EchoStar (SATS) holds a significant, underappreciated stake in newly public SpaceX (SPCX) that could be worth over $42 billion, according to New Street Research senior analyst David Barden. In a note to clients, Barden raised his SATS price target to $165, implying roughly 40% upside from the prior close, calling owning SpaceX stock via EchoStar shares an “attractive proposition.”
Following a recent wireless spectrum sale to AT&T and SpaceX, EchoStar owns approximately 262 million shares of Elon Musk’s AI and space infrastructure giant. At SpaceX’s debut Nasdaq closing price of $161, that stake is valued at more than $42 billion. Yet SATS shares, trading near $121, are pricing SpaceX at only about $86 per share, suggesting a substantial discount. Barden’s bullishness persists even after he trimmed the valuation of EchoStar’s legacy telecom assets, including Dish TV, Sling TV, and Boost Mobile, to $8.3 billion amid ongoing FCC spectrum auctions.
Separately, SpaceX’s options market exploded on its first full day of trading, with approximately 1.8 million contracts changing hands—surpassing Meta’s previous first-day record from 2012. Call options dominated, but implied volatility pointed to extreme two-sided risk. Susquehanna estimated a 15% chance SpaceX could rally another 50% over the next three months, and a similar chance it could lose half its value. Strategists warn the tails are “too dangerous to sell,” capturing the speculative fervor and valuation concerns following the stock’s roughly 50% post-IPO surge that briefly pushed its market cap past Microsoft.
