Revenue beat estimates but capital spending topped US$18 billion, most of it going to AI
SpaceX shares fell about 7 percent in extended trading on Tuesday, surrendering a regular-session gain, after the company's first earnings report since its June listing paired stronger-than-expected revenue with a jump in capital spending to more than US$18bn.
According to LSEG data cited by CNBC, revenue reached US$7.8bn in the quarter ended June 30, up 92 percent from US$4.1bn a year earlier and ahead of the US$6.93bn analysts had expected.
The company said its net loss narrowed to US$541m, or 9 cents per share, less than half the 26-cent loss Wall Street had forecast.
Reuters reported that capital expenditures climbed to more than US$18bn from US$2.83bn a year earlier, well above the roughly US$13bn analysts had modelled, per CNN.
Almost all of it went to artificial intelligence, with SpaceX directing US$15.83bn into its xAI unit during the quarter, up from US$749m a year earlier.
Bret Johnsen, the company's chief financial officer, said he expected similar spending over the next two quarters, and analysts cited by CNN see full-year capex topping US$45bn.
Per Reuters, the stock had risen about 9 percent during Tuesday's session before reversing after hours.
AP reported that investors are also positioning for a lock-up expiry beginning Thursday, when more than 900m shares become eligible to trade, more than doubling the freely traded float.
It is the first of several tranches to be released over the coming months.
The quarter underscored SpaceX's reliance on Starlink.
CNBC reported that its connectivity segment, built on the satellite-internet service, posted US$4.29bn in revenue and US$1.66bn in operating income, while the space unit lost US$542m and the AI unit lost US$1.26bn.
Reuters put the total operating loss at US$143m, narrowed from US$970m a year earlier. Subscribers doubled to 12m, though average revenue per user slid 22 percent as the company pushed into lower-priced international markets.
AI revenue surged about 250 percent year over year, Reuters reported, a shift some read as easing the pressure on Starlink to bankroll the rest of the business.
AI is "already monetizing itself," a "tremendous upside surprise today alone," said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management.
The company is not leaning on Starlink to fund operations there, he said, which he called "a huge part of the story."
SpaceX's projections for reaching US$1tn in revenue "have moved up from 2031 to 2030," chief executive Elon Musk told analysts, per CNN.
Musk said 2029 is not off the table either, giving it "a non-zero chance."
Sell-side analysts are more restrained.
Per CNN, FactSet estimates put 2029 revenue near US$207bn.
Analysts split on what the sell-off signalled.
"The stock's negative reaction is less a rejection of the fundamentals than a reflection of the enormous price of growth," Luke Lango, a technology analyst and publisher of Innovation Investor, said in a note reported by CNN.
Will Rhind, chief executive of GraniteShares, tied the drop to the coming lock-up rather than the results themselves.
The report also carried implications beyond SpaceX.
Reuters reported that Gwynne Shotwell, the company's president, told analysts she expected Starlink to take "quite a few" customers from T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon and to build ground infrastructure for "a true mobile service"; shares in the three carriers fell after hours.
Musk separately dismissed a Wall Street Journal report of a possible SpaceX-Tesla merger as "fake news," according to Reuters.
CNBC reported that the stock has fallen about 16 percent from its June 12 open of US$150, following an initial public offering that valued SpaceX at roughly US$1.75tn.
