SpaceX shares climbed on Thursday even as the first of several lockup expirations freed more than 900 million shares held by insiders to be bought or sold for the first time, more than doubling the stock available on the open market.
Shares of Elon Musk’s space company rose 2.5% to $110.92 in noon trading, recovering some ground a day after one of the sharpest declines in the firm’s brief public history, when the stock fell nearly 14%. Investors had pushed the shares down sharply in recent sessions in anticipation of insiders potentially cashing out once the trading restrictions lifted.
The lockup provisions had barred employees and early stakeholders from selling since the company’s public debut. Their expiration marks a key test of investor confidence, as newly available shares typically create selling pressure that can weigh on a recently listed stock.
Some analysts framed the release as a buying opportunity rather than a threat. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said the expiration allowed new investors to enter the stock at a lower price, adding that he expects the shares to reach $300 by the middle of next year — nearly triple their current level. Morgan Stanley was among the banks that earned fees on the company’s public offering last month.
Earlier this week, SpaceX reported a loss of $541 million, or 9 cents per share, for the three months through June, less than half of what analysts had forecast. Revenue surged to $7.8 billion, up more than 90% from a year earlier.
The company also posted a sharp increase in spending on research, infrastructure and artificial intelligence, alongside other major projects. Heavy capital outlays have made investors across the technology sector increasingly wary, triggering broader sell-offs as markets question the returns on large-scale spending.
The recent volatility follows a turbulent stretch for the newly public company, which has seen its stock slide toward new lows in the weeks surrounding its first earnings report. Short sellers had also targeted the shares ahead of the lockup expiration.
In June, Musk sold SpaceX shares to the public for the first time in what was the largest initial public offering ever. The stock jumped as high as $225 a share in its early days of trading, briefly lifting Musk’s net worth into trillionaire territory before the subsequent pullback.
With further lockup expirations still to come, the stock’s trajectory in the months ahead will hinge on whether insiders opt to sell and how investors weigh the company’s rapid revenue growth against its rising spending.