valuing the company at approximately $1.77 trillion.
The offering marks the largest public stock offering on record, drawing intense investor attention and reshaping sentiment across the broader space sector.
Redwire (NYSE: RDW) declined sharply, reversing premarket gains that had briefly pushed the stock higher ahead of the SpaceX listing.
Satellogic (NASDAQ: SATL) dropped 7.71% while Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) fell 7.38%, both giving back gains accumulated during the prior session’s rally.
EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) also tracked lower as the wave of selling spread across space-related names during morning trading.
The Procure Space ETF (NASDAQ: UFO), which tracks companies across the space economy, fell 4.79% after surging approximately 8% in the prior session.
Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) also moved lower after jumping 23% a day earlier, with shares remaining volatile amid short sellers piling into the stock.
Oppenheimer analysts initiated coverage of SpaceX with an Outperform rating and a $190 price target, implying around 40% upside from the $135 IPO price.
That price target values the firm at $2.5 trillion, a significant premium to the company’s listing valuation and a reflection of Wall Street’s long-term confidence in the business.
Wall Street analysts see growing opportunities in satellite connectivity and in deploying AI data centers in orbit, using solar power to run equipment while reducing the need for cooling technologies linked to terrestrial facilities.
SpaceX’s public debut has put renewed focus on the space industry broadly, with the sector experiencing heightened volatility in recent weeks amid growing investor demand for the offering.
The scale of the listing has inevitably drawn capital and attention away from smaller space-sector competitors, at least in the short term, creating headwinds for many of the sector’s publicly traded names.
