Elon Musk’s SpaceX revenue jumps 92% to $7.8 billion, beats expectations

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. almost doubled its quarterly sales in its first earnings report since going public, but heavy capital spending spooked investors and sent the stock down in late trading. SpaceX said second-quarter revenue rose 92 percent to $7.8 billion, topping the $6.9 billion average estimate of analysts polled by Wall Street.

SpaceX loss narrows despite AI hardware spending

The net loss narrowed to $541 million, or 9 cents a share, from $1 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization nearly tripled to $3.5 billion. Despite those figures, shares fell more than 7 percent after-hours Wednesday. 

Wall Street focused on an unexpected surge in capital expenditures, which reached $18.4 billion in the quarter—driven largely by a $15.8 billion outlay for artificial intelligence hardware and data center infrastructure. The spending puts SpaceX on an annual capital expense pace of $73.5 billion, well above the $48.7 billion consensus estimate.

Starlink revenue jumps 66% to $4.3 billion

Starlink, the company’s satellite connectivity unit, generated $4.29 billion in revenue, up 66 percent from the same period last year. Operating margins for the division reached 38.6 percent, topping forecasts of 35.9 percent. SpaceX ended the quarter with 12 million Starlink subscribers, double its user base from a year ago. Enterprise and military demand also expanded, with government and corporate sales rising 108 percent to $1.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the company’s cloud computing and AI services unit generated $2.6 billion, up 247 percent year-over-year, supported by $14.1 billion in new service agreements. The division shrank its operating loss to $1.26 billion from $2.47 billion in the first quarter, posting positive adjusted EBITDA for the first time.

SpaceX targets $1 trillion revenue by 2030

Speaking with investors, CEO Elon Musk raised SpaceXs growth outlook, saying it now expects to reach $1 trillion in revenue by 2030—one year earlier than previously targeted—driven by next-generation Starlink satellites and orbital computing. CFO Bret Johnson said the company is also on track to achieve a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate by December.

Even with $100 billion in cash and a recent $25 billion bond sale, the stock faces near-term pressure. The earnings release opens an insider lockup window, allowing pre-IPO shareholders to sell initial portions of their holdings. A larger lockup expiration follows third-quarter results later this year, when about 900 million additional shares become eligible for sale.