SpaceX shares rose 0.3% in overnight trading heading into Monday, as investors watched for the company’s upcoming Starship launch and its potential impact on Starlink’s network capacity. The stock move came ahead of Starship’s first attempt to reach Earth orbit and deploy 26 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX stock fell 3% last week, ending a four-week winning streak. Despite Monday’s rise, SPCX shares remain down 8% so far this year. Because spaceX plans to use Starship not only for space missions but also to expand its Starlink broadband network, the launch is important.
The 26 satellites give Flight 14 a commercial purpose, rather than making it only another test flight. Aaron Burnett, founder and CEO of space-focused investment and research firm Mach33, estimates that the 26-satellite payload represents about 26 terabits per second (Tbps) of network capacity. ARK Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood said earlier this month that a future, larger Starship payload could deliver enough network capacity to support about $1 billion in annual Starlink revenue. At the same time, SPCX message volume on Stocktwits jumped 74% over a 24-hour period, showing increased trader attention around the Starship launch.
The upcoming launch has also raised expectations that Starship could eventually make it much cheaper for SpaceX to put Starlink network capacity into space. The potential scale of Starship has also led to much larger revenue estimates for Starlink. Wood then connected that figure to Musk’s long-term launch target. Retail investor sentiment toward SPCX on Stocktwits changed from bullish to bearish over the past week.
SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen called Flight 14 the company’s first “revenue-generating flight” earlier this month. Johnsen also described Starship as “core to the rest of our business,” highlighting how important the rocket could become for SpaceX’s wider operations.
One Stocktwits user wrote that a successful flight could push SPCX above $200. These comments represent individual retail-trader views on Stocktwits, not confirmed forecasts from SpaceX or financial analysts. Some retail traders are expecting a successful launch to push the stock higher.
Another user said a successful Monday launch could lead to a re-rating of the stock, pointing to Starship’s potential role in future data-center payloads.
