Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) beat third-quarter expectations Tuesday as revenue jumped 161% to $14.58 billion and its Super Intelligence segment, formerly AI, became the company’s largest business.

Five analysts weighed in with views ranging from bullish to cautious on the spending plan.

• SPCX stock is soaring after earnings. See the real-time price action here. 

TD Cowen

TD Cowen analyst John Blackledge maintained a Buy rating on SpaceX shares and raised his price target to $224 from $200. The firm lifted revenue and EBITDA estimates by an average of 21% and 26% a year from 2026 through 2031. TD Cowen now expects SpaceX to finish 2026 with 2.7 gigawatts of terrestrial compute capacity, up from 2.1 GW, and to reach 8.5 GW in 2027.

Blackledge highlighted CFO Bret Johnsen’s comment on pricing, which is running slightly above the top of last quarter’s $30 to $50 per watt range. New deployments could pay for themselves in under a year. 

SpaceX can "capitalize on a significant and arguably unprecedented market opportunity" in Super Intelligence and space, he wrote.

Yorkville Ives & Co.

Analyst Dan Ives kept an Outperform rating and a $225 target on SpaceX. His attention went to a potential merger with Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). 

CEO Elon Musk said both companies have formed special committees of independent directors, and he cannot take part in their talks. Any deal would need approval from 50% of all Tesla shares, a bar Musk called high.

Ives is not worried. "We believe there is an 80%-90% chance that Tesla and SpaceX merge by the end of 2027 for a number of strategic AI and data-driven reasons and this is the right move for Musk," he wrote. He also pointed to a $63 billion backlog, with about $42 billion expected to be recognized within a year.

Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor analyst Colin Canfield reiterated an Overweight rating, raised his target to $345 from $246 and made SpaceX his top coverage pick. 

The firm boosted its 2027 Intelligence sales estimate to roughly $260 billion from about $40 billion. Cantor now models more than 10 GW of terrestrial compute by the end of 2027, compared with roughly 4 GW before, and sees the company turning free cash flow positive by 2028.

Canfield said he expects SpaceX shares "to massively outperform tomorrow." His prediction came true with SPCX shares up 9.83% at $162.33 on Wednesday afternoon, according to Benzinga Pro market data. 

KeyBanc Capital Markets

KeyBanc analyst Michael Leshock held a Sector Weight rating with no price target, and the bill for the buildout is his concern. KeyBanc raised its capex forecast to about $86 billion for 2026 from $50 billion and to roughly $473 billion for 2027 from $68 billion. 

The firm models free cash flow burn of $57 billion this year and $328 billion next year, with about $475 billion in additional capital needed through 2028.

Leshock also noted 1.6 million Starlink subscriber additions, short of the 2.3 million consensus. He sees a positive read-through for Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) from the compute ramp. 

"Until we achieve greater visibility on Starship’s progress to validate its growth initiatives, risk/reward appears balanced, in our view," he wrote.

Needham & Company

Needham analyst Ryan Koontz reiterated a Buy rating and a $250 target on SpaceX shares. The firm raised its 2026 revenue estimate to $51.4 billion from $47.5 billion and its 2027 forecast to $152.9 billion from $128.7 billion. The 2027 earnings estimate moved to $3.76 per share from $3.10.

Koontz highlighted preferred supply allocation allowing SpaceX to bring online 200,000 Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) GB300 chips per month, and Connectivity posted $2.37 billion in operating income at a 45.1% margin.

"SPCX delivered a significant beat in its 3Q print, proving its deep vertical integration is driving massive scale," Koontz wrote.

What Comes Next 

Starship Flight 15 is scheduled for November, and SpaceX plans to attempt a tower catch of both the booster and the ship, which would be a first for an orbital vehicle. 

SPCX Stock Price Activity: SpaceX stock was up 9.95% at $162.49 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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