China Renaissance Starts Coverage of SpaceX With Buy Rating

Coverage from China Renaissance

MarketBeat reported that analysts at China Renaissance began covering SpaceX on Thursday, according to Benzinga. The brokerage assigned the stock a Buy rating and set a price target of $194.20. MarketBeat said that target indicated 42.88% upside from the share price at the time of the report.

The article said SpaceX has also drawn several other analyst calls. On Wednesday, October 21, Pivotal Research raised its target from $230.00 to $260.00 and kept a Buy rating. Citigroup also lifted its target on the stock that day, moving it from $200.00 to $240.00 while keeping a Buy rating. UBS Group repeated an Overweight rating and set a $300.00 target. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an Outperform rating and a $175.00 price objective on August 26. CLSA began coverage on September 28 with an Outperform rating and a $250.00 target.

Analyst sentiment and targets

MarketBeat said the stock has been rated Strong Buy by four analysts, Buy by 31, Hold by nine, and Sell by three. Based on those ratings, MarketBeat said the overall consensus is Moderate Buy. The same source said the average analyst price target is $243.60.

The article framed this as a broadly positive Wall Street view, with the China Renaissance note adding another Buy rating to the existing mix of recommendations. MarketBeat did not say the new target was the highest or lowest among the published targets, but it placed it below the reported average target.

Share price and trading data

MarketBeat reported that SpaceX shares opened Thursday at $135.92 and were down 3.8% on the day. The article said the stock’s 50-day moving average was $149.64. It also listed a 52-week low of $104.83 and a 52-week high of $225.64.

Other figures in the piece included a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 522.77, a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 3.00. MarketBeat presented these figures as part of its snapshot of the stock’s recent trading profile.

Quarterly results and outlook

MarketBeat said SpaceX last reported earnings on Tuesday, October 20. The company posted quarterly earnings per share of $0.35, which beat the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.25. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company reported a loss of $0.36 per share.

Revenue for the quarter was $14.57 billion, according to the report. MarketBeat said that was a year-over-year increase of 161.4%. The article also said SpaceX had a negative return on equity of 3.24% and a negative net margin of 8.61% for the quarter. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report $0.19 in EPS for the current year.

Insider and institutional activity

The article also summarized an insider transaction involving Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell. MarketBeat reported that she sold 342,170 shares on Tuesday, September 22, at an average price of $153.57. The sale totaled $52,547,046.90, according to the report. After the transaction, Shotwell was said to own 2,472,035 shares worth about $379,630,414.95. MarketBeat said the trade reduced her ownership by 12.16% and was disclosed in an SEC filing. It also said the sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MarketBeat further reported several changes in institutional holdings during the third quarter. 626 Financial LLC bought a new stake valued at about $649,000. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings by 114.2% and owned 28,319 shares worth $4,272,000 after adding 15,101 shares. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake by 167.3% to 1,414 shares valued at $213,000 after buying 885 more shares. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings by 75.1% to 21,540 shares worth $3,250,000 after adding 9,238 shares. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position by 817.3% to 39,546 shares worth $5,966,000 after acquiring 35,235 additional shares.

Other items MarketBeat highlighted

The report also pointed readers to several recent headlines related to SpaceX. MarketBeat said one story described a deal with Qualcomm for 5G base-station technology and software for a planned Starlink Mobile network. Another story said investor concerns had risen after Democratic midterm wins, with possible implications for oversight of AI and data-center projects. A third item said AI growth brings execution and cost risks, including the need to secure electricity and equipment, and noted that 34.5% of the prior quarter’s revenue came from one customer. A fourth item said the stock had fallen below the reported IPO price.

At the end of the article, MarketBeat included a short company description saying SpaceX, formally Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is a privately held aerospace company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. It said the company develops and operates launch vehicles and spacecraft to lower the cost of access to space and support commercial, government and scientific missions. The description listed Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon and Starlink among its principal products and services, and said Falcon rockets launch satellites, cargo and crew while Dragon spacecraft support travel to and from low Earth orbit.