New York, June 23, 2026, 05:01 EDT
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. shares struggled again before Tuesday’s Nasdaq session. The stock dropped 16.4% to $154.60 on Monday, the steepest loss since its market debut, taking shares under their IPO closing price and wiping out about $400 billion in market cap.
Markets hadn’t begun regular trading at the time. The Nasdaq pre-market session operates from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern. According to its 2026 calendar, the Juneteenth holiday closure falls on June 19, not on Tuesday.
SpaceX is facing its first real market test since it went public with its IPO. The main question for investors is no longer the company’s long-term pitch, but if they’re willing to pay up as SpaceX takes on more debt for rockets, satellites and AI.
SpaceX is launching a new offering of senior unsecured notes, according to a filing. The bonds, not tied to specific assets, are aimed at qualified institutional buyers and certain overseas investors. SpaceX plans to use the proceeds to fully pay off its bridge loan facility, which is short-term funding replaced by longer-term debt.
The company reported about $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. Reuters said revenue was up 33% to $18.67 billion last year, but the company still posted a net loss after big spending and the xAI integration. “This debt choice over additional equity clearly prioritizes avoiding further shareholder dilution,” Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments, told Reuters. Reuters
The Wall Street Journal said the bond deal was set to bring in at least $20 billion to help pay off a bridge loan, with anything beyond that going to general corporate purposes. According to the Journal, which cited a person familiar, pricing and launch were both expected on Tuesday.
SpaceX set its IPO price at $135 a share in its prospectus and aims to list Class A shares under the ticker SPCX on Nasdaq. The filing says Elon Musk will keep about 82.4% of the company’s voting power after the IPO, thanks to a two-class system that gives some shares extra voting rights.
The stock finished Monday about 30% under last week’s record, though it stayed higher than the IPO price. According to Investopedia, SpaceX’s market cap stayed a bit above $2 trillion despite the drop. The report said possible major index moves could help support the shares, but later lock-up expirations might mean more supply.
Wall Street stayed cautious. Analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets, led by Michael Leshock, gave the stock a Sector Weight rating. They called it neutral. The team said SpaceX “possesses significant disruptive growth avenues,” but wrote that a lot of this seemed already priced in at current levels. Moneycontrol
Smaller space stocks are also seeing effects from the recent pullback. Rocket Lab and Firefly Aerospace both climbed Monday after getting upgrades, Barron’s reported. The moves came after a wider selloff in space shares that started with SpaceX’s debut.
But buyers still face downside. SpaceX has big cash needs for Starship, Starlink and AI projects. Oppenheimer analysts led by Timothy Horan modeled over $400 billion in net debt by 2031, according to Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg. The same story said Moody’s warned about regulatory, environmental, and governance risks from SpaceX’s spending plans and Musk’s heavy control.
Bonds and stock are in focus now. Investors want to see the size and yield from the bond sale, SPCX staying well over $135, and if index demand will counter any swings after the IPO. SpaceX still has plenty of story left. The market is starting to price it in.
