Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) had to abort its 13th Starship test flight after some of its engines failed to ignite.
Starship is SpaceX’s fully reusable super-heavy-lift vehicle, and once it’s ready to operate commercially, it could significantly reduce the cost of putting payloads into space, such as Starlink satellites or orbital data center satellites
Getting it off the ground (pun intended) will be key to the company achieving revenue growth and earnings that meet the market’s high expectations. SpaceX will have another go at the Starship test launch, and many more tests and launches will come over the next few years. A single aborted launch does not significantly impact the company’s long-term viability.
The bigger risk to SpaceX and its investors involves what will happen if it successfully brings Starship into service: The company will need to raise massive amounts of capital over the better part of the next decade, even based on some of the most bullish outlooks for the business. This SpaceX bull just highlighted a major risk to the stock Morgan Stanley analysts have put a $300 price target on SpaceX stock. They cite its “near-monopoly launch economics,” which will enable its satellite connectivity and AI businesses to scale up at a cost advantage.