SpaceX (SPCX) rallied sharply on Thursday, climbing more than 5% to around $148 before extending gains to roughly $151, its highest level since July, as Wall Street analysts increasingly framed the company as an artificial-intelligence infrastructure play rather than only a rocket and satellite operator.
Oppenheimer raised its SpaceX price target to $280 from $250 and maintained an Outperform rating, implying about 100% upside from recent levels. The firm highlighted SpaceX's vertically integrated AI platform, access to GPUs through its relationship with Nvidia, and the acquisition of Cursor as catalysts. It said AI productivity and usage are running ahead of expectations, with benefits expected across Grok Bot and Grok 4.6 and further improvements expected from Grok 5.0.
Bernstein SocGen Group also reiterated an Outperform rating and a $248 price target. Analyst Douglas Harned expects SpaceX's AI revenue to nearly quintuple to $115.1 billion in 2027 from $24.6 billion in 2026, making AI the company's largest revenue source. Bernstein projects total revenue to rise from $46.4 billion in 2026 to $150.4 billion in 2027, with orbital data centers adding another potential growth avenue.
The rally comes despite a staggered lockup schedule. About 912 million shares became tradable on August 6, with additional tranches continuing through December. A further unlock is scheduled for September 9, and roughly 600 million shares are expected to become available in September, with more than 630 million in October. By the end of 2026, about 4.9 billion SpaceX shares—about 70% of shares not held by Elon Musk—will have become available.
The move also had a large paper impact on Musk. Because about 82.5% of his fortune sits in SpaceX stock and his stake is locked until June 12, 2027, Thursday's roughly $10 gain added about $50 billion to his net worth, none of which he can monetize.
Still, caution remains: early investors have been selling into strength, and key-person risk around Musk's concentration across SpaceX and Tesla persists. The September 9 unlock is seen as a near-term test of whether the bid can absorb new supply.
