SpaceX beats expectations by posting revenue of $7.81bn in second quarter

For the first time since SpaceX went public, the world is getting a first-hand look into the trillion-dollar corporation’s financials. The Elon Musk-run business reported its second quarter earnings on Tuesday, saying that its revenue jumped 92% since June.SpaceX beat Wall Street’s expectations, reporting $7.81bn in revenue, versus analysts’ predictions of $6.93bn. It reported a loss of $541m.The positive numbers will likely quell some fears from nervous investors who have been waiting for more insight into the rocket ship company’s potential for profit.SpaceX had a blockbuster Initial Public Offering in June with the largest-ever stock market debut in history. The IPO transformed SpaceX into a $2tn company and briefly crowned Musk the world’s first trillionaire. But since then, the company’s stock has plummeted by 24%, erasing nearly $500bn in market cap.“This report comes at an important time, the share price crashed and burned in recent weeks, it is down 50% from its peak and is trading below its IPO price,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. “Unsurprisingly, investors are jittery leading up to this report as it may determine the long-term direction for the stock.”SpaceX is a conglomeration of several of Musk’s businesses, including the satellite maker and internet service provider Starlink, the Artificial Intelligence platform xAI, the social media company X and the SpaceX rocket business.While expansive, the company is not profitable. Last year, SpaceX pulled in revenue of $18.7bn, while recording an operating loss of $4.3bn. The only profitable portion of the company is its connectivity arm, Starlink. For comparison, the social media company Meta generated revenue of more than $200bn last year with a net income upwards of $60bn.Breaking out the revenue for SpaceX’s three main businesses, the company reported $962m for space, $4.29bn for connectivity and $2.56bn for AI, which beat analysts’ forecasts of $835m for space, $3.38bn for connectivity and $2.18bn for AI, according to XTB.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe earnings come just before the first “lockup” shares in SpaceX will be free for public trading. Lockup shares are what employees and some insiders obtain before a company goes public, which they cannot trade for a set amount of time. The purpose of a lockup is to prevent a deluge of shares from hitting the market, which can depreciate the stock price.On Thursday, 912m shares from SpaceX will be open for trading – that’s more than double the current amount available and despite the positive earnings report could still weaken the company’s share price.