SpaceX Stock Slides 11% in First-Week Correction, but Bond Markets Deliver a Record Vote of Confidence

SpaceX earns first investment-grade ratings from Fitch and S&P, plans $20B bond to refinance xAI acquisition, as retail investors sell off shares after sharp price swings.

While retail investors have been dumping SpaceX shares in droves, the company has quietly secured a landmark endorsement from the credit markets. The rocket builder earned its first investment-grade rating from both Fitch and S&P, just as it prepares to launch a $20 billion bond — a jumbo that will refinance the bridge loan used to acquire the AI startup xAI. The dual ratings reflect SpaceX's stranglehold on the global launch market (Fitch notes it carries more than 80% of the world's satellite mass) and the 12 million subscribers on its Starlink network.

The stock tells a more nervous story. Priced at $135 in mid-June, shares rocketed past $225 within days, briefly pushing the company's valuation toward $3 trillion. Then momentum flipped. Thursday's 6% drop was followed by another 6% decline Friday, taking the equity to around $178 — a two-day rout of more than 11%. Retail net purchases, which averaged $300 million a day in the first three sessions, collapsed to just $9 million on Thursday, according to Vanda Research. The air has clearly come out of the IPO party.

Behind the market jitters lies a brutal quarterly report. SpaceX generated $4.69 billion in revenue in the first three months of 2026, but posted a net loss of $4.28 billion. That is a dramatic widening from the roughly $500 million loss it suffered in the same period last year, though the company's full-year 2025 deficit was $4.9 billion. The swelling red ink is fuelled by an aggressive expansion into artificial intelligence and the capital-intensive Starship programme.

That expansion has already seen two major AI bets: the purchase of xAI via a bridge loan that the upcoming bond will repay, and a separate all-share acquisition of the AI startup Anysphere. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are leading the bond placement, which will give management breathing room to continue investing heavily in both hardware and software.

Analysts are divided on whether the valuation can hold. Arete Research initiated coverage with a buy rating and a $401 price target, betting that new Starlink satellites will be a decisive catalyst in the broadband market. Oppenheimer raised its target to $250, pointing to the Anysphere deal as a way to turbocharge internal software development. Morningstar, however, warns that SpaceX was trading at 67 times expected sales at its peak — a level that leaves little room for error.

Operationally, the company keeps humming. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted a mission for U.S. intelligence on Friday morning, marking the 71st launch by the fleet this year, and the first stage landed safely back on Earth. The next big milestone is the 13th test flight of the Starship heavy-lift vehicle, scheduled for July 2026. A successful return of both the booster and upper stage would allow SpaceX to ramp up its lucrative satellite services even faster. The second-quarter earnings report, due later this summer, will be the first real test of whether the bond-market confidence and the analyst bull cases can outweigh the stock's rocky debut.