David Prince
US Equity/Options Fund Manager, Mentor at T3 Live
Space stocks such as Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile, Firefly Aerospace, Sidus Space and Redwire have no earnings and limited revenue, so their downside is hard to quantify while the group is out of favor. The sector is grotesquely ugly, a lesson in the risks of thematic investing. x.comÂ
Individual space stocks outside SpaceX look hard to get excited about, because a huge share of the sector's liquidity and attention increasingly seems set to concentrate in SpaceX alone. That reshapes the risk/reward of owning AST SpaceMobile, BlackSky, Firefly, Lumen, Redwire, Rocket Lab and Satellogic. x.comÂ
SpaceX's competitive threat makes AST SpaceMobile less attractive at these levels than SpaceX and Rocket Lab. AST SpaceMobile's weekly chart shows a downtrend and strong outflows, though the stock is near marked support. x.comÂ
Space stocks could regain high-beta flows as SpaceX lockups end and a probable late-November Anthropic IPO threatens AI stocks, much as SpaceX's IPO hurt space names. Hedge funds are overexposed to the Magnificent Seven and underexposed or max short low-quality high beta; falling rates and toppy oil could make the rotation painful for them through 2027. AST SpaceMobile could benefit as intermittent service triggers agreements and Blue Origin possibly returns to the pad in six weeks. x.com x.comÂ
Space stocks lost expected support when the S&P committee rejected fast-tracking SpaceX into the index, removing forced passive buying, while funds sell tech to raise cash for next Friday's SpaceX IPO. Rocket Lab's $150 looks like the top, with a likely lower high, perhaps dropping to $100 on Monday before rebounding to $120-130. x.com x.comÂ
The SpaceX IPO could create liquidity problems and selling pressure for other space stocks, even if its high valuation offers better comps. Its public float alone is roughly the size of all other space stocks combined, and holders of retail-heavy names like Redwire are likely to trim them for exposure to the most hyped new ticker. @bobbyheard expects liquidity issues for the entire market. x.com x.comÂ
Investors rotating into cheaper stocks with more upside should ultimately benefit Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile. Both have already suffered major drawdowns. x.comÂ
Space stocks such as Redwire and AST SpaceMobile have run too far on retail chasing and look like shorts into the SpaceX IPO. Government contracts are already priced in, and the stocks price years ahead while ignoring execution risk. The SpaceX IPO should absorb more liquidity as institutions sell the news, leaving retail holding the bag. AST SpaceMobile is the second-biggest space short after EchoStar; sell space stocks before IPO day, though the broader market can stay steady through July. … Show more
Small space stocks like AST SpaceMobile and Rocket Lab remain shorts: they have gone into a delirious pump since 2025 in sympathy with SpaceX anticipation, and retail has not yet taken enough pain. The time to cover is once they get eviscerated. x.comÂ
A stronger SpaceX could lift the wider space-stock basket, including AST SpaceMobile, Rocket Lab, Redwire, Planet Labs, Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace and Voyager Technologies. Per DeItaone, JPMorgan raised its SpaceX price target from $240 to $500 while maintaining Overweight. The seven space stocks rose alongside SpaceX after hours. Their initial post-IPO selloff was followed by macro-driven weakness, not further weakness caused by SpaceX. x.com x.com x.comÂ
SpaceX's expansion could dilute shareholders and flood the spot market with compute capacity, making 2027 a potential disaster despite this quarter's results. A large share of its proposed capacity would go to the spot market, unlike Meta's internally used capacity; valuing it as if peak spot prices last forever ignores that risk. SpaceX should be down, not up, on that outlook. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ