Rocket Lab USA Inc.RKLB
▲ PositiveCapitalrelevance
Rocket Lab's proposed Iridium acquisition is fully financed via a $1.9B share offering, liquidity, and an amended $1.7B term loan, with Cantor Fitzgerald maintaining Overweight and a $122 target.
Impact on assets 5
Space Economy
Rocket Lab USA Inc.
Iridium Communications IncIRDM
± MixedCapitalrelevance
Iridium shareholders will vote Sept 24 on Rocket Lab's proposed acquisition; the deal's terms and $1.775B term loan remaining in place are the key facts for Iridium holders.
Financials
Deutsche Bank AktiengesellschaftDBK
Mentioned
Wells Fargo & CompanyWFC
Mentioned
Others
China Mobile Limited600941
Mentioned
Theme Impact 4
Off-coverage companies 1
Cantor FitzgeraldPrivate▲ Positive
Capitalrelevance
Cantor Fitzgerald maintained its Overweight rating and $122 price objective on Rocket Lab, citing Neutron and the Iridium close as catalysts.
Related news
United States▲3
SpaceX Shares Rise 4% as Morgan Stanley Reiterates $300 Target
SpaceX shares rose about 4% on Monday after Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and a $300 price target on the rocket and satellite company, calling it an "unusually cheap" way to play the growing space and artificial intelligence economy. The target implies 88.7% upside from Friday's close. Analyst Adam Jonas said SpaceX looks expensive on conventional metrics but relatively cheap after adjusting for growth, trading at about 30 times estimated 2028 EV/EBIT versus roughly 16 times for other mega-cap AI enablers, and at only 0.3 times EV/EBIT/growth, about 40% below the peer median. Jonas said the market already prices in most of SpaceX's space and connectivity opportunity, leaving about $32 a share for its AI business, and flagged Starship Flight 15, expected in late October or early November, as a key catalyst that could be the biggest positive catalyst since the IPO. Further AI compute contracts, new Grok releases, and progress on Starship reusability could also support the stock, while risks include slower AI growth, higher infrastructure costs, and potential dilution.
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Space Economy › Launch Services & Propulsion ▲Capital
United Statesimpact 4
Cramer Touts SpaceX Starlink and AI Growth as Capital Burn Mounts
Jim Cramer said on the September 28 episode of Mad Money that Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is developing into a broader technology and infrastructure company, with Starlink, AI computing, and Starship as multiple potential growth engines. Cramer pointed to SpaceX's GPU infrastructure business, saying Elon Musk is renting GPUs bought from NVIDIA to Google at an $11 billion a year run rate and has a similar deal with Anthropic at a $15 billion run rate starting in October, roughly $2.17 billion a month in compute rentals. The company's second-quarter results showed AI revenue of $2.56 billion, up 247% year over year, alongside $14.1 billion in contracted Cloud Services Agreements, though that AI revenue came with a $1.26 billion operating loss. Cramer also highlighted the September 28 Starship flight, which reached orbit and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, but a Raptor Vacuum upper-stage engine shut down prematurely, cutting the planned 10-hour mission to about three hours. SpaceX generated $7.81 billion of second-quarter revenue while spending $18.37 billion on capital expenditures, $15.83 billion of it on AI, and Cramer separately warned that a large amount of restricted stock will become eligible to enter the market over the next year. Insider Monkey reported that 119 hedge fund portfolios held SpaceX at the end of the second quarter of 2026, and the stock trades at a price-to-sales multiple of 85.5x.
About megatrends
Artificial Intelligence › AI Compute Cloud & Neoclouds ▲Technology
Artificial Intelligence › AI Compute & Accelerator Silicon ▲Technology
Space Economy › Launch Services & Propulsion Technology
SPCX · Capital · Neutral SpaceX shows strong AI revenue growth and Starlink/Starship progress but heavy capex burn, a $1.26B AI operating loss, and looming restricted-stock unlocks.
GOOG · Demand · Positive SpaceX is renting GPUs to Google, making Alphabet a customer of SpaceX's AI compute at an $11 billion annual run rate.
Anthropic · Demand · Positive Anthropic has a compute-rental deal with SpaceX at a $15 billion annual run rate starting in October.
NVDA · Demand · Positive Cramer notes SpaceX bought GPUs from NVIDIA and is renting them out, indicating NVIDIA product demand from SpaceX.
United States
New Zealand
Japan▲2
Rocket Lab Wins Synspective's Record 20-Launch Electron Contract
Rocket Lab Corporation announced a multi-year agreement to launch 20 new Electron missions from Launch Complex 1 for Synspective, carrying StriX synthetic aperture radar satellites to sun-synchronous orbit annually from 2028 through 2031. The contract is the largest commercial launch deal for Electron so far and lifts Rocket Lab's backlog above 100 missions, deepening its role in building Synspective's global Earth-imaging constellation. The deal reinforces Electron's position as a high-cadence small-launch workhorse and slightly reduces near-term lumpiness risk in the launch book, though the key near-term catalyst and risk remain Neutron test progress and ongoing cash burn. Rocket Lab's US$1.944 billion equity raise to fund the pending Iridium acquisition shows management leaning on the balance sheet to expand into higher-value space systems and communications, amplifying the benefits of large multi-year contracts like Synspective's while raising the stakes around dilution and execution. Analysts had already modeled revenue near US$2.2 billion and earnings around US$365 million by 2029 on the optimistic side, against a more cautious consensus that treats cash burn and contract lumpiness as core risks.
About megatrends
Space Economy › Launch Services & Propulsion ▲Demand
RKLB · Demand · Positive Wins largest commercial Electron contract, 20 Synspective launches lifting backlog above 100 missions.
RKLB · Capital · Neutral US$1.944B equity raise to fund Iridium acquisition raises dilution and cash-burn stakes.
290A.JP · Demand · Positive Secures 20 Electron launches from 2028-2031 to build out its StriX Earth-imaging constellation.
United States▲
SpaceX Shares Stabilize After Post-IPO Drawdown as Starship Reaches Orbit
SpaceX shares have stabilized after notching an all-time low of $104.83 in early August, with the company citing fresh catalysts that could drive the stock higher into year-end and into 2027. Starship, SpaceX's two-stage rocket and the largest human-made flying object, recently reached orbit for the first time, and the recent flight deployed the first 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. Anthropic expanded its computing agreements with SpaceX, committing up to $84.5 billion through May 2029 for NVIDIA-based AI infrastructure, while Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest SpaceX will grow revenue by 147% in 2027. The odds of a SpaceX and Tesla merger by the end of next year have spiked to 63% on Polymarket. The company also pointed to Planet Labs and Google's launch of the first AI satellite as proof of concept for its ambitions in space-based AI data centers.
About megatrends
Space Economy › Launch Services & Propulsion ▲Technology
Artificial Intelligence › AI Data Center & Build-out ▲Technology
Space Economy › Satellite Connectivity & Direct-to-Device ▲Technology
SPCX · Technology · Positive Starship reached orbit for the first time and deployed the first 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites.
SPCX · Demand · Positive Anthropic expanded its computing agreements with SpaceX, committing up to $84.5 billion through May 2029.
NVDA · Demand · Positive Anthropic's up-to-$84.5B SpaceX computing commitment through 2029 is for NVIDIA-based AI infrastructure, implying demand for NVIDIA chips.
TSLA · · Neutral Only referenced via Polymarket odds of a SpaceX-Tesla merger by end of next year; no Tesla-specific development.
United States▲impact 4
Google and Planet Labs launch Project Suncatcher AI satellite on SpaceX rocket
Google said Thursday that its prototype satellite for Project Suncatcher, built in partnership with Planet Labs, launched into orbit aboard the Transporter-18 rideshare mission with SpaceX. The tech giant said its team has confirmed contact with the satellite, and it is operating as expected. Travis Beals, senior director of Project Suncatcher, wrote in a blog post following the launch that this is the first step in a long-term research moonshot exploring whether space could one day host scalable machine learning infrastructure, and that over the coming weeks the team will gather in-orbit data on how its TPUs handle the physical stress of spaceflight and the radiation and thermal extremes of space. Alphabet holds a stake worth more than $82B in SpaceX, which went public in June in a record IPO. SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, has also announced that it plans to build and launch its orbital data centers.
About megatrends
Space Economy › Earth Observation & Geospatial Data Technology
Artificial Intelligence › Custom Silicon / ASIC ▲Technology
Artificial Intelligence › Foundation Models & Research Labs ▲Technology
Space Economy › Launch Services & Propulsion ▲Technology
GOOG · Technology · Positive Google's Project Suncatcher prototype satellite launched and is operating as expected, advancing its space-based ML infrastructure research.
PL · Technology · Positive Planet Labs built the Project Suncatcher prototype satellite in partnership with Google, which launched successfully and is operating as expected.
SPCX · Demand · Positive SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission carried the Project Suncatcher satellite to orbit, adding a launch customer mission.
United States
Canada
Russia▲
SpaceX Launches Crew 13 to ISS as Dragon's Future Remains Uncertain
SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Thursday aboard a Crew Dragon capsule, marking the company's 13th crew rotation mission for NASA. The crew, consisting of two Americans, one Canadian, and one Russian cosmonaut, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Falcon 9 rocket. According to Bloomberg space correspondent Lauren Grush, the mission comes amid speculation that SpaceX may retire the Crew Dragon once the ISS program ends, with only four more crew rotation missions currently scheduled. The crew will spend roughly a week aboard the station before the previous Crew 12 team returns to Earth following a handover. Three of the four astronauts on this flight are first-time flyers.
About megatrends
Space Economy › Human Spaceflight & Space Tourism ▲Supply
Space Economy › Launch Services & Propulsion ▲Supply
SPCX · Demand · Positive SpaceX launched its 13th NASA crew rotation mission, a concrete operational contract win for its Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 services.