SpaceX Stock Hits 52-Week Low as $4.9 Billion Loss and Bond Spreads Overshadow Record Launch Day

SpaceX pulled off a remarkable double-header on Thursday — a Starship test flight carrying live Starlink hardware alongside a Falcon 9 mission for the U.S. military — but the stock market was in no mood to celebrate. The company’s shares sank to a new 52-week low of €115.70 on Wednesday and closed at €117.86, breaching the IPO price of $135 (roughly €135) for the first time since the June listing.

The dual launch day capped a frenetic week of operations. Between July 13 and 14, SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets from opposite U.S. coasts within eight hours, deploying 56 Starlink satellites. The second of those flights marked the 600th landing of a reused Falcon 9 booster — a milestone for the company’s reusability program. On the same day, Starlink unveiled its V5 customer terminal: a smaller, lighter kit that consumes just 35–50 watts and, paired with a new Wi‑Fi 6 router, can deliver peak speeds above 375 Mbps.

Yet none of that operational tempo has arrested the stock’s decline. Since hitting an all‑time high of €194.46 on June 16, the shares have fallen 39.4%. The 30‑day annualized volatility stands at 95.6%, and the relative strength index of 39.2 signals a technically oversold condition. On a seven‑day basis the stock lost 11.5%, and over the past month it is down 32.2%.

Behind the slide lies a deteriorating financial picture. For the full 2025 financial year SpaceX reported a net loss of $4.9 billion, and the first quarter of 2026 added another $4.28 billion in red ink. Starlink’s satellite‑internet unit generated an operating profit of $1.2 billion in the first quarter, but the company’s AI‑infrastructure and xAI‑adjacent businesses continue to burn cash at a heavy rate. To fund its infrastructure plans, SpaceX placed $25 billion in bonds in late June. The credit market has grown cautious: the yield on the 2056‑dated bond recently approached 7.5%, and the credit spread widened to 231 basis points.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SpaceX?

The Starship test flight itself carries heavy weight. Booster 20 and Ship 40 are flying for the first time, and the primary objective is to deploy 20 functioning Starlink V3 satellites that will test laser cross‑links in orbit. About 20 minutes after stage separation, the booster is to conduct a controlled water landing in the Gulf of Mexico, while the upper stage targets splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX redesigned hardware and software after Flight 12 suffered a mis‑timed booster flip and failed engine relights. Six of the satellites are equipped with cameras to monitor the heatshield during flight. The FAA completed its investigation of the previous incident and cleared the new launch.

On the same day, a Falcon 9 carrying 21 satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer — a secure military‑communications network — lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Booster B1103 was set to land on a drone ship in the Pacific.

Market cap has fallen to €1,674.55 billion, down from above €2.6 trillion shortly after the debut. The stock’s free float is estimated at only 4–5%, a thin float that exacerbates swings. That could become a bigger issue in early August, when SpaceX is due to report its first quarterly earnings since the IPO. Immediately afterward, the initial lock‑up period for early investors expires, releasing roughly 20% of currently restricted shares to the open market.

Despite the rout, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest bought about $52.1 million worth of SpaceX stock across four funds in the week through July 10, betting that the long‑term thesis remains intact. A successful Starship flight on Thursday might generate a short‑term lift, but with losses mounting, bond yields rising, and a lock‑up expiration looming, the broader trend faces stiff headwinds.