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SpaceX Fizzles to Close $1 Above IPO Price Weeks After Debut

SpaceX Fizzles to Close $1 Above IPO Price Weeks After Debut·Bloomberg

Carmen Reinicke and Bailey Lipschultz

Updated Tue, July 14, 2026 at 9:49 PM PDT3 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Three days of losses have brought SpaceX ( SPCX) shares to the brink of falling below their initial public offering price, a key level that traders and investors watch to assess the health of new issues.

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Shares fell 2.2% Tuesday to close at $136.08 each, just $1 above the $135 price tag buyers paid last month in the biggest first-time share sale ever. Elon Musk's rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company has plunged one-third from its post-listing peak, erasing nearly $850 billion in value.

136.08 -3.06 (-2.20%)

At close: July 14 at 4:00:01 PM EDT

A company's shares falling below the IPO price within days or weeks of its first trading day punctures the narrative that's been carefully choreographed by the company and its bankers to hype up expectations. Putting shareholders in the red at such an early stage is a blow to confidence that some newly-listed firms don't recover from.

Skeptics note that the stock trades at a forward estimated price-to-sales ratio of more than 30 times, among the highest in the Nasdaq-100 Index and modestly lagging that of Palantir Technologies Inc. SpaceX is also facing an extended lock-up that will see insiders periodically releasing shares into the market over the coming months.

"We still don't think SpaceX has found its low," according to Ken Mahoney, chief executive officer of Mahoney Asset Management. "There will be continuous supply coming on in the coming months, and you would have to monitor how much demand would be there as you move down the quality spectrum."

Index Addition

SpaceX's slip near the IPO price comes just a week after the company was added to the Nasdaq 100 through fast-entry rules, and after analysts gave the company — whose unconventional pitch included a base on the moon and eventually a colony on Mars — a resoundingly bullish reception.

More than a dozen bankers including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. started coverage with buy-equivalent ratings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Over 80% of Wall Street analysts covering SpaceX say to buy shares and see major upside ahead. The average price target of $236.25 is more than 70% above Tuesday's close.

It's normal for newly-public stocks to experience volatility. A Truist Wealth analysis of 30 major technology IPOs over the past 15 years found that they averaged a maximum decline of 55% in the first year of trading.

Story Continues

SpaceX isn't alone in erasing its first-day pop, after falling below the $160.95 level where it ended after its debut session. The record-setting start to the year for US IPOs has been fraught with volatility for the majority of the largest deals, with share prices for six of the 10 biggest offerings trading below the level they closed at in their first day, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Investors and bankers will keep a close eye on how both SpaceX and American depositary shares for South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. trade in the coming weeks after the pair held record-setting listings within less than a month.

The weighted-average return for the class of 2026 US IPOs excluding blank-check companies fell to 5.3% through July 13, dragged down by SpaceX, Bloomberg data show. The group's return had slumped to roughly half of what the benchmark S&P 500 Index had posted through yesterday, the data show.

Falling below the IPO price could trigger a wave of dip buying in SpaceX as investors shut out of the initial share sale snap up stock at a discount.

It may be a compelling level to Talley Leger, chief market strategist at the Wealth Consulting Group, who said he sat out the IPO knowing that the stock would be added to the Nasdaq shortly thereafter. The firm holds funds that track the index.

"I might actually consider, if this downdraft continues much more, picking up some shares of the individual company because I like the inspirational message and goal of the company," Leger said.

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