Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 left · 1 center
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- SpaceX’s stock dropped roughly 7-8% on Wednesday despite revenue and earnings beating analyst forecasts in its first quarterly report as a public company.
- The sell-off was driven by a massive jump in AI-related capital expenditures — $15.8 billion, or 86% of total CapEx — which more than doubled from the prior quarter.
- Both outlets note Starlink remains SpaceX’s core, most reliable revenue source even as AI spending draws investor scrutiny.
- Analysts across both outlets question whether SpaceX can justify its roughly $1.5 trillion valuation given the scale of AI spending relative to its cash flow.
- CNBC frames the story partly around the coincidental, unconfirmed report of SpaceX rocket debris striking the moon the same morning, calling it a symbolic metaphor for the stock decline; CBS News does not mention this event at all.
- CBS News emphasizes the upcoming lockup expiration (up to 911.5 million shares becoming sellable Thursday) as a specific near-term risk factor; CNBC mentions Thursday as a “test of investor confidence” without detailing the lockup mechanics.
- CBS News highlights Musk’s on-call claim about building AI compute capacity faster than anyone else and the Grok 4.5 release, while CNBC puts more weight on Musk’s comment about Starlink potentially competing with wireless carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon.
- CNBC quotes UK-based market analysts (IG’s Chris Beauchamp, AJ Bell’s Russ Mould) offering market-commentary framing, while CBS News relies on US-based academic and research-firm voices (Jay Ritter, David Trainer, Morningstar’s Nicolas Owens) for more valuation-focused analysis.
What happened in the earnings report
SpaceX released its first quarterly report as a publicly traded company on Tuesday, and shares fell sharply the next day despite numbers that beat Wall Street’s expectations. Revenue for the second quarter came in at $7.8 billion (CNBC cites a 92% jump; the consensus estimate had been $6.93 billion), and the company narrowed its net loss to $541 million from $1 billion a year earlier. Shares nonetheless dropped $10.06, or 8%, to $115.27 on Wednesday, pushing the stock further below its $135 initial public offering price.
The trigger was capital spending. SpaceX’s total capital expenditures hit $18.4 billion in the quarter — CNBC describes this as a sixfold increase — and $15.8 billion of that, or 86% of total CapEx, went toward artificial intelligence, more than double what the company spent on AI in the first quarter. CEO Elon Musk told analysts on the earnings call that SpaceX is building AI compute capacity “at scale faster than anyone else,” pointing to the recent release of its Grok 4.5 model.
Why investors reacted negatively
Analysts quoted across the coverage say the market is questioning whether that AI spending can be justified, especially at SpaceX’s $1.5 trillion valuation. David Trainer of New Constructs told CBS News the broader market is starting to suspect “the extraordinary spend on AI might not work out for every firm,” since not every company chasing AI can be a winner even though they’re all spending as if they will be. University of Florida professor Jay Ritter said Musk’s history of “overpromising” led investors to discount some of the company’s more optimistic forecasts, including plans to launch orbital data centers as early as next year. Ritter noted the flip side: SpaceX is pouring cash into Earth-based data centers, a business segment already crowded with competition.
Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens said SpaceX’s AI segment could eventually drive the company’s valuation, but that Starlink — the satellite internet division — remains the company’s biggest and, per CNBC’s sourcing, only profitable revenue source. Even after the stock’s drop, Morningstar still considers SpaceX shares overvalued. CNBC’s AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould drew a contrast with other companies in the “AI arms race,” noting SpaceX’s spending stood out because the company “does not yet generate meaningful levels of cash flow” to support it. IG’s Chris Beauchamp said Starlink is “clearly doing well” but argued SpaceX needs a “much more secure path to profitability” before its share price can recover.
Musk also suggested during the call that Starlink could expand into terrestrial wireless networks to compete with carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon — a comment Mould said rattled those companies’ investors.
The moon-crash coincidence
CNBC frames part of the day’s news through an unrelated event: debris from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable lower stage, jettisoned during a January 2025 mission carrying commercial U.S. and Japanese lunar landers, was reported to have struck the moon early Wednesday, though the impact wasn’t officially confirmed. The roughly 4-metric-ton piece was traveling more than 5,400 mph and was believed to have hit around 2:35 a.m. ET. Analysts leaned into the timing as a symbol for the stock’s slide — IG’s Beauchamp called it “a good metaphor” for the share price, and AJ Bell’s Mould said the coincidence felt “almost too on the nose.”
What comes next
CBS News reports that further pressure could hit the stock Thursday, when up to 911.5 million shares become eligible for sale as a post-IPO lockup period expires. That doesn’t guarantee a wave of selling — not every insider or early investor is expected to cash out — but it increases the pool of shares that could reach the market, which analysts say can weigh on the price in the near term. CNBC similarly flags Thursday as the next major test of investor confidence in the stock.
Sources
Featured photo: SpaceX Photos via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)