Report · Breaking Minute
watch now SpaceX is set to announce third-quarter results after the bell on Tuesday, the second earnings report for Elon Musk's defense tech conglomerate since its record IPO in June. Here's what analysts are expecting, according to LSEG consensus estimates: Revenue: $12.72 billion expected Earnings per share: 13 cents expected While SpaceX is best known for its reusable rockets, most of its revenue and profit in recent quarters came from the company's connectivity segment, which consists of its Starlink satellite internet service. Buzz is building about Starlink's plans to build a U.S. network after SpaceX, earlier this month, announced that it's buying 800 MHz of low-band spectrum, and after the Federal Communications Commission approved a plan for the company to build out a 15,000-satellite constellation.
The moves strengthen "Starlink Mobile's ability to compete with major carriers by enabling broader, deeper coverage," RBC Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note ahead of earnings. The firm has a $225 price target on SpaceX stock and the equivalent of a buy rating. In the third quarter, analysts are expecting AI revenue of $6.47 billion, connectivity sales of $4.84 billion, and revenue in the space business of $1.41 billion, according to StreetAccount.
During the third quarter, SpaceX also closed its $60 billion purchase of AI coding startup Cursor. Read more CNBC tech news Google says it can build data centers the right way. Some experts and residents are skeptical Women may be at greater risk of AI job losses.
Telephone switch operators and PCs show why Anthropic commits 5% of shares to new public benefit fund that could address AI job disruption Always on, always listening: New AI devices are pushing legal limits and could put users in jeopardy 19 Min Ago An update on cloud computing revenue watch now After acquiring xAI in February with its data centers in and around Memphis, Tennessee, SpaceX struck lucrative cloud computing agreements, establishing a new revenue stream. Deals with Google, Anthropic and Reflection AI, as well as an unnamed customer revealed by SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen at an event last month, amount to potentially tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue for the company. SpaceX is reportedly in talks to raise up to $40 billion to buy more Nvidia chips to support its AI ambitions.
Investors are looking for updates around this business for SpaceX as it seeks to monetize its AI capacity. —Lora Kolodny 19 Min Ago Speculation builds around a possible Tesla-SpaceX merger watch now Ahead of earnings, investors are invited to submit questions for the call. One entry that got a lot of upvotes was about timing for a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla, Musk's automaker. Musk's companies have had business and financial relations for years, even sharing personnel and some board members.
Tesla invested $2 billion into xAI, which later converted into shares of SpaceX. The AI unit of SpaceX also spent about $430 million last year on Tesla's Megapacks, which are battery energy storage systems, and $143 million on Cybertrucks. With SpaceX hitting the public market in June, speculation about a more permanet tie-up has been swirling.
SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC ahead of the IPO that a merger "might make Elon's life a little easier." A demo of Tesla's next-generation Roadster last week stirred up further merger excitement among Musk fans. The new Roadster was developed with SpaceX and incorporates its technology, including cold gas thrusters, to enable the car to launch, hover and flip in mid-air. —Lora Kolodny
Source: CNBC
